H, Ministry of Defence: Ready for the winter floods

"If needed, the affected organizations are ready to face a winter flood 

– representatives of the Disaster Management Authority, the Hungarian Defence Forces, the General Directorate of Water Management and the police said.

At the press conference held in the Ministry of Interior’s National Centre for Emergency Management, György Bakondi, director general of the Disaster Management Authority said that during the summer flood protection was established in a 807,4 km long zone and only one settlement, Győrújfalu needed to be evacuated.

Dirty Money Monday 2013.12.9

3 days after Santa Claus brought fancy present for all good children, and a birch for bad ones - or at least was supposed to -, on the 9th of December, 148 countries celebrate the International Anti-Corruption Day. 

Most recent joiner is Uganda. In Europe, on occasion of this day, this year, Transparency International Hungary hosted a conference on youth integrity, urging participants to ask themselves “is it worth being honest?” - writes the trancperency.org.

Mother would like to work

Hungarian family support system notes a change in child care support. 

Currently if a hungarian parent want to be employed, after child is over 1 year old, GYED (childcare fee), GYES (childcare allowance) are not provided. As per the latest decision of the Government, from 2014, this 2 kind of child care support will not exclude employment of the parent with small children over 1 year old. Fresh graduated young mother and full time university student will be also eligible to get child care fee and child care allowance. Furthermore a new tax deduction will be introduced for companies employing mother having 3 or more little children.

H, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: a strong US is Hungary’s best interest

...said Gergely Prőhle, Deputy State Secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Washington DC on 6 December, at the 22nd annual dinner of the Hungarian American Coalition.

"The diplomat emphasized the importance of the United States as a crucial point of reference for Hungary in political, economic as well as in cultural terms. In this context he expressed his gratitude to the Hungarian diaspora in the United States for its contribution to the dialogue between the two countries.

H, Ministry of Foreign Affairs : Human Rights Day Statement

minority rights and fundamental freedoms constitutes one of the main pillars of the Hungarian foreign policy, according to the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"Human rights are celebrated worldwide today in remembrance of the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations 65 years ago. This year’s commemoration is marked also by the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights which fulfills a primary role in the international advancement of the protection of and respect for universal human rights.

Opening of the Robert Capa Center of Contemporary Photography

on 2nd December 2013 in the Building of Ernst Museum in Nagymező street, also called Budapest Broadway.

The contemporary photography center was named after Robert Capa, an internationally renowned war photographer and photojournalist, born in Hungary a 100 years ago. In 2008 the Hungarian National Museum purchased 985 photos from the International Center of Photography, established in memory of Robert Capa, by his brother Cornell, in 1964, for the 10 years anniversary of his death in the First Inchochina War.
The center will be directed by Orsolya Kőrösi, director of the House of Hungarian Photographers, who will integrate the work of the two institutions. Based on to the Ministry of Human Resources information the Hungarian government granted 155 million forints (EUR 515,000) to launch the photography centre and and allocated 198 million forints for its operations next year.
source: MTI, Hungarian news agency

PACE President, Jean-Claude Mignon visit Tata, the town awarded the 2013 Europe Prize by the Council of Europe.

On the first day of his official visit to Hungary (2 to 4 December 2013) the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) meets József Michl, the mayor of Tata, town co-winner of the 2013 Europe Prize with Altötting in Germany for being most active in promoting the European ideal.

Tata wa the second Hungarian town, after Szeged, to receive this award since its creation in 1955.
The city of Tata, in the county of Komarom-Esztergom, in the North of Hungary was awarded for having organised more than 60 events in 2012 and enabled many cultural, sporting and school exchanges, and first of all having developed an extensive network of diverse exchanges with its nine twin towns.