HATC SAMPLE EDITION:
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20th February, 2025
Renovations will disrupt airport
Liszt Ferenc International Airport is undergoing renovations until June, requiring passengers to arrive 2.5 hours before departure due to tighter parking regulations starting today.
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19th February, 2025
Bpest joins lawsuit over gas plant decontamination
Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony announced that the city is joining a lawsuit against the state for failing to clean up the heavily polluted Óbuda Gas Plant site in the Third District.
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18th February, 2025
Energy subsidies cost Ft 5trn in three years
The government has spent Ft 5 trillion on subsidising energy costs for various companies and institutions since the end of 2022, more than on national defence and policing, Népszava reports.
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18th February, 2025
Funding cuts cripple city hospital
The state health insurance fund NEAK has halved its funding for daylong surgery and outpatient services at HT Medical Centre, the largest healthcare institution in Budapest’s 17th District, the medical institution announced.
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17th February, 2025
Winners for “adopt a castle” programme announced
Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár announced the first four winners of Hungary’s “Adopt a Castle” scheme in a Facebook post on Friday.
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17th February, 2025
Former chocolate factory becomes a hotel
The former Stühmer chocolate factory in Budapest’s Eighth District is being transformed into a four-star hotel by construction company Swietelsky Hungary based on the plans of architecture firm D55.
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14th February, 2025
Trump comments have forint floundering
The forint continued to appreciate against major currencies on Thursday, bolstered by the prospects of peace in Ukraine after US President Donald Trump announced that he had had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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14th February, 2025
GVH finds Lidl labels misleading
Competition watchdog GVH fined Lidl Ft 186 million for misleading advertising, having concluded that the retail chain misled consumers by labelling products as "whole grain" when they contained too small a proportion of that ingredient.
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13th February, 2025
City to clean up Rákosrendező area
The city of Budapest will find a way to allow anyone who wants to participate in cleaning up the Rákosrendező area – which is currently still in state hands and has been polluted with garbage for decades – whether they are cabinet ministers or the Fidesz leader on city council, mayor Gergely Karácsony wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
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13th February, 2025
Book festival moves to Bálna
The Budapest International Book Festival will be hosted in the Bálna, a new location on the Pest riverside, on October 2-5.
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12th February, 2025
Wizz Air ready for rapid resumption of flights
Wizz Air is ready to restart flights to Ukraine within six weeks of a ceasefire announcement, CEO József Váradi of the discount airline told Reuters in an interview.
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11th February, 2025
Hungarian minimum wage among lowest in the EU
Hungary has the second-lowest minimum wage in the EU at €706.94 a month, ahead of only Bulgaria at €550.67, according to the latest Eurostat data.
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11th February, 2025
Karácsony announces launch of “metrobuses”
The Budapest transport centre BKK will launch a new “metrobus” system that will carry people living in the outer districts to the metro stations with frequent service, as directly as possible, quickly and without transfers, thus offering passengers a real alternative to driving, mayor Gergely Karácsony announced on Facebook on Monday.
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10th February, 2025
Orbán to outlaw NGOs that receive foreign funds
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vowed to make it illegal for NGOs to receive money from the US as he ramped up his rhetoric against such groups in his Friday morning interview with Kossuth Rádió, asserting that their aim is to overthrow his government.
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7th February, 2025
OLAF investigating chateau adoption scheme
The EU anti-fraud office OLAF is launching an investigation into what Csaba Molnár termed the “Orbán cabinet’s chateau scam”, the Democratic Coalition MEP announced on Facebook on Thursday.
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7th February, 2025
OTP rally propels BSE to historic high
The benchmark BUX index of the Budapest Stock Exchange climbed 3.33% to 86,996, a new historic high, led by investor demand for OTP shares.
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6th February, 2025
Gránit Bank starts operation in Romania
Gránit Bank has started operations in Romania with digital services, local media reported.
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5th February, 2025
NUMA to open 170-unit boutique building
The NUMA Group is making its debut in Hungary with the opening of a 170-unit facility in Budapest, the Berlin-based company specialising in fully digitised boutique apartments announced on Tuesday.
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4th February, 2025
Cancer mortality rate highest in Hungary
The per capita death rate in Hungary from cancer is the highest in the EU, according to a recent study issued by the European Commission on Monday.
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4th February, 2025
SME website scheme launched
A Ft 9 billion initiative for creating and supporting the online presence of SMEs was launched on Monday, as part of the Demján Programme, the Economy Ministry announced.
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3rd February, 2025
Birthrate falls to new record low
A record low total of 77,500 babies were born in Hungary in 2024, 7,725 fewer than in the previous year, the Central Statistics Office reported on Friday.
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3rd February, 2025
Police catch boy behind bomb scares
Police have caught a 15-year-old pupil who sent threatening messages to 46 schools during January 26-30. The youth used the same text that had been sent to some 400 schools on January 23.
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31st January, 2025
Karácsony kept pre-emptive right secret
Mayor Gergely Karácsony yesterday signed the letter authorizing the city-owned public utility company BKM to exercise its pre-emptive right to buy the land in the 14th District designated as the site of a huge “mini-Dubai” development project.
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31st January, 2025
Two doctors abuse state facilities
Police have caught two doctors in Kiskunhalas who had performed gender-reassignment surgeries outside working hours for cash at the local hospital.
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30th January, 2025
Households’ solvency weaker
Household solvency in Hungary continued to deteriorate in the last quarter of 2024, as the Intrum Solvency index fell by 18% from the previous quarter, the debt collector said on Wednesday.
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30th January, 2025
Shopping malls coming and going
The Duna Plaza shopping mall, owned by developer Indotek, will close next year for renovation and expansion, and is scheduled to reopen in 2028 with 50,000 square metres, Portfolio reports.
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29th January, 2025
Tisza maintains poll lead over Fidesz
Péter Magyar’s Tisza party remains the most popular party in Hungary, but its support is no longer growing, according to the latest poll by the Republikon Institute.
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29th January, 2025
Mohu recycles more than 1bn bottles
More than 1 billion beverage bottles and cans have been recycled and on average 100 units are returned every second since the launch of the compulsory Deposit Return System (DRS) six months ago, the MOL subsidiary reported in a statement.
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28th January, 2025
Romania alarmed by MVM’s Russian connection
Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja again spoke out against Hungarian energy company MVM’s bid to buy the Romanian gas and electricity distributor subsidiary of Germany’s E.ON group, expressing concerns that the would-be buyer has too many links to Russia.
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28th January, 2025
Neo-Nazi event disguised as film shoot
Authorities interrupted a neo-Nazi event disguised as a film shoot in a warehouse in Budaörs on December 21, Telex reports.
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27th January, 2025
Gov’t spending Ft 1bn to renovate spa
The government has allocated Ft 1.3 billion in subsidy for the renovation of the cave spa in Miskolctapolca according to a decree published on Thursday.
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27th January, 2025
Hungary behind in e-learning in EU
A minority of 24.6% of internet users in Hungary took e-learning courses or used online educational materials in 2024, while the EU average rose to 33%, up from 30% a year earlier, Eurostat reports.
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24th January, 2025
Bomb threats disrupt 240 schools
A wave of bomb threats disrupted schools nationwide in Hungary on Thursday, with more than 240 institutions affected, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
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24th January, 2025
Hungarian film editor nominated for Oscar
Hungarian film editor Dávid Jancsó has been nominated for an Oscar for his work on the film The Brutalist.
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23rd January, 2025
Auchan to open shop without staff
Auchan Hungary is about to open an unmanned Auchan Go shop in Budapest’s 11th District, the retail chain announced on Wednesday.
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22nd January, 2025
Contamination strikes Pilis drinking water
The Metropolitan Government Office has ordered a ban on drinking water in Pilis after reports of maggots found in the water in several households.
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21st January, 2025
Ministry and doctors clash over healthcare funding
The Interior Ministry and the Medical Chamber (MOK) are at odds over healthcare funding, as the ministry claims that all Hungarian patients receive top-quality care, and that unprecedented funding is allocated to the sector.
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20th January, 2025
MÁV cancels “Mini-Dubai” plan
State railway company MÁV has decided to cancel the public procurement process for the Rákosrendező development area in the 14th District, citing resource constraints.
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20th January, 2025
Gov’t ready to intervene in fuel prices
The government is ready to intervene with all means at its disposal if fuel prices in Hungary exceed the regional price level, the Economy Ministry announced on Saturday.
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17th January, 2025
MEPs to discuss alleged Hungarian spying
A debate will be held in the European Parliament next Tuesday on suspected Hungarian surveillance of EU officials.
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17th January, 2025
Magyar Telekom and Yettel adjust fees to inflation
Magyar Telekom and Yettel Hungary will each adjust their monthly service fees by 3.7%, matching the average annual inflation rate for 2024, as per the regulations.
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16th January, 2025
Miskolc cave spa may reopen in June
The cabinet will provide Ft 1 billion to ensure that the Miskolctapolca cavern baths that burnt down due to an electric short-circuit in September, may be reopened by June 30, Construction and Transport Minister János Lázár told a press conference in Miskolc on Wednesday.
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16th January, 2025
Tiborcz transforming historic building to hotel
A protected building formerly owned by the state opposite the Market Hall on Fővám tér in Budapest is being converted into a 36-room hotel by Estoril Property, a company owned by the Tiborcz-based Central European Real Estate Fund, anti-corruption website Átlátszó reports.
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15th January, 2025
Croatia attracts record number of Hungarians again
For the third consecutive year, the number of Hungarians vacationing in Croatia reached a record high in 2024, as 790,000 Hungarian tourists spent 3.4 million guest nights in the neighbouring country, according to Ivana Herceg, head of the Croatian Tourist Board in Budapest.
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14th January, 2025
Kaposvár club bans Turkish guests
A Kaposvár nightclub has announced a ban on Turkish guests following numerous complaints of harassment and inappropriate behaviour.
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13th January, 2025
US embassy warns against dealing with Rogán
The US embassy in Budapest on Friday sent a warning to anyone doing business with Antal Rogán, after the US imposed sanctions on the head of the PMO Cabinet Office last week, citing concerns about corruption.
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13th January, 2025
Budapest gets EU funds for bicycle lanes
The application of the Budapest transport centre BKK for EU funds to develop bicycle lanes has been approved, mayor Gergely Karácsony announced on Facebook on Saturday.
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9th January, 2025
More state aid for parties bypasses Tisza
A bill passed by Parliament last month that raises state support for parliamentary groups by 70-80% for the year before the next elections may be part of an effort by Fidesz to keep smaller opposition parties alive, lest their supporters switch to the Tisza Party, Telex surmises.
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9th January, 2025
MÁV still halts trains at Romanian border
Although Romania’s entry to the Schengen area means that the border with Hungary can now be crossed freely, international trains operated by MÁV continue to run on an unchanged schedule, and wait at the border for about 40 minutes for no reason, according to the NGO Mass Transport.
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8th January, 2025
Over 1,200 artworks on loan from Museum
The Museum of Fine Arts has transferred 1,293 works of art to state agencies, companies, and local governments, in line with a law permitting such loans with ministerial approval, website 24 reports.
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7th January, 2025
Hungarians and Bulgarians least well-off in EU
Household wealth in Luxembourg was 36% higher than the EU average, while Hungary and Bulgaria ranked lowest at 30% below the average, according to Euronews Business.
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7th January, 2025
Ireland’s Keane to coach Fradi
Former Ireland international footballer Robbie Keane is the new head coach of defending Hungarian champions Ferencváros (FTC), the capital club announced on Monday.
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2nd January, 2025
Gazprom halts shipments via Ukraine
Russian natural gas exports via Ukraine to Europe ceased in the early morning hours of the New Year as the five-year transit contract has expired and the warring sides were unable to reach an agreement on how to continue the deliveries.
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2nd January, 2025
Bicycles and pets ride free on Volán buses in Bp
Bicycles and pets can be carried on most HÉV trains and Volán services within Budapest free of charge from January 1, the state public transport group said on Tuesday.
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20th December, 2024
Forint at two-year low against euro
The forint fell to a historic low against the pound and a two-year low against the euro on Thursday as investors reacted to Wednesday’s hawkish message from the US Federal Reserve and its signals of fewer rate cuts than expected earlier.
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20th December, 2024
MOL works with Mastercard for digital payment
MOL introduced a new app developed in collaboration with Mastercard that allows motorists to pay for fuel directly through their smartphones, Portfolio writes.
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19th December, 2024
Hungarians’ consumption lowest in EU
The actual individual consumption of the Hungarian population, calculated at purchasing power parity, was 70% of the EU average in 2023, the lowest in the EU, alongside Bulgaria, Eurostat reported on Tuesday.
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18th December, 2024
Fireworks banned from downtown
In order to prevent the risk of injury and possible material damage from fireworks, as well as to reduce noise and smoke pollution, the use of pyrotechnic devices in certain parts of the Budapest city centre is restricted leading up to New Year’s Eve.
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