THE BUDAPEST TIMES - Andrássy Universität Budapest

THE BUDAPEST TIMES
02 WHISKEY ROBBERY Budai smells a bribe 08-09 GREAT DEBATE Fidesz & MSZP face off on policy 10 SPRING FEST Hot ticket
T
Volume 9, Number 9 www.bzt.hu 28 February – 6 March 2011 HUF 750/EUR 3
Russians fourth,
but lead way in
dangerous drinking
ROBERT HODGSON
Central and Eastern Europe is home
to the hardest-drinking nations in
the world, a report from the World
Health Organisation made abundantly
clear this month. The
WHO’s Global Status Report on Alcohol and
Health 2011 showed that Hungary came third in
per capita alcohol consumption, behind only the
Czech Republic and Moldova.
Alcohol kills one-in-five Russian men
Russia came fourth, with those aged 15 and
over in the world’s largest country downing an
average of 15.7 litres each of pure alcohol a
year. This prompted the St. Petersburg Times to
report last week that the WHO had “debunked
a long-standing myth” about Russia.
Unfortunately a closer look at the 286-page
report shows that the Russian Federation still
has the highest rate of alcohol-related mortality
in the world, with one-in-five male deaths
attributable to hard drinking (the figure is only
6 per cent for women). The WHO report
suggests that it is an unhealthy “episodic
drinking pattern” and a tendency to drink until
drunk – added to the well-documented fact that
much of what is sold as vodka contains poisons
far more potent than mere ethanol – that lies
behind Russia’s grim statistics.
Not as harsh
Hungary is hardly in a position
to boast, having as it does one of
the lowest life expectancy levels (70.8 years at
birth for men, 78.6 for women) in the European
Union. This is perhaps partly because it is home to
the 27-member bloc’s second-heaviest drinkers
and occupies the number three spot worldwide.
While the bulk of Russian alcohol
consumption is done through the
medium of vodka – and often
dodgy, illicit stuff at that –
Hungarians hedge their
bets by mixing the
grape and the grain.
Of 12.27 litres officially
recorded and
an estimated four
litres of homemade
and/or
illegal alcohol
consumed per
head in a year,
only a fifth comes
from spirits, with
the rest derived from
wine and beer, and
the grape narrowly in
the lead.
Home brew
Hungary’s English-language weekly.
Economic reform package expected Tuesday
Disability pensions, unemployment benefits could be in for the chop
he day the markets have been
waiting for is nigh: this Tuesday, 1
March the government will announce
a package of economic reforms, prime
minister’s spokesman Péter Szijjártó said
last Thursday.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told The Wall
Street Journal in January that the forthcoming
structural reforms would affect areas
such as pension costs, social welfare, medicine
subsidies and public transport. Little
has been revealed since then although in
www.takarékbank.hu
recent weeks Orbán has repeatedly said
that “all people who are capable of work
should work”. (See analysis on page 4, 7).
Disability stumbling block
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National
Economy last Thursday issued an analysis
in which it questioned the “complicated and
contradictory” system of disability pensions.
A quarter of Hungary’s 3 million pensioners
(in a country of 10 million) receive disability
RATES
322.12
18 Feb.
323.64
25 Feb.
269.65
18 Feb.
272.80
25 Feb.
208.56
18 Feb.
benefits, while half of those are still of
working age. Twelve per cent of Hungary’s
labour force has been written off as incapable
of work, while the OECD average is
5.8 per cent, the ministry noted.
207.68
25 Feb.
Markets’ baited breath
There has been some confusion over the
announcement of the long-awaited package
of structural reforms, seen by international
markets as a make-or-break moment for
198.67
18 Feb.
201.72
25 Feb.
BSE
Besides being clear
winners in overall alcohol
OPEN
22,548.10
21 Feb.
Budapest
Stock Exchange
Hungary’s economic reputation. Economy
Minister György Matolcsy announced in
January that a package containing budget
savings of HUF 600 to 650 billion (EUR 2.19
to 2.37 billion) by 2013 would be finalised
on 28 February, but in recent weeks the date
has been shifted as far as mid-March.
Hungary required a 20-billion-euro international
rescue in 2008 to avert sovereign
bankruptcy. Though the “crisis” government
in office in the year to the April 2010 general
elections slashed spending to bring the
intake, Moldovans lead in
“unrecorded” consumption,
with an estimated
22,548.10
10 of their annual 18.2
litres of alcohol
coming from moonshine,
home brew
and hobby wine.
Hungary is second
with an estimated
four litres of
untraceable
ethanol downed
on average. It
remains to be seen
what effect the
recent move to
legalise home distillation
has on the figures.
BUX peak: 30,118.12 July 23, 2007
BUX low: 9,461 March 13, 2009
22,573.15
23,046.76
22,537.64
22,363.85
22,352.78
MON TUE WED THU FRI
Nor is illicit alcohol consumption limited to the
relatively deprived Central and Eastern Europe
region: Swedes are thought to get through an
annual 3.6 litres of ethanol that has bypassed
the authorities’ books – perhaps a
reflection of an expensive, statecontrolled
market, dark
Scandinavian winters and the
sparsely populated nation’s abundance
of hiding places for illicit
stills.
Other heavy drinkers
The world’s second-heaviest drinkers, the
Czechs, prefer beer to wine and spirits. Beer is
the source of just over half of the 16.45 litres of
pure alcohol imbibed by the average Czech in a
year, equivalent to 340 half-litre pots of pilsner per
head, with sundry chasers of Fernet, slivovice or
Becherovka presumably bumping up the alcohol
figure to earn the Czechs worldwide runner-up
status. It might be assumed, therefore, that Czechs
are the world’s number-one beer drinkers but they
are not. That distinction goes to the denizens of
the Pacific island nation of Palau, which enjoyed
fame recently as backdrop to the reality TV show
Survivor. Palauans absorb an annual 8.68 litres of
alcohol per head from their own Red Rooster and
other beers.
Less surprisingly the French almost lead the way
in wine consumption, from which the average
over-14-year-old manages to imbibe 8.14 litres of
alcohol, equivalent to 90 bottles of burgundy a
year. The affluent Luxembourgeois pip them at
the post for the gold medal, however, drinking the
equivalent of 91 bottles each.
For more detailed information of the undeniably
serious health implications of all this, and a
wealth of useful pub trivia, visit the WHO’s website,
www.who.int.
CLOSE
23,046.76
25 Feb.
budget deficit down to 4 per cent in 2009,
international agencies cut the rating of
government bonds to just a notch above
“junk” status late last year. This was a
response to Orbán’s new conservative
government employing mainly temporary
“crisis taxes” to meet 2010 and 2011 deficit
targets. The EU and IMF, as well as actors
on the international financial markets, have
stated that sustainable, credible spendingside
cuts will be needed to restore
Hungary’s creditworthiness.
Hungarians third-highest
alcohol consumers on the planet
Ban on smoking
in cafes and
‘shocking’ images
on cigarette
packets in July
H
ungary looked set last Friday to join
the growing number of European
countries to implement a blanket ban
on smoking in indoor public places as a
group of government MPs presented a petition
in parliament.
State secretary for health Miklós Szócska
said at a press conference that 28,000
Hungarians die each year of smokingrelated
disease. Another politician from the
governing Fidesz party, Tamás Heintz, said
“The pattern of
drinking score, reflecting the
frequency and circumstances of
alcohol consumption and the proportion
of people drinking alcohol to intoxication,
is among the lowest, i.e. less risky, in
western European countries, while it is the
highest in the Russian Federation, and in
some neighbouring countries. Risky patterns
of drinking are also highly prevalent in
Mexico and southern African countries.”
– WHO Global Status Report
on Alcohol and Health 2011
the prohibition would come into force in July,
after a three-month “tolerance” period. To
further discourage smoking in Hungary
plans are afoot to force manufacturers to put
“shocking warnings, such as images of
cancerous organs,” on cigarette packets,
Heintz added.
Pre-empting the inevitable cries of protest
from the proprietors of bars and cafés,
Szócska said that revenue in the hospitality
sector did not fall in other countries that
have already introduced a ban on lighting up
indoors. Furthermore, countries that banned
smoking in enclosed public places in recent
years have seen marked improvements in
the health of their populations, Szócska
said. He added that passive smoking
accounts for around 2,500 deaths a year in
Hungary. “If we don’t want Hungary’s population
to stay permanently below ten million
(a level reached last year) then we must act
with urgency,” he said. Soon smoking may only be allowed outdoors.
771785 110000 1 1 0 0 9
BZT/Aaron Taylor

02 28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011 THE BUDAPEST TIMES
PPOOLIITICS
T
Bribe ‘stashed
in whisky box
for minister’
he latest target of government accountability
commissioner Gyula Budai, who is investigating
possibly illegal activities during the previous
administration, may be former minister of defence Ferenc
Juhász, who has been accused of corruption by a brigadier
general.
Not exactly 100 per cent proof
The potential scandal began when right-leaning TV
station HírTV publicised a confession by János O., who
alleged to investigators that when he handed over HUF 12
million (EUR 43,900) of bribe money to former state secretary
László Fapál, the politician had put aside HUF 4 million
(EUR 14,650) in a whisky bottle box and noted that it would
go to the boss, who at the time was Juhász.
“These allegations are completely false and I will take the
necessary legal steps,” Juhász told weekly Helyi Téma. Juhász
said both he and his successor, Imre Szekeres, had done
everything to put an end to such matters. “I’m sorry if
corruption was present in the offices of the ministry,” he said.
Investigation questioned
Based on the allegation of the brigadier general, Fapál
was declared a suspect and put under preliminary arrest for
two months but Budai said the minister had not even been
questioned as a witness. He said this was a serious mistake by
the prosecutor’s office and he had invited Juhász to last
Friday’s session of the parliamentary subcommittee investigating
corruption matters, but the Socialist politician had
not come.
“There will be other rounds to this case because it is much
more difficult than what can be explained in a single
committee hearing,” Budai said. The accountability commissioner
said he had been investigating the matter for two
months and he estimated that some HUF 1 billion (EUR
3.67 million) of state money could have found its way into
private pockets, which would make it one of the biggest scandals
of recent times.
– Attila Leitner
Outrage
on Libya
mid straitened economic
A circumstances, EU and
NATO countries will have to
pool more of their military
resources to maintain a credible
defensive capability, NATO
Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen said after
participating in an informal
summit of EU defence ministers
in Gödöllõ last Friday. “I call this
new approach ‘smart defence’,”
he said. “We have to make sure
that we continue to invest in the
most critical military capabilities
so that the economic crisis
does not turn into a security
crisis.”
The EU’s High
Representative for foreign
affairs and security policy,
Catherine Ashton (pictured),
said the issue of “pooling and
sharing” had been on the
agenda in the meeting and that
“H
ave your voice
heard” is the slogan
of the Hungarian
Socialist Party’s (MSZP) new
campaign, which is - among
other things, says spokeswoman
Kata Kormos - opposed
to the unfair tax system of the
government.
Party activists have begun to
collect signatures for a petition
that demands the cabinet reinstall
a fair tax system instead of
“the crippling of the poor”.
The petition is to support a
socialist legislative agenda that
proposes anyone earning more
than HUF 5 million (EUR
18,300) a year be put in the 32
per cent tax bracket instead of
the current 16 per cent. Kormos
cited various union surveys that
she says establish more than
half of employees receive less
salary because of the new tax
discussions were ongoing
between the EU and NATO, and
the UN.
However, the scheduled
event on the calendar of
Hungary’s six-month EU
Presidency was overshadowed
by the ongoing turmoil in Libya.
In the morning, NATO had
called an emergency meeting
at its Brussels headquarters to
discuss its response to Libya,
while the UN Security Council
was set to convene later the
same day. “It is an absolute
outrage that the Libyan regime
system. “Although (prime
minister) Viktor Orbán promised
that no one will be worse off,
those who make less than HUF
290,000 (EUR 1,060) will
receive thousands less than
they did before,” she said.
has approved the use of force
against its own people,”
Rasmussen said. It was “too
early” to talk about imposing a
no-fly zone over Libya, and the
current focus was on evacuations
and humanitarian assistance,
he said.
Ashton praised the joint
efforts of EU member states in
evacuating citizens trapped in
the increasingly dangerous
north African country. The EU
foreign policy chief said the EU
was planning to impose sanctions
on Libya.
Socialists speak out for tax reversal
Opposition slams government
for civil service dismissals
The government should stop firing civil servants and apologise
to those who have already been groundlessly sacked
after the Constitutional Court ruling the previous week that
struck down legislation allowing for their dismissal without
justification, Socialist MP Mónika Lamperth said in parliament
last Tuesday. State secretary from the Public Administration
and Justice Ministry Bence Rétvári said the government
would adhere to the letter of the law. Under the court ruling,
the law allowing indiscriminate dismissals remains in place
until the end of May.
The campaign also
demands the restoration of the
sanctity of private ownership
and the rights and decisions of
the Supreme Court to help
foreign-currency loan victims
of the financial crisis.
Esztergom council rebuked
The city council of Esztergom violated laws between 2007 and 2010
when the revenue side of its budgets never covered the expenses
of the municipality, an examination by the State Audit Office (ÁSZ)
has revealed. The city had issued bonds without specifying the
appropriation or had offered restrictedly alienable properties as a
guarantee, one of which was the Lake Balaton children’s camp of
Esztergom, ÁSZ said. Initially the audit office declined to publish the
findings of the study, citing technical excuses, but decided to do so
after numerous requests from various media and civil organisations.
According to the data, the municipality’s situation worsened considerably
between 2007 and 2010 and previous mayor Tamás Megyes
(Fidesz) and the notary broke the law numerous times. The publication
noted that the latter was primarily responsible and the only
reason for not launching an impeachment procedure is because he
no longer works as a public servant.
Fidesz pair in tit for tat
Minister of Public Administration and Justice and former caucus
leader of Fidesz Tibor Navracsics wants the party’s parliamentary
faction to be more disciplined when it comes to individual
proposals in parliament. In an interview with the weekly Figyelõ,
Navracsics said it was normal that such a large caucus would
have numerous such proposals but he emphasised that comprehensive
codex-like legislation shouldn’t be submitted this way.
Current caucus leader János Lázár said in response that he was
thankful for the observations of the minister but noted that
someone has to do the work. “The people want quick changes
and they do not want to wait around for officers of ministries who
are standing around in one place,” Lázár said. A joint study
released last July by various civil rights organisations objected to
the large portion of private members’ bills, which makes it
possible for MPs to avoid allowing time for the public and the
opposition to examine the legislative proposal.
Foreign minister questioned
in sale of Moscow trade office
Former foreign minister Kinga Göncz was questioned as a
witness last week by prosecutors investigating the suspected
fraudulent sale of Hungary’s former foreign trade office in
Moscow at below market value. The sale was transacted in 2008
when Göncz was a cabinet member in the then Socialist-Liberal
coalition government. The chief prosecutor’s office alleges that
the sale cost the Hungarian state HUF 7 billion (EUR 25.69
million). Hungary’s then ambassador to Moscow, Árpád
Székély, told the daily Népszabadság this month that he had
insisted on an international real estate consultancy valuing the
building, and it had arrived at a figure of USD 19.9 million in
2008. The property was sold to a Swiss-registered firm owned
by a Russian businessman for USD 23.3 million, which subsequently
offloaded it with a hefty mark-up. The former head of
state asset management company MNV, Miklós Tátrai, was
earlier questioned in connection with the case, along with a
former foreign ministry state secretary and Székely himself.
BZT/Robert Hodgson
Constitutional Court
may get powers back
An MP from the governing conservative party
Fidesz said last week that powers recently
taken from the Constitutional Court may be
restored. Recent constitutional amendments
removing the court’s power to rule on budgetary
legislation had been made at a time of
economic “emergency”, Gergely Gulyás said.
The government used the two-thirds majority
it commands in the national assembly to
make the amendments after the court struck
off a retroactive tax on severance pay in
October. “I think there is a real chance that the
rule adopted by parliament in November is
not written in stone,” Gulyás said on stateowned
Duna TV last Tuesday. This was the
only one of several demands made recently
by the opposition green party LMP that the
government was prepared to consider,
Gulyás said. The LMP is boycotting a government-led
committee drafting a new
Constitution. So far only the far-right party
Jobbik is cooperating with the committee,
although it has said it will vote against the
Constitution when it is put to a parliamentary
vote, due in April. The Hungarian Socialist
Party has refused to cooperate in the drafting
of a document it has described as a “Fidesz
Constitution” and is calling for a national referendum.
Communist charge
suspended by court
Buda Central District Court last week
suspended proceedings against Béla Biszku,
who was minister of interior during the 1956
Uprising, until it receives a decree from the
Constitutional Court. The Buda court declined
to elaborate why the official stance of the high
court was requested. After a statement made
last summer by Biszku in an interview, the
Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment in
January charging him with denial of crimes of
the communist dictatorship. The basis of the
prosecution is an amendment to the Criminal
Code - proclaimed shortly before the interview
- making such statements a criminal act.
Another patriotic
holiday mooted
Hungary could have another national holiday
if a draft resolution presented to parliament
last Tuesday by the deputy caucus leader of
the governing conservative party Fidesz is
adopted. Sándor Lezsák noted that 22 June is
the 555th anniversary of the siege of
Belgrade, when Hungarian János Hunyádi
saw off Ottoman Turk troops who had been
laying siege to the border fortress in the city
then known to Hungarians as
Nándorfehérvár.
The Turks subsequently defeated the
Kingdom of Hungary at the southern town of
Mohács in 1526, heralding the start of a 150year
occupation. Mosques and minarets in
Pécs and Eger bear witness to this period.
Budapest was left with cupolaed thermal
baths such as the Rudas and the Király, while
the tomb of Dervish poet Gul Baba on
Rozsadomb remains a place of Muslim
pilgrimage.
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
ISSN 1785-1106
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Road deaths slowing,
alcohol in 1-in-10
The decline in the number of road accidents
has continued for the fifth year in a
row, the Central Statistical Office
announced last Tuesday. In 2010 the
number of accidents decreased 9 per cent
compared to 2009 and the toll also showed
a favourable trend: fatalities fell 14 per cent
and those involving serious injury dropped
11 per cent. Alcohol-related accidents
declined 17 per cent but around one-tenth
of crashes were caused under the influence.
Throughout last year 739 people –
among them 20 children – died on public
roads with 53 per cent of them blameless
victims. Nearly half of the dead drivers
were not wearing a safety belt.
Three charged over
Aquaworld tragedy
Three employees have been indicted over
the death in 2009 of a nine-year-old boy at
the Aquaworld baths complex in District IV,
state-owned Magyar Televízió (MTV)
reported last Tuesday. The victim was
sucked through a drainage hole into the
wave machinery of a surf pool in July 2009,
during the first summer season for the
huge new indoor complex. The technical
director, swimming pool superintendent
and an engineer have been charged with
causing death through professional negligence.
All three had known for several days that
the grill over the drainage hole had come
loose, a spokesman for the Budapest Chief
Prosecutor’s Office alleged on MTV’s afternoon
news programme. Instructors working
at the pool had informed their superiors on
numerous occasions in the days before the
death that the grating was moving,
Gabriella Skoda said. “Through their negligence
they created a dangerous situation
which directly caused the death of the
victim,” she alleged.
Ocean’s Two in Pécs
Two armed and masked men made off with
HUF 18 million (EUR 65,806) from a casino
in the Plaza shopping centre in Pécs last
Tuesday morning. The robbers tied up two
clerks before making good their escape.
“The police are investigating an armed
robbery and looking for the culprits,”
Baranya County police said. No more information
could be divulged at present
because it might jeopardise the investigation,
the police said.
Zóna pulls out of
crowded taxi market
The operator of Zóna Taxi, which until
December provided the airport taxi
service, has shut down its transportation
function, the company told state news
agency MTI last Friday. CEO István Veres
said the decision was reached because of
the oversupply in the Budapest market and
because executives did not see a chance
to resolve a dispute with Budapest Airport
within a reasonable time.
Betting
on a
baby
bonus
Government
seeks to reverse
population
decline after fall
below 10 million
ROBERT HODGSON
T
he population fell by 28,000
last year to under the
psychologically important
10 million mark, according to
figures released by the Central
Statistics Office KSH last Monday.
Only 90,350 children were born in
2010, down 6.3 per cent on 2009.
Junk bonds
Cold can’t keep down
flea market traders
S
Cash for kids
The government has already
made it clear that it aims to see “a
million more jobs over the next ten
years and a million more
Hungarians by 2030”. Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán’s conservative
administration has rejigged the
tax system to encourage larger families.
An income-tax rebate of HUF
ergey has been selling CDs at the flea market
in front of Petõfi Csarnok for two years now.
He would come here at least once a month
anyway even if he didn’t have financial problems
because it is his passion, he says (Sergey is not his
real name). As it is he sells at the market every
Saturday and Sunday from 7am to 2pm, although
“only the first 20 minutes is bearable”. Shivering he
hunches his shoulders and rocks back and forth on
tiptoes.
The weather is dry and piercingly cold but
around Sergey is a hive of activity as goods are
moved around in large checked carrier bags, on
hand trucks or in suitcases.
Bargain-hunters, collectors and nostalgics
inspect the goods laid out, some in more orderly
fashion than others, on trestle tables: second-hand
mobile phones, screwdrivers, a set of gleaming
surgical instruments and tattered top-shelf magazines
featuring busty blondes. Fashionistas can
purchase H&M tops with original price tags from
last season’s party collection, while those with lower
standards or less money to spare can rummage in
the mountains of old and sometimes faded
trousers, shirts and dresses. Cheap bright-red
lingerie can be found next to wooden picture
frames, aged Leica cameras, piles of yellowed
books, polished Lenin busts, car keys and sepia
family photographs with white borders carelessly
stored in a dirty box like used paper.
Behind the traders is the Petõfi Csarnok concert
hall with its ochre and rust-red metal arches.
Sergey, no longer the youngest, stands by his stall
amidst all the hustle and bustle. Before him are the
objects that make his eyes light up: countless CDs.
He knows and likes every single one of them.
“They may not be right up to date but they’re
good,” he says with a laugh. The fact that they
might soon no longer be his does not worry him.
He loves good music and CDs but he also loves
selling them to people who will value them.
33,000 (EUR 120.19) a month per
child was introduced this year for
working parents with three or more
children.
The rebate clearly favours the
middle classes, however. In order to
benefit fully from the pro-family tax
system, you have to be paying at
least HUF 100,000 (EUR 364.21) a
month in income tax. With a new 16
per cent flat rate introduced, those
in this category would be well above
the average gross wage level of
around HUF 200,000 (EUR 728.44)
a month. Nevertheless, many low- to
middle-income families will pay
little or no income tax if they have
three or more children. The rebate
per child if you only have one or two
is a relatively modest HUF 10,000
(EUR 36.64): clearly the aim is to
encourage wage-earning families to
have more kids.
Because he is always collecting and swapping with
friends all over Europe, there is simply no more
space for them all at home.
Many making ends meet
Already rather generous
Whether the tax break will have
a significant effect on population
dynamics remains to be seen.
Mothers have long enjoyed up to
three years of maternity leave, with
the first six months on 70 per cent
of their full wage.
Nevertheless, the country has
one of the lowest fertility rates in
Europe. An average Hungarian
woman produces just 1.33 children,
according to the most recent
survey from the European Union’s
number-crunching department
Eurostat.
Policies tried out in recent years,
such as state subsidies for young
married couples planning to start
a family looking to buy a first
home, appear to have yielded little
in the way of a baby boom.
Sergey estimates that only around a quarter of
people selling at the flea market have made their
hobby into a way of making money as he has. He is
convinced that more than half of the traders would
sell anything or even everything possible simply to
be able to survive. The stall of an old married
couple, well wrapped up against the elements,
seems to confirm Sergey’s point: above a white
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
The government wants to have a million more Hungarians by 2030. Since the start of the year, families with three or more kids will
receive an income tax rebate of HUF 33,000, provided they already pay a minimum of HUF 100,000 a month in income tax.
Issue across Europe
No EU country has a fertility rate
as high as 2.1, which a demographic
rule of thumb holds is the minimum
needed merely to sustain a population
level. Those that come closest are
France, with a rate of two, and
Scandinavian countries, all of which
have long-standing systems of social
support for mothers and children.
The government is using
Hungary’s six-month EU Presidency
as an opportunity to raise the issue at
the European level. A “Population
Issues and Policies Awareness Week”
will begin in late March to coincide
with an informal meeting of ministers.
Europe as a whole is faced with
an ageing population and the
prospect of having to rely on immigration
in the coming decades to fill
jobs and keep the economy afloat.
Hawkers bring out their tables on weekends at the Petõfi
Csarnok, Zichy Mihály út 14, District XIV.
crocheted doily and fogged-up silver forks hang a
fur cap and a black male g-string. And there are
those traders who have shops but also sell their
wares at the market at weekends. Sergey believes
they make up 25 to 30 per cent of the sellers.
His love of music has helped him to form links
with many people. Born Russian, he speaks six
languages: “I think people need to talk to understand
each other,” is his simple explanation. Sergey
has lived in Budapest for 12 years. Together with
his wife he owns a small language school and
teaches English and Russian.
Although he has had to sell at the market since
the peak of the economic crisis in summer 2009 for
financial reasons, Sergey does not regard money as
his top priority. “Sometimes I give CDs away if I see
that somebody can’t afford them,” he says. If it were
not for the music he would not come here, he says.
“Money can stink, you know!” he rages. He spends
two days here a week nolens volens, so to speak. But
he may not do so for much longer. Sergey is confident
that the economy will pick up next year.
– Konstanze Faßbinder
BZT/Aaron Taylor
BZT/Aaron Taylor (2)
03
NNEWSS

04
ANNAALLYYSSIISS CCOOMMMENNTT
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
ELENI TSAKOPOULOS KOUNALAKIS
A
gainst the backdrop of the
Middle East and the historic
changes taking place, we
have seen the power of the internet
to inspire, motivate, mobilise and
transmit instantaneously pictures
and eyewitness accounts.
As a result, from Tunisia to Egypt
to Iran, governments have
attempted to shut down or severely
restrict access to the internet. We
join those voices calling for protection
of the freedom to seek and
share information over the internet
or, as Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton has termed it, the freedom
to connect. Freedom of assembly,
speech, expression and association
need to apply in cyberspace just as
they do in the physical world.
It was just over 20 years ago that
images plastered television screens
around the world of Hungarians
demonstrating for freedom. Who
can forget the electric atmosphere –
throughout the free world – of
watching these protests against
tyranny and oppression? Whether
it was 1989, or 1956, Hungarians
are well acquainted with the
dangers associated with rising up
against a totalitarian regime, even
without the benefit of Twitter or
Facebook.
Global town square
The internet has become the
public sphere of the 21st century – it
is the global town square. The kind
of civic activism we have seen
recently in Tahrir Square or saw back
in 1989 in Heroes and Kossuth
squares occurs increasingly on and
through the internet. Through this
discourse, new dimensions of
debates that we have been having for
centuries re-emerge: how best to
govern, administer justice, pursue
prosperity and create the conditions
for long-term progress, both within
and across borders.
As we contemplate these questions,
we should also recognise that
they go beyond the sphere of human
rights issues alone. Also at stake are
our aspirations for mutual economic
prosperity. The openness of the
internet allows it to serve as an
engine of innovation and economic
growth. We have seen investment
and prosperity flow to those nations
that make openness the hallmark of
their internet policy.
Striking a balance
So the stakes are high. And the
choices we face are familiar. But the
space in which we confront them is
not. How do we balance liberty and
security? Transparency and confidentiality?
Freedom of expression
while fostering tolerance and
harmony?
First, far too often liberty and
security are seen as mutually exclusive
but we need both; and we need
to be governed by the rule of law.
Our allegiance to it does not vanish
in cyberspace nor does our commitment
to civil liberties. Governments
that arrest bloggers, pry into the
peaceful activities of their citizens
and limit or close off access to information
under the guise of keeping
people safe are fooling no one.
Second, we must protect both
transparency and confidentiality.
Citizens have a right to information
about their government, and governments
should be held to a high standard
when invoking confidentiality as
they must serve the public. But all
governments require a degree of
confidentiality when dealing with
matters such as public safety and
national security. For example,
should government plans on how to
confront violent drug cartels be
posted for those cartels to read?
Third, we must seek to protect free
expression while at the same time
fostering tolerance. The best way to
do this is to promote more speech
not to limit it. Exposing and challenging
offensive speech, rather than
suppressing it, allows for public
scrutiny and response. In the
marketplace of ideas, those ideas
with merit will become stronger and
those without merit will in time fade
away.
1956 and 1989
Hungarians have a proud tradition
of encouraging and inspiring
others to strive for democracy and
individual liberties. The world
remembers 1956 and 1989, and as a
result there exists an expectation that
Hungary can and should continue to
play a leading role in advocating for
freedom of expression around the
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
Austerity surely must come: the wait of the nation
Policy Solutions: Fidesz must try its best to sell a U-turn in economic policy
The Prime Minister caused some
surprise earlier this month when
he chose not to specify his government’s
eagerly awaited economic
reforms but simply prepared the
ground for them. Viktor Orbán might not only
leave the bad news for others but he also tries
hard to divert attention from the most delicate
issues. With careful planning he has a chance to
make the reforms succeed, but it still looks as
though this spring will be the most challenging
period for his party’s honeymoon with voters
since taking office.
State of the Nation speeches have become
established parts of the national political culture
in the last 13 years. It was as prime minister that
Orbán introduced this institution and set the
frame of what to expect from these seasonopening
addresses throughout the years. His
speeches were never meant to be concrete policy
guidelines for the upcoming months but were
rather characterised by some general statements
on the Fidesz vision for the country. Since he
decided to evaluate the national political situation
he has mostly opted for motivating his voting
base with combative language and catchy
metaphors, instead of trying to reach out to new
target groups or to please analysts.
Postponed reform details
In spite of this past experience expectations
were high before this year’s State of the Nation
speeches because the Orbán cabinet had stressed
that a substantial reform package would be
announced in February. Moreover, when political
commentators lamented about the lack of details
regarding the government’s reform agenda after
the first public speech to party faithful, some
Fidesz politicians suggested waiting until Orbán’s
second speech in parliament, which would
contain the eagerly awaited economic measures.
However, after two tries we still do not know how
the government plans to fill the gap in the
budget, which was adversely affected by the introduction
of flat tax.
Leaving the bad news for others
There is a simple explanation for why the
Hungarian public and many foreign investors
and analysts should not have hoped for many
new details. Orbán himself normally does not
announce controversial measures. Even his short
time in office since the landslide Fidesz victory
has proved that these hard tasks usually fall to
other leading politicians of his party, often on
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán himself normally does not announce controversial measures: János Lázár announced
the curtailment of the powers of the Constitutional Court; György Matolcsy, the nationalisation of the private
pension savings; Antal Rogán, the media law.
those who have been mentioned as his future
rivals. It is probably enough to illustrate this by
listing the three most influential victims of the last
few months.
It was János Lázár, leader of the Fidesz parliamentary
group, who announced the curtailment
of the powers of the Constitutional Court to the
media. György Matolcsy, the Minister for
Economy, got the “opportunity” to fight a few
months for the nationalisation of the private
pension savings. The party’s rising star and
mayor of Budapest’s District V, Antal Rogán, was
also given a part in announcing the difficult decisions.
Rogán, who is usually held as a “liberal”
within Fidesz, was the official presenter of the
governing party’s most controversial legislation
so far, the “not-so-liberal” media law.
Preparing the ground
That some heavy austerity measures will come,
even if with some delay, is already known from the
tone used by the Prime Minister. Orbán used his
double opportunity to portray the image of a
country that is only one step away from the abyss.
For this reason, according to him, the right-wing
government has to deal with “Hungary’s last
chance” and save the country from complete
failure.
The dramatic words clearly indicate that
Orbán has learnt the lessons of former PM
Gyurcsány’s attempt to balance the budget with
belt-tightening measures in 2006. At the beginning
of the term the Socialist PM raised taxes and
announced various cost-cutting measures despite
not saying a word about the country’s economic
problems in the electoral campaign. In
Gyurcsány’s case there was a huge gap between
the promises and the deeds, and such will be the
situation for Orbán.
However, it is a big difference that four years
ago austerity came without any previous indication,
but now Fidesz must try its best to sell the Uturn
in economic policy as a must, driven by the
realities of the world economy and the hard
legacy of the former socialist-led governments. It
is still a risky game for Fidesz though, and being
aware of the materialistic values of the Hungarian
society we believe that this spring will be tough
for the cash-strapped government.
It won’t be all about austerity
In light of what can be expected in the
economy it would be in the government’s best
interest to focus the attention on other issues.
There are some important signs that Fidesz has
already elaborated a strategy to push other
important topics into the limelight. One potentially
interesting and on-going topic might be the
government’s accountability agenda, since – as
Orbán put it in his first State of the Nation speech
The internet has become the global town square
‘Exposing & challenging offensive speech, rather than suppressing it, allows for public scrutiny’
Fidesz/Csaba Pelsoczy
– “there is significant demand” concerning a
couple of corruption scandals involving highlevel
Socialist politicians.
It is also hardly a question that the drafting
process of the new Constitution is a topic that will
be high on the media agenda. Moreover, parliament
will be working similarly to a
“Constitutional Assembly” from 15 March until
the acceptance of the new document, which it is
said will occur on 18 April. This means that
parliament will not discuss any other important
issue for more than a month, which makes it
possible for Orbán to talk in public about
symbolic issues rather than hard-core economic
policies.
We must also mention that writing a new
Constitution does not seem to be an easy task for
the government any more. Not only might
tensions between the coalition parties be more
severe in the next months, but it is also a huge
question whether Fidesz can attract the opposition
parties back to the process. The latter is
extremely important if Orbán wishes to avoid
adopting a Constitution with the least parliamentary
support in the whole post-communist region.
As our political research institute demonstrated
in a study a few weeks ago, it is without
precedent that a Constitution be accepted by only
one party alliance, without the backing of any
opposition party. Bearing this in mind, Fidesz
launched several initiatives to broaden support
for the new document: it started a national
consultation by sending out questionnaires to all
citizens and was successful in convincing ex-
Hungarian Socialist Party member Katalin Szili to
join its committee that oversees the consultation.
The governing parties are trying hard to draw the
green-left party LMP back to the table as well.
These desperate attempts show that Fidesz is
well aware of the risk of what can happen if it
accepts a “Constitution of one party” instead of a
“Constitution of the nation”. This would link the
popularity of the new document to the popularity
of Fidesz directly. For now, Fidesz’s lead in the
opinion polls is not in danger but a Constitution
in any democracy is designed at least for several
decades. And thus the risk is high that with the
possible decline of Fidesz’s popularity in the next
years, the support of Hungarians for the new
Constitution would slip as well.
– www.policysolutions.hu
world. Perhaps this is why the debate
over the new media laws caused such
widespread interest and concern. We
welcome the government’s agreement
with the European
Commission on amendments that
will bring the legislation into
harmony with EU regulations.
Opinions on media law
What has been striking
throughout this debate is how
Hungarians have not been shy about
making their thoughts known and
voices heard. People are exercising
their right to free expression,
including on the internet. As we
follow the adoption of the amendments
and the implementation of
the media laws, we expect people
around the country will continue to
speak their minds. Such a vigorous
public debate is proof of
Hungarians’ commitment to
freedom. Every Hungarian can be
proud of that.
– Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis is the
US Ambassador to Hungary. (Originally
published in the left-of-centre daily
Népszabadság on 22 February.)

THE BUDAPEST TIMES 28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011 05
Fidesz
director
steps into
FTC hot seat
SEAN SAMPSON
M
G
Minority hires will have to work in future
Money for nothing to end soon for Macedonian civil servants
acedonia’s government has
promised to give minority
employees work to do after
two years of getting paid for staying
at home, Balkan Insight reported last
Tuesday.
Around 700 minority civil servants
will be affected by the back-to-work
Newer EU members suffer
in the loo, bath
Forty-three per cent of Romanians live in homes with
no indoor flushing toilet, the Romanian Times reported
last Wednesday, citing figures from Eurostat. A chilly
night run to the loo is also reality for 26 per cent of
Bulgarians and 17 per cent of people in the Baltic
states of Latvia and Lithuania. In 15 wealthier
European Union countries the proportion is under one
per cent. Romania also leads the way in the lack of
bath or shower, with 41 per cent of dwellings having
neither. It was followed in the unhygienic stakes by
Latvia (18 per cent) and Lithuania and Bulgaria (16
per cent). The Eurostat figures revealed that 58 per
cent of Latvians live in overcrowded dwellings followed
by Hungary and Romania on 55 per cent, Poland and
Lithuania on 49 per cent and Bulgaria on 47 per cent.
ábor Kubatov, the party
director of the governing
Fidesz, announced on
Facebook last Friday that he will
accept the nomination to become
the new president of Hungary's
most popular football club, FTC.
Kubatov was asked to lead the
organisation after the previous
head quit when the British owner of
the club's football section decided
not to finance the team any longer.
order. “We expect them to be
assigned to their work posts within 30
to 45 days,” government spokesman
Muhamed Hoxha said.
Price of peace
The non-working employees got
their jobs as a result of the 2001
Ohrid Peace Accord, in which the
government agreed to increase the
The new leader faces difficult challenges
with numerous sport
sections of FTC in disarray and the
company managing the football
team seeking a new owner.
UK businessman Kevin McCabe
had announced in the previous
week that he was ready to give
away the squad for a symbolic
amount but he wanted to negotiate
on the property surrounding the
stadium. Kubatov, who at the time
Russian patriarch denies
luxury house allegations
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church,
Patriarch Kirill, is the latest public figure to ruffle
feathers by allegedly getting a luxury residence,
The Moscow Times reported last Tuesday. The
church said the building near Divnomorskoye in
the Krasnodar region was intended as a “spiritual
and cultural centre” but critics have labelled it the
“Patriarch’s Dacha”.
The news followed allegations that a palace is
being built at Gelendzhik for Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin at an estimated cost of around USD
1 billion, which caused outrage in Russia.
“Of course, the ‘Patriarch’s Dacha’ looks much
more modest than ‘Putin’s Palace’ but it’s clear
that it’s expensive,” Dmitry Shevchenko, an activist
was simply a member of the
presidium, replied: "The club (which
is a separate entity from the football
team) is certainly interested in
buying back the team and the property
but this is only possible if the
current owner maintains the
financing until the deal happens."
After his election Kubatov held a
short press conference at which he
noted that the only way forward for
FTC was order. "There will not be
number of employees from minorities
who were under-represented in
the state apparatus.
The deal mainly affects members
of the disgruntled Albanian minority.
Earlier there had been six months of
clashes between Albanian rebels and
state forces. At present ethnic
Albanians make up 25 per cent of the
population but fill just 17 per cent of
posts in the civil service.
Bloated bureaucracy
Critics said the government is
already overstaffed and cannot
absorb more employees.
“The whole process is heading in
the wrong direction,” political
analyst Sefer Tahiri said. “Although
some institutions have marked an
increase in ethnic Albanian workers
this is all superficial because they
with Environment Watch North Caucasus, told The
Moscow Times. The group said the construction of
the patriarch’s building violated Russian environmental
laws.
Winter kills 179 in
Poland thus far
A total of 179 people have frozen to death since
the onset of winter in Poland. Most deaths
occurred in December (134) with lower numbers
succumbing in January (22) and February (23).
The threat of severe frosts last week prompted
police to ask the public to help the elderly and
inform officers about anyone they see asleep or
unconscious in parks or underground passages,
Polish Radio reported last Monday.
any secrets," he said, adding that
he expected the new leader of the
team to cooperate with the club.
A day before his election, former
CEO of the team Krisztián Berki
announced that his company and
McCabe had signed a letter of
intent about transferring ownership,
which would be handed over after
the next general meeting of the
company in two weeks.
Shortly after Kubatov was
elected president of FTC, agents of
the National Customs and Excise
Office (NAV) carried out a search
at Albert Stadium, which is the
headquarters of both the club and
the football team. It was reported
that they were looking for various
documents but NAV had not
commented before The Budapest
Times went to press last Friday.
– Attila Leitner
stay at home. This benefits no one,
neither them nor the administration.”
The government has not given
any information on the cost to the
taxpayer of the idle state
employees. But the daily newspaper
Dnevnik calculated that most receive
EUR 200-400 a month, making
their total cost some EUR 4 million
per year.
Take a pay rise and don’t
call me in the morning
The Czech Republic last week approved a pay rise
for doctors who had threatened to resign en
masse in protest at their low salaries, Radio
Prague reported.
The deal between the minister of health and
unions representing doctors will mean a pay
increase of some 10-16 per cent. Annual
increases of around 10 per cent will continue until
a doctor’s salary reaches three times the national
average.
Around 3,800 doctors had handed in their resignations,
threatening the collapse of the health
system, but most have now agreed to stay.
– Sean Sampson
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06
WHHAATT LIIEESS BEENNEEAATTHH
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
W
Hidden depths
hen I was seven, my 22-year-old
cousin was old, which made my 40year-old
aunt very old and my
grandmother positively ancient. Age was
relative – relative to me. If I were to apply this
same logic today, I’d have just passed the
“very old” mark and would be making slow
but steady progress towards antiquity.
I have an inbuilt “carbon-dating” mechanism
when it comes to putting an age on
something, or someone. It doesn’t work very
well; I’m rarely right. But that doesn’t stop
me from attempting to date-stamp people,
places and things. I grew up with expressions
that lent credence and respect to the ageing
process and helped somehow to give register
to age: as old as Methuselah, as old as the
hills, as old as humanity. The fact that I didn’t
know who Methuselah was, or which hills or
when humanity actually began was irrelevant.
These expressions gave voice to the sentiment
that age could be referenced; it could
be put into context without having to know
the exact “when”.
Age is relative
The concept of age fascinates me, not so
much as a labelling device but more as a testimony
to endurance. In today’s throw-away
society there’s something very comforting in
knowing that some things have been
around… well, forever. They have a fixed
place in our collective memory and indeed in
the memories of all those who have gone
before us.
On my register, Hinduism is the oldest religion,
Damascus is the oldest city and
wrestling is the oldest sport. Ireland has the
oldest-known fields in the world (the céide
fields which come complete with original
stone walls), Hungary has the second-oldest
metro system and Oxford the third-oldest
university.
It wasn’t until I moved to the USA that I
fully appreciated the newness of old. I lived
in Longview, Washington, a city the same age
as Northern Ireland. The idea of someone
planning and building a city as recently as
1921 surprised me. I visited a plantation
house in South Carolina with furniture roped
off to preserve it because it was so old; that
same furniture would have looked at home in
my grandmother’s sitting room.
Words like “vintage” and “antique” hold a
certain appeal for me. The Hungarian word
antikvárium trips off the tongue with the same
sprightliness as the English word antiquarian,
despite there being a world of
difference between second-hand and
antique.
Standing the test of time
I’m used to old. I like old. And some days
I feel old. And yet, despite my penchant for
all things aged, my first visit to the megalithic
Mnajdra temples in Malta left me
strangely unmoved. It was perhaps their
crudity: post and lintel construction with
large slabs of limestone? Yep, about as interesting
as a pile of rocks in a field. Ditto with
Hagar Qim. I learned something new about
myself. “Old” has to go hand-in-hand with
“interesting” – age for age’s sake just doesn’t
cut it any more. So when a friend suggested
visiting the hypogeum at Hal-Saflieni I
wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit. Malta
and her ruins just weren’t registering!
The hypogeum is an underground temple
consisting of three floors with a series of
interconnecting chambers, the most stunning
of which is the “Holy of Holies”, a
beautifully carved replica of a temple
facade. Hewn from rock using stone
hammers, chisels, flint blades and antler
picks nearly 5,000 years ago, it is a true
testament to patience and perseverance. It
personifies the best of both worlds – old and
interesting. When it was first discovered,
back in 1902, the remains of over 7,000
people were found deep in its chambers.
But even more amazing still, it’s in the
middle of the town of Paola, down a side
street, beneath a row of houses!
Eyes to heaven
When I walk, I tend to look up, at
gargoyles, at rooftops, at church steeples. But
since my visit to the hypogeum I’ve been
thinking a little more about what I might be
walking over. Little did I know that all those
times I walked across the Charles Bridge in
Prague I was actually walking on eggshells.
Or that while strolling along Via Appia in
Rome, a parallel world of catacombs snaked
beneath my feet. Strolling through the old
city of Mdina last week I was surprised to
hear that there is an ancient Roman city lying
underground.
It’s made me look at Budapest in a new
light. So much of what I see in this city is
above ground: spectacular buildings,
contemporary graffiti, myriad statues. But
what lies beneath? Underground? Is there a
depth to this city, as is so often found in her
people, that remains largely unexplored?
– Mary Murphy is a freelance writer who will be
paying more attention to potholes and pincék as she
wanders around the city. You can contact her at
mary@irjjol.com
THE BUDAPEST TIMES

THE BUDAPEST TIMES
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Staff, earnings
show mediocre rise
The average number of employees in
corporations employing at least five
persons and in budgetary institutions
increased by 1.5 per cent last year
compared to 2009, the Central Statistical
Office has announced. Over 2010
average gross and net earnings rose 1.4
per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively and
real earnings grew 1.9 per cent, mainly
due to the change in measures
concerning personal income tax.
Comparing December 2010 to December
2009 real wages declined 3.8 per cent,
which analysts attributed to the postponement
of bonus payments.
Suzuki falls far
from top sales spot
Based on preliminary data, the Hungarian
affiliate of car maker Suzuki closed 2010
with HUF 428 billion (EUR 1.57 billion) in
revenues, similar to 2009, business daily
Napi Gazdaság said last Wednesday.
While the 170,000 cars rolling off the
production line was somewhat of an
increase, Suzuki finished only seventh in
last year’s ranking, after leading sales for
a decade and a half. It said the reason
was that the new car market was mostly
powered by fleet sales, which is not a
strong area for Suzuki. It is starting to
produce vehicles with diesel engines and
will introduce a new model next year.
Caviar keeps
Silver Fish buoyant
Export demand has prompted Vésztõbased
Silver Fish to begin construction of
a sturgeon-processing and caviarproducing
plant in March, business daily
Napi Gazdaság said last week. Sixty per
cent of the HUF 220 million (EUR
803,000) investment will be financed by
EU subsidies and sales are expected to
reach 1.5 tons by the end of the year.
Bulgarian reflects
well for Elmib
The Bulgarian affiliate of Hungarianowned
Elmib will construct a EUR 30
million solar plant in Sungurlare, company
chairman Péter Reicher announced last
week. The plant, to be completed by
autumn 2012, will have 15 MW capacity
and capitalise on the region having
among the most hours of sunshine in
Bulgaria.
Retail sales slump
stretches into fourth year
The volume of retail sales fell 1.7 per cent in December and by 2.3
per cent in all 2010 compared to the same periods of 2009, the
Central Statistical Office announced last week. It means domestic
retail turnover continued the declining trend that began in 2007 and
followed drops of 3, 3.9 and 5.2 per cent in the previous years. In
2010 the volume of sales in non-specialised stores (hypermarkets,
supermarkets, groceries - having a major, 91 per cent market share)
declined 3.3 per cent. According to a Eurostat first estimate, in
December 2010 the yr-on-yr volume of retail sales decreased 0.1 per
cent in the 27 member states of the European Union and by 0.9 in the
eurozone compared to December 2009.
Official banks chosen to
bring home the illicit bacon
State Financial Supervisory Authority PSZÁF last Wednesday named
the ten banks that individuals can use to bring home money kept in
offshore accounts or offshore companies. As an incentive, parliament
decided last year that private persons who repatriate their finances
from abroad will have to pay only a 10 per cent tax. Other banks can
be used but only clients of those on the PSZÁF list are eligible for the
discounted tax rate. The 10 are Budapest Bank, CIB, Erste, FHB,
K&H, Volksbank, MKB, OTP, Raiffeisen and UniCredit.
H1 profit evaporates
as crisis tax on banks clicks in
The bank sector recorded a HUF 58 billion (EUR 211.81 million) pretax
profit and a HUF 38 billion (EUR 138.77 million) after-tax profit in
2010, declines of 76 and 82 per cent respectively, the State Financial
Supervisory Authority announced last Wednesday. In Q3 the segment
posted a HUF 60 billion (EUR 219.12 million) loss and the fourth
quarter was HUF 41 billion (EUR 149.73 million) in the red. According
to financial website portfolio.hu, in the second half of the year the
bank tax put a HUF 120 billion (EUR 438.25 million) burden on the
sector, without which the bankers could have had another profitable
half.
The new majority will rule
T
he national assembly voted last
Monday to change the rules on
appointing central bank rate setters.
Hitherto the four “external” members of the
Hungarian National Bank’s (MNB) ratesetting
Monetary Policy Council were
appointed two each by the prime minister
and the governor of the bank.
New rules voted through by Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán’s conservative
government mean that parliament will
appoint all four new MPC members when
The announcement of the long-awaited
structural reforms and expenditure
cuts has been delayed once again.
Last week indicated a muddle in the
Orbán administration as the spokeswoman
for the government and the spokesman for
the prime minister promised different deadlines for
publishing details of the so-called reform package.
It is a portentous reminder of the way the
Gyurcsány government dealt with reforms; unable to
make up its mind to take the necessary and expected
steps, and to gather professional allies such as
doctors and teachers for its restructuring.
Words not worth much any more
The markets are waiting for the Orbán government
to fulfil its promises, highlighted in an interview
in The Wall Street Journal more than a month
ago. In this article in January a few words about the
expenditure cuts were enough to reassure the
markets and investors about the fiscal sustainability
of Hungary. Now investors say beautiful words are
not enough and they are fed up with the apparent
indecisiveness. The main problem is that if a general
scepticism arises on the investor side, the market
simply won’t believe the government’s will to implement
its strict measures when it does finally
announce them.
Cannot get there without any pain
There are some general, long-lasting reasons
behind the delay that are important to notice.
Authorities are still working on the package but
there is no consensus behind them even within the
the tenure of the incumbents
expires at the end of March. As
the government controls twothirds
of seats, it will effectively
be able to hand-pick the new
members.
At odds over policy
Orbán and senior members
of his Fidesz party, both in oppo- András Simor
sition and since taking office last May, have
government and the parliamentary majority. The
Ministry for National Economy led by György
Matolcsy is struggling to identify the most suitable
and politically acceptable means of economic governance
and the least painful ways of saving money.
Although the main problems identified in a short
study published by the ministry (e.g. high indebtedness,
low activity rate) are the same as months and
years ago, it seems that there are no radical new ways
of therapy. It also means that political storms after
announcing the programs will be inevitable.
Principles fall in face of popularity
Orbán was fast to defend the public transport
allowances of pensioners (three million people), thus
revealing an obvious fear of popularity loss by the
government. The most specific measure published
so far by the end of February has been the
“hamburger tax”, an extra tax paid by persons who
live a harmful life, for example eating too much fast
food. The hesitation is understandable because the
number of voters who will feel the negative consequences
of these measures is vast.
The government wants to reduce the number of
people on disability pensions, about 800,000.
Cutting welfare rolls is a recurring topic: there are
about 300,000 people receiving unemployment
benefits and long-term welfare. The reducing of
drug subsidies announced several weeks ago will
save HUF 100 billion (EUR 366.17 million) a year.
Plus there was a HUF 250 billion (EUR 915.26
million) ban regarding government spending to
keep the deficit under its projected level.
While the specific measures are under elaboration,
the preparation of the new Constitution is
serving as a means to calm investors. Deputy prime
minister Tibor Navracsics said the new document
will impose a cap on state debt of around 55-60 per
cent, in a similar way to Poland.
Car insurance sector the worst off
but life insurance has a heartbeat
The nominal worth of insurance revenues increased 1.6 per cent in
2010 but due to the 4.9 per cent inflation the real value of the market
declined, National Association of Insurers MABISZ announced last
week. According to its data the car insurance sector suffered the
biggest drop, and although the value of life insurances increased
overall, revenues from perpetual contracts declined and the amount
of cancelled long-term insurances was also high.
Surgut keeps MOL stake
Russian energy giant Surgutneftegaz has no intention of selling its
large stake in Hungarian peer MOL, Russian deputy prime minister
Igor Sechin told business daily Vedomosti last week. The Russian
firm considers MOL as one of its best investments, the senior politician
responsible for the Russian energy sector said. There has been
speculation in Hungary recently that the state might be considering a
buy-out of Surgut's stake in the nation's largest going concern. The
Russian firm, which is presumed to have close ties to the Kremlin,
acquired its 21.2 per cent stake in MOL in 2009 from the Austrian firm
OMV after the latter's failed hostile takeover bid.
One-fifth of 2011 city budget
focuses on metro, bus lanes
Budapest plans to spend HUF 117 billion (EUR 428.11 million) on
various transport projects in 2011, with the bulk (some 63 per cent)
to be spent on construction of the fourth metro line and an additional
HUF 17.5 billion (EUR 64.03 million) allocated to buy new subway
cars for the red line. Above-ground transportation improvements will
receive HUF 970 million (EUR 3.55 million), mostly to develop bus
lanes. Other projects include completing the first phase of Csepel's
new bypass road, the erection of numerous noise protection walls
and 15 kilometres of new bicycle lanes to be constructed from HUF
782 million (EUR 2.86 million). Last Thursday the city council
approved its 2011 budget. It plans to spend HUF 503 billion (EUR
1.84 billion) and run up a deficit of HUF 55 billion (EUR 201.97
million), with scant reserves of HUF 4 billion (14.65 million). The
opposition members either voted against the budget or abstained
been severe critics of what they
see as overly hawkish central
bank policy. Earlier last Monday,
the Monetary Policy Council
voted at a monthly rate-setting
meeting to keep the base rate
on hold at 6 per cent. This came
after three consecutive months
of 25-basis-point raises.
Analysts have noted that more
doveish, pro-Fidesz appointees
could now be appointed to the council, of
Deficit figures out
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
Parliament to appoint 4 out
of 7 central bank rate setters
which central bank governor András
Simor and his two deputies make up the
“internal” members.
Those polled by local media such as
financial news website portfolio.hu generally
think it likely that the bank will immediately
embark on a series of rate cuts.
Simor warned before the vote in parliament
that a perception of any government
encroachment on the independence of
the MNB could lead to an adverse reaction
by the international markets.
Uncertainty as markets await reform
Analysis: Confused atmosphere offers fertile ground for fear, conjecture
Ideological divide in coalition
The economic package seems to be highly
uncertain in itself, but there are other conflicts
within the government and about other possible
fields of structural reform that may hinder the
introduction of the measures mentioned so far.
There is a slow rapprochement regarding education
policy between the ideologically strictly
committed Christian-democratic (KDNP) politicians
and the more pragmatic view of Fidesz. The
smaller coalition partner may also feel effaced
because in preparing the Constitution Fidesz is
attempting to include the opposition as well to
broaden the legitimacy of this epoch-making move.
Opposition outside parliament
However, that means compromises are needed
regarding abortion and the emphasis on traditional
Christian-democratic values. An extraparliamentary
opposition is forming as well to
tackle the effects of the income tax cut that
favoured mostly high-income earners but which
means less income for others. Unions will launch a
loud campaign on this issue, while healthcare
reform is also unsolved and the patience of doctors
is over.
The delay in Orbán’s state-spending reforms
does not mean he will ultimately try to avoid
making the tough but necessary decisions.
However, the atmosphere of uncertainty offers
fertile ground for fear and conjecture, which may
damage Fidesz’s standing in the markets and
consequently, in the long run, among voters. It is
not a question of what to do but rather of when and
how. According to a Hungarian saying (Az ördög a
részletekben rejlik), the devil is hiding in the details.
Hungary ran a budget deficit of HUF 122.8 billion (EUR 448.81 million)
in January, preliminary figures from the economy ministry showed last
Tuesday. Income tax revenue was down almost 20 per cent to HUF
172.2 billion (EUR 629.59 million), mainly due to the abolition of the
upper tax band and introduction of a flat rate of 16 per cent.
Crisis puts a new home
out of reach for many
In 2010, 20,823 new homes received occupancy permits, a 35 per cent
drop on 2009, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) announced last
Wednesday. The number of construction permits declined by an even
steeper 39 per cent to 17,353 for the entire year. The economic crisis thus
had a bigger effect in 2010 than in 2009 when the number of new homes
declined 11 per cent. KSH said the end of the 1990s was the last time
when the number of new dwellings fell to such a low level and the issuing
of new permits is the lowest ever experienced. The slightly more than
20,000 occupancy permits is more than a 50 per cent drop compared to
2004 when more than 44,000 new homes welcomed their occupants.
Magyar Telekom puts brave
face on declines
– Péter Krekó
Although the revenues and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortisation) of Hungary's biggest telecommunications
service provider, Magyar Telekom, were down by 5.3 and 5.5 per cent
respectively, the decline was smaller than expected by the company and
analysts. Retail voice revenues, both fixed and mobile, fell in all three
countries in which the company is present and Hungarian data revenues
dropped as well. The declines were partly offset by growing domestic TV,
mobile internet and IT revenues. "The promising trends can mostly be
observed in the Hungarian residential market," chairman and CEO
Christopher Mattheisen said. "Mobile usage clearly increased in 2010
and churn due to non-payment significantly declined in the last quarters."
Mattheisen said the number of mobile subscribers returned to growth
after a slight drop in 2009. "The stronger-than-expected results are also
driven by the lower than expected impact of government austerity
measures," he said. As indicated earlier, rather than taking one big hit in
2010 the impact would be spread over several years.
07
ECONNOMY//BBUSIINESSS

08
BUSINEESSSS/ECONOOMY
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011 THE BUDAPEST TIMES
In addition to the many well-known problems of a
largely economic nature such as the excessively high state debt
and too-low employment rate, Hungary has serious political problems,
not least the inability and unwillingness of the various camps
to openly debate their differences of opinion in a
civilised manner directly with one another.
Last Wednesday the German
Business Club (DWC) provided the
forum for such a debate. In the framework
of a podium discussion titled
“Quo Vadis Magyarország?”
members of the government and
opposition expressed their thoughts
about the situations and prospects of
their country under more relaxed
circumstances than usual.
The government was represented
by Dr. Zoltán Kovács (Fidesz), state
secretary in the Ministry for Public
Administration and Justice. He was
backed up by media lawyer Márk
Lengyel. Their counterpart was
another Kovács, namely the
Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP)
veteran László Kovács, currently
deputy chairman of his party and
formerly party chairman, foreign
minister and EU commissioner, to
name the more important of his many
previous offices.
The evening was moderated by
Professor Dr. Ellen Bos, political
scientist at the Andrássy University
Budapest. The panel was flanked by
DWC board member Dr. Arne Gobert
(solicitor of the law firm Gobert, Fest
& Partners) and Jan Mainka
(publisher of Budapester Zeitung and
The Budapest Times). The session
was opened by DWC president
Manfred Bey, who in his welcoming
speech made no secret of his delight
that the club was providing the stage
for one of the rare meetings between
the government and opposition
outside parliament.
In the discussion lasting just under
two hours the topics of crisis
management, structural reforms,
democracy and media law were
systematically addressed. Below are
extracts from the debate, in which the
opinions of the two leading politicians
naturally took precedence. Since
Zoltán Kovács as representative of
the government was asked for his
views more frequently than László
Kovács, the state secretary features
more heavily in the extracts. First the
opening remarks:
Zoltán Kovács: Nine months ago
there was an unusual result, even for
the Hungarian election system: a
party alliance made up of Fidesz and
the KDNP achieved a two-thirds
majority, allowing it to start working
through the necessary tasks, some
of which have been known for a long
time and result from the experiences
of the past 20 years. (…) Our aims
are incredibly ambitious. Behind
them lies above all the recognition
that our country has somewhere got
off track and lost its way.
In our view Hungary has reached
a crossroads, where we have to
break with a form of politics resting
merely on illusions and empty words.
Instead action and genuine change
must take centre stage. In the past
eight years Hungary forfeited its
leading role in the region and lagged
behind in Europe. It even came to
such regrettable events as 2006,
when the government turned against
its own people. Our government has
taken over the helm with the determination
to press ahead with renewing
the country and perform the tasks
that no government was willing to or
able to carry out in the past 20 years.
We want to create the conditions
for Hungary’s sustainable development,
a development that in every
respect corresponds to the norms
that Hungary has committed itself to,
and to the expectations that Hungary
wishes to live up to as a member of
the EU and numerous other international
organisations.
László Kovács: I certainly agree
with the state secretary on one point,
namely that such encounters are
very useful. (…) If somebody had
asked me at the time of the accession
negotiations how far away
Hungary was from being a member
state capable of fitting in harmonically
with the European community, I
would have said: “We are not far off
now. We are on the threshold.” If I
were asked the same question today
I would say that we have got further
away from that.
(…) It is not possible to deliver a
final verdict about a government that
has only been in power for ten
months. Our serious economic problems
remain unsolved and in some
cases have even deepened. Social
differences have grown significantly.
The gap between the top 10 per cent
and the rest of the population has
expanded. For many the standards of
living have worsened. Democracy
and constitutionality have suffered
serious damage. Hungary’s international
position has been somewhat
shaken, which I find particularly
painful as a former foreign minister.
Let’s trust that Hungary will find its
way back to the right path. The
current path is certainly not the right
path to meet the interests of the great
majority of the Hungarian people. In
terms of the previous eight years,
Fidesz would not have won such a
clear victory if our eight years had
been irreproachable. It is certainly the
case that the reforms intended by the
previous governments were
announced but not implemented.
That was also due to the strong resistance
of the then opposition.
The second reason is the international
financial and economic crisis,
which even affected the strongest
countries. Between the government
and the opposition there was dissent
regarding how the country could be
helped. The then opposition claimed
that the answer was not reducing
spending but tax cuts and
programmes to boost the economy.
In my opinion that path would have
been suicidal. It gives me a certain
belated satisfaction to see that even
the current government cannot avoid
taking the path that we set out on of
reducing spending.
(…) I cannot accept the accusation
that the government turned
against its own people in 2006. It
turned not against its own people but
against demonstrators who were not
protesting with peaceful aims. During
my time in Brussels I experienced
many such clashes between the
police of the democratic Belgium and
certain demonstrators.
Arne Gobert: The big picture that
Hungary presents to many investors
provides grounds for a certain degree
of uncertainty. In some cases it is so
strong that it overshadows the good
news. If you attend international
investor conferences on Hungary
abroad today, then the main questions
asked are not about how high
the company tax is or what investment
incentives are available but
about legal security and constitutionality.
I think that if such questions are
at the top of the agenda regarding a
country that is a member of the EU,
then there is a small problem somewhere
in terms of how the country
presents itself to the outside world.
Two questions occur to me: is the
uncertainty justified and what can be
done about it? I think it’s important for
all of us for Hungary to remain an
attractive investment location where
investors are happy to come and for
them to invest here rather than in the
neighbouring countries. (…) I think
we are all agreed that action needs to
be taken if the state budget is in a
precarious situation. The question is,
however, how these measures are
approached. For example, levying
taxes with retrospective effect can
seriously damage Hungary’s image
and prevent more investments from
coming to Hungary.
Ellen Bos: Are the government’s
measures against the economic
crisis effective?
Zoltán Kovács: In May 2010 the
new government took over control of
the Hungarian economy in a seemingly
orderly state. However, it soon
emerged that the last year’s budget
could not be kept.That is why we had
to resort to drastic measures. (…)
The crisis caught Hungary in 2008 in
a very vulnerable state. For that
reason its effects were much more
severe than they would have been
otherwise.
The crisis not only showed that the
economy is ailing but also highlighted
the presence of many unsustainable
structures. It demonstrated that not
only are there serious problems
within the economy but that the legal
and social circumstances also need
no crisis
of democracy
“There is in Hungary”
Crisis management, structural reforms, democracy and
the media law were addressed at the DWC’s podium
discussion “Quo Vadis Magyarország?” From left: DWC
board member Dr. Arne Gobert (solicitor of the law firm
to be improved. I see the institutionalisation
of corruption as a particular
problem. In any case the circumstances
that we discovered required
and justified the steps that we have
taken so far. The measures that we
have introduced in the past nine
months prevented the budget deficit
from climbing to over seven per cent.
We need more legal security
again. In terms of legal practice, I
think a revision of the legal system is
definitely necessary. In that context I
believe that a new Constitution needs
to be developed. (…) Incidentally, I
don’t find it normal at all for the police
to shoot at peaceful demonstrators,
as independent experts have also
confirmed. Such a thing must not
happen in a democratic country.
László Kovács: At the beginning
of September leading representatives
of the government described
Hungary as one of the world’s most
stable economies. Allegedly there
was order in the economy. Then
suddenly there was talk of the deficit
spiralling to over seven per cent. (…)
A few weeks after the election Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán boasted that
Hungary was the record holder within
the EU in terms of budget deficit
reduction. I am happy to agree with
that but it was the achievement of the
Bajnai government.
(…) Now it looks as though it has
been possible to rescue the budget in
the short term through measures like
levying special taxes and expropriating
private pension monies. My
concern, however, is that the
European Commission will express
doubts about the sustainability of the
convergence programme that the
Hungarian government is to submit
shortly. If structural reforms are not
carried out, then all the measures
taken will have achieved only temporary
successes.
Zoltán Kovács: The pension
funds in question were not genuine
private pension funds. The genuine
private pension funds will not be
touched by anyone in Hungary. We
respect them and support their existence.
The system of individual
savings is an important pillar of the
Hungarian pension system. The
mandatory private pension funds are
the problem.
It has been shown that this system
does not work well in Hungary. It took
significant funds away from the first
pillar of the pension system, i.e. the
state pillar. This is a step that should
have been taken a long time ago. We
will use the resulting revenues to
reduce the state debt, rather than
speculate them away.
László Kovács: The pillar of the
pension system that is criticised
relates to people taking responsibility
in advance for their lives after retirement.
As I recall Fidesz agreed with
creating that pillar of the pension
system at the time. Not long ago
Viktor Orbán even remarked that the
issue of the pension system is solved
for the next 30 years, and said that it
“What we are currently experiencing is not a tax
reform. It is a redistribution of taxes. It does not
even involve substantial tax cuts despite the earlier
promises of the government. Only those citizens
with a gross income of over around HUF 300,000
are enjoying tax cuts. For those people with
monthly income lower than that amount the
changes lead to a reduction in their take-home
pay. From a social point of view that is hardly fair.”
– László Kovács, former EC Tax Commissioner
Gobert, Fest & Partners), Hungarian Socialist Party
(MSZP) veteran László Kovács, Dr. Ellen Bos, political
rests on three solid pillars and should
not be interfered with.
In the meantime there has been a
change of opinion simply because
the money was needed. It would
have been a more elegant and more
consistent solution for the money
from the half-state pillar to have been
reallocated not to the state pension
scheme but to the voluntary pension
pillar. The monies have been taken
away and it is only later that we will
see what they will really be used for.
Currently it looks as though the funds
are being used to cover current
expenditure and only in small part to
reduce the state debt.
Ellen Bos: What is the situation
regarding structural reforms?
Zoltán Kovács: I am not very fond
of the word “reform”. I prefer to speak
about paradigm change. We have a
different approach from that of the
previous government in this respect.
What is decisive is not how much
money can be saved in an individual
case but for systems to emerge that
function in a more rational, economical
and efficient way. If cost savings
result by way of those steps, then so
much the better.
In our view Hungary’s renewal
means that all welfare systems must
be self-sustaining and economical in
their use of tax money. They should
also live up to expectations at the
beginning of the 21st century. (…)
When we speak about paradigm
change, it needs to be appreciated
that it is not only a question of
Hungary. (…) 2008 was a serious
warning sign for the EU. It is very
likely that it is no longer possible to
carry on just as before.
Big shifts and reorganisations are
taking place in the world economy.
Europe is not in a good position. The
steps that Hungary is taking, partly
as a member of the EU and partly as
a Central European country affected
by the crisis, should be seen in an
international context as well as a
national context.When the crisis hit in
2008 Hungary had few possibilities to
take any other path than that taken.
For a country with state debt of
over 80 per cent and the lowest
employment rate after Malta the
classic recipes for recovery are not
applicable. That’s why the government
is trying to bring Hungary out of
the current precarious situation by
creating jobs and reducing state
debt. The details of the steps taken
can be criticised but the past years
have proven that the classic solutions
don’t work.
László Kovács: What we are
currently experiencing is not a tax
reform. It is a redistribution of taxes. It
does not even involve substantial tax
cuts despite the earlier promises of
the government. Only those citizens
with a gross income of over around
HUF 300,000 are enjoying tax cuts.
For those people with monthly
scientist at the Andrássy University, Dr. Zoltán Kovács
(Fidesz), state secretary in the Ministry for Public
income lower than that amount the
changes lead to a reduction in their
take-home pay. From a social point of
view that is hardly fair.
(…) In terms of self-sustaining
distribution systems I am pleased to
hear the plans of the government. In
its time the Gyurcsány government
wanted the same thing. The introduction
of the visit fee and daily hospital
fee were intended to be a very
modest step towards creating a selfsustaining
health system. At that time
Fidesz used a referendum to thwart
those intentions. Education was also
to be put on a healthier financial
footing through the introduction of
tuition fees. That was also foiled by
the referendum.
I would be happy if the government
would take steps in that direction,
regardless of whether we
describe it as a reform or as creating
a new order. (…) The release of the
structural reforms seems to keep
being delayed. The fact that we as
the opposition are impatiently waiting
for their publication is the least of the
problems. More important is that
investors and international financial
circles are also being kept waiting. I
hope their patience will continue.
Zoltán Kovács: When Mr Kovács
says that it is not a tax reform I must
beg to differ. It is the beginning of a
tax reform, a tax revolution even,
which we hope in the medium term
will make Hungary one of the most
competitive countries in Central
Europe, in terms of both tax levels
and the administrative burdens on
companies. Or to be more precise,
we hope that it will make Hungary
once again one of the most competitive
countries.
At the time of the millennium
under the first Orbán government we
had already reached that stage.
Undoing the effects of the past eight
years will not be easy. Mr Kovács
spoke about what his government
wanted to achieve. In our case we do
not just have wishes, we have actually
begun putting our wishes into
practice. In the past ten months we
have brought more than 170 amendments
through parliament.
Admittedly those big changes could
not be carried out without hurting
some people’s interests.
(…) I would not say that foreign
firms have been discriminated
against. In levying the special taxes
our main focus was that those
sectors that in the past years profited
greatly from Hungary’s advantages
should contribute to the costs of
reviving the economy.
Ellen Bos: Does Hungary need a
new Constitution?
Zoltán Kovács: There is no crisis
of democracy in Hungary. In the past
two months there have been enormous
efforts to prove that there is
such a crisis. However, our government
does not need to be taught
about democracy by advisers that
were partly involved in the old
system. Hungary had a gentle
change of regime but it left numerous
problems open that are still waiting
for a solution today.
Lengthy processes cannot be
skipped over. If we speak of Hungary
having a democracy deficit, then that
has less to do with current measures
than with the structure that still shows
the after-marks of 40 years of
communism. Hungary needs to get
over that legacy with its own strength.
That is why we need a new
Constitution.
Arne Gobert: I am reluctant to
express an opinion on the question of
the Constitution. It is for the
Hungarians to decide what their attitude
to history is and what they would
like to express with a new
Constitution. Enacting a new
Constitution can sometimes be very
important for the self-concept of a
country. The key issue is how that
framework is used. (…) A constitutional
court is part of the separation
of powers. It is an abstract and
concrete judicial review. In my view it
is an expression of democracy. The
courts with the constitutional court at
the top as part of the separation of
powers are the most important
element in terms of legal security.
László Kovács: When we gained
72 per cent of mandates in the 1994
general elections we did not want it to
be possible to amend the
Constitution with a two-thirds
majority. Instead we wanted there to
be a requirement for at least a fourfifths
majority. We limited our own
powers. (…) Today Hungary is
heading in the direction of a de facto
one-party system.
Ellen Bos: Will consensus be
sought beyond the Fidesz camp in
the processes of coming up with a
new Constitution?
Zoltán Kovács: First, the MSZP
wanted to change the Constitution in
1994 not least because the
Constitution, which was amended at
the change of regime and was in
force then and still is today, was
thought of as a provisional
Constitution. That fact is studiously
overlooked by the Socialists today.
(…) But it is still an amended version
of Constitution that is Stalinist at core.
For symbolic reasons alone it is
therefore high time to change it.
(…) As I recall the reason why the
Constitution was not changed in
1994 was not because of the government
wishing to limit its powers but
because of problems with the coalition
partner. The idea of a new
Constitution was also on the agenda
in 2002 at the beginning of the
Medgyessy government’s term but
the necessary two-thirds majority
was lacking then. (…) Aside from the
symbolic aspects, there are also
Administration and Justice, media lawyer Márk Lengyel
and Jan Mainka, publisher of The Budapest Times.
numerous other reasons for a
forward-looking government to
change the Constitution.
(…) I would like to emphasise
three things with regard to the new
Constitution. First, the Constitution
will be based firmly on European
values and will respect the Charter of
Fundamental Rights of the European
Union. Second, there will not be any
major institutional changes. The institutions
that were created in the
framework of a democratic Hungary
will be respected. Third, a passage of
the new Constitution will prevent
BZT/Aaron Taylor (3)
Hungary from again becoming so
indebted that it is on the brink of
collapse.
Ellen Bos: Will a referendum be
held with the aim of giving the new
Constitution greater legitimacy?
Zoltán Kovács: Like the whole
process of creating the Constitution
the question of a referendum is still
open. The government is part of the
process only in a technical sense.We
will provide all the political forces with
any help that could be expected of a
government in such a situation. The
amendment of the Constitution is the
task of the members of parliament.
My private opinion – I am not an
MP – on the question of holding a
referendum is as follows: the amendment
of the Constitution is too
complex an issue for a referendum,
where effectively people can only
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
“For a country with state debt of over 80 per cent and
the lowest employment rate after Malta the classic
recipes for recovery are not applicable. That’s why
the government is trying to bring Hungary out of the
current precarious situation by creating jobs and
reducing state debt. The details of the steps taken
can be criticised but the past years have proven that
the classic solutions don’t work.”
– Dr. Zoltán Kovács, state secretary in the
Ministry for Public Administration and Justice
answer yes or no. I would prefer to
leave the decision to parliament. (…)
Incidentally I don’t take the view that
four-fifths or even stronger support
should be made necessary to amend
a Constitution.
The power relations that exist in
parliament today did not arise by
chance. They are the expression of
what the voters want.The power relations
are not such that there need to
be fears of a one-party system reemerging.
Voter favour can change
and lead to a completely different
balance of power in the next general
elections. The governing parties
know that the current two-thirds
majority is not only an opportunity but
also a huge responsibility. The negative
consequences will have to be
faced if they don’t live up to that
responsibility.
ON THE WAY
TO MACAU...
– Jan Mainka
The second round of Global Management Challenge Hungary 2010 is over and eight
teams have battled through to the National Final which will take place on March
22nd.
The eight teams come from Budapest, Miskolc and Szeged, with one team being
made up of Hungarians studying in Vienna. The finalist teams are partnered by BP
EBSC (4), Ernst & Young (3) and UniCredit Bank (1).
Prior to the National Final, the teams will make a presentation to a GMC Panel Of
Experts, in order to demonstrate their teamwork and presentation skills and, hopefully,
to impress the panel with their vision and ambition. The Panel is chaired by
Gábor Bojár, founder of Graphisoft and the Aquincum Institute of Technology, and
representatives from Ernst & Young, Philip Morris Hungary, BP Business Service
Centre, Sanoma Budapest and UniCredit Bank.
The winners of the Hungarian Global Management Challenge (GMC) will travel to
Macau in April and test their skills with teams from 30 countries around the world.
GMC is the biggest online business skills competition in the world, linking business
and academia by offering a practical and interactive method of communicating with
the student world.
For information about how to participate or how your organisation can be involved
in GMC, please email the GMC Project Manager at info@gmchungary.hu
BUDAPESTER ZEITUNG
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
09
BUSINESS/ECONOMY

10
CUULLTTUURREE
CAR RENTAL
PRESS
MOVING
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
BÉNÉDICTE WILLIAMS
T
REAL ESTATE
Apartment with panoramic
views to Danube to let! 87 sqm,
furnished, newly renovated, 400
EUR+low utility costs.
www.budapestnet.de SK0509
Out with the cold, in with the bold
Budapest Spring Festival ratcheted up in honour of Hungary’s EU Presidency
he by-now traditional
Budapest Spring Festival will
take place from 18 March to 3
April with close to a hundred music,
theatre, dance and exhibition events
awaiting visitors.
Long Liszt
Franz Liszt will be impossible to
miss this year, the 200th anniversary
of his birth, with at least one related
programme per day, says Zsófia
Zimányi, artistic director of the
festival.
Of note
A new opera commissioned by the
festival, Gyula Fekete's Excelsior!, will
be premiered at the Thalia Theatre
on the opening day. Mixing historical
facts with fantastic elements, it is a
work on an intense and tormented
period in Liszt's life.
Other anniversary dates promise
to make this year's festival special.
Béla Bartók, whose 130th birth
anniversary is celebrated on 25
March, will also feature prominently,
with a performance of his
First Orchestral Suite by the National
Philharmonic Orchestra. On the
folk music front, prominent artists
such as Márta Sebestyén, Ferenc
Sebõ and the ensembles
TUTORING
The European Union Youth Orchestra performs at the Palace of Arts, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall on 3 April at 7.30pm.
Muzsikás and Csík Zenekar will
mark the 30th anniversary of the
Dance House movement that
sparked the rebirth of folk music.
The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble
will concomitantly celebrate its 60th
year with a special festival
programme.
FLUTE LESSONS. Be creative
and learn classical, jazz or
ancient music from Prof. Mate
Palhegyi. Beginner, advanced
and university level classes.
www.flute.hu
mate@flute.hu
THE ENGLISH MAN: Native
English journalist/broadcaster
giving conversational and
grammar lessons. Proof-reading
also.
Tel:+36 30/ 507 6077
DANCE CLASSES
BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT
TO BEAUTIFUL MUSIC,
THAT’S DANCE.
Learn Latin-American,
ballroom and many other
dances with a young
professional dance teacher.
Private lessons just as in
Saturday Night Fever.
Try it for free!
Tel.:+36/70-2-77-77-11
KP01520099
CLASSIFIEDS
COMMUNITY
EU Presidency angle
On the occasion of the Hungarian
Presidency of the EU, the festival is
making a slight change to its tradition
of hosting a different country, region
or city each year.
The 2011 edition will be dedicated
March
NAWA
General Meeting
When: March 25th, 2011, 10am to Noon
Where: Franciscan House (Kájoni János Ferences Ház)
II. Szilfa utca 4
(see www.nawabudapest.com for directions)
Price: Free for members; 2,000 HUF for
non-members (which goes towards
NAWA's charities).
Easter falls late this year…and we'll be
prepared! Join us to learn how the
gorgeous and colorful Hungarian Easter
eggs are created. Egg artist Edit Rózsa
(and her mother) will be with us once again
to demonstrate two traditional egg decorating
techniques: the batik style and
karcolas (which is scratching designs onto
the eggs). Pay close attention, because
every member (and guest) will get two
eggs to decorate for themselves!
They will also be selling their egg decorating
kits and their own beautiful eggs. As
usual, there will also be time to catch up
with NAWA friends (and make new ones!),
shop with our vendors, grab a bite to eat,
and win great raffle prizes! Pagony Kert will
be generously supplying us with snacks.
Guests are welcome!
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS English
Speaking group meets 3X per week in
central Budapest location (21st year).
For information: 06 30 576 0977.
TRANSLATION SERVICE
to EU member countries, with a
number of international co-operations
bringing in an impressive cast from the
world art scene. Mischa Maisky, a
Latvian-born Belgian cellist, will
perform with the Prague Chamber
Orchestra, and German-Japanese
pianist Alice Sara Ott with the Wiener
NIGHT CLUB
NIGHT CLUB
www.mamboclub.hu
Budapest, I. Hegyalja út 2.
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
Text only: 30 Ft/character,
50Ft/chtr. – both papers
Advert with picture:
4,000 Ft / column cm
50 x 92 mm
English OR
German
English AND
German
50 x 42 mm
English OR
German
English AND
German
40,000 Ft
60,000 Ft
20,000 Ft
30,000 Ft
To advertise in
CLASSIFIEDS
call 453-0752
HEALTH
CHURCH
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
Symphonic Orchestra under Ádám
Fischer. The European Union Youth
Orchestra, the Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino conducted by Zubin Mehta,
guitar player Pepe Romero and the
Antonio Gades Dance Co. will also
appear on the festival's various stages.
Theatre festival
The International Theatre Festival,
launched two years ago as part of
Budapest Spring Festival, will feature
performances of Macbeth by the
London company Cheek by Jowl,
Ferenc Molnár's Liliom by the
Schauspielhaus Graz and Ingmar
Bergman's Persona by the Slovenian
Mini Theatre, among other performances.
Usually sells out
Macbeth, a
guest performance
by Cheek
by Jowl, is at
the National
Theatre’s Main
Stage on 22
March at 7pm.
With 150,000 tickets sold last year,
one third of them to tourists, the event
is usually a sell-out and it is wise to buy
well in advance. Information on ticket
prices and venues can be found at
www.btf.hu (in English).
The International Baptist
Church of Budapest is an
interdenominational
church. All are welcome
to join us for coffee before
worship at 10am.
www.ibcbudapest.info
06-30-641-5001
Services every Sunday at 10:30am
at 1025 Bp. Törökvész út 48/54

THE BUDAPEST TIMES
Monday, 28 February
Classical entertainment
ÓBUDAI TÁRSASKÖR at 7pm: Nándor Götz
(saxophone) and his students with the
Weiner Saxophone Ensemble and Saito
Misako (piano) will perform Rossini’s The
Barber of Seville. Venue: District III,
Kiskorona utca 7. Tel. (06-1) 250-0288.
www.obudaitarsaskor.hu
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
at 7.30pm: Second of two concerts in which
organist Xaver Varnus performs works by
Mozart. Venue: District IX, Komor Marcell
utca 1. Tel. (06-1) 555-3300. www.mupa.hu
HUBAY MUSIC ROOM (HOTEL VIKTORIA) at
7.30pm: Pál Éder, Ágnes Beke (violin),
Ágota Temesváry (viola), Eszter Baráti
(cello) and Géza Bánhegyi (clarinet) will
perform Schubert’s Quarttetsatz in C minor,
Mozat’s Clarinet Quintet in A major and
Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor “Der
Tod und das Mädchen”. Venue: District I,
Bem rakpart 11. Tel. (06-1) 457-8088.
www.hubayzeneterem.hu
Popular entertainment
PALACE OF ARTS FESTIVAL THEATRE at
8pm: Haitian singer David Mettelus “Ti
Coca” and his band Wanga-Nègès. Venue:
District IX, Komor Marcell utca 1. Tel. (06-1)
555-3300. www.mupa.hu
OLD MAN’S MUSIC PUB at 9pm: Ferenczi
György és a Rackajam (blues). Venue:
District VII, Akácfa utca13. Tel. (06-1) 322-
7645. www.oldmans.hu
INSTANT at 9.30pm: Egy Kiss Erzsi Zene,
followed by Various Tilos DJ selection at
11pm. Venue: District VI, Nagymezõ utca
38.
Tuesday, 1 March
Classical entertainment
HÁLÓ at 7pm: Eszter Krulik, Angéla Bálint
(violin), Péter Tornyai (viola), Balázs Kántor
(cello) will perform works by Bartók. Venue:
District V, Ferenciek tere 7-3, stairwell 3.
www.halo.hu
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at 7pm:
Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Venue: District VI,
Andrássy út 22. Tel. (06-1) 353-0170. Box
office open Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-show
time. (When there are no shows, open 11
am – 5 pm). www.opera.hu
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: The MÁV Symphony Orchestra with
Zoltán Gyöngyössy (flute) conducted by
Gergely Kesselyák will perform Iván
Madarász’s Flute Concerto No. 2 and
Mahler’s Symphony No.5. Details: Monday, 28
February
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 7pm: Faun
performed by the Éva Duda Company (for
ages 16 and over). Venue: District I, Színház
utca 1-3 in the Várszínház building. Tel. (06-1)
201-4407 www.nemzetitancszinhaz.hu
PALACE OF ARTS at 7pm: Zorba – ballet in
two acts composed by Mikis Theodorakis and
choreographed by Gábor Keveházi. Venue:
District IX, Komor Marcell utca 1. Tel. (06-1)
555-3300. www.mupa.hu
SZIMPLA KERT at 9pm: Lounge Night DJ Set.
Venue: District VII, Kazinczy utca 14. Tel. (06-
1) 352-4198. www.szimpla.hu
Wednesday, 2 March
Classical entertainment
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at 7pm:
The Kamarazovs – ballet set to the music of
Rachmaninov, Mogyest Mussorgsky, Wagner
and Russian Gipsy music and choreographed
by Boris Eifman. Details: Tuesday, 1 March
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: The Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra
with Gautier Capucon (cello) will perform
Shostakovich’s Chamber symphony, Op. 110,
Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a rococo theme,
Op. 33 and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for
strings in C major, Op. 48. Details: Monday, 28
February
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 7pm: Essence
performed by ExperiDance – Sándor Román
Company. Details: Tuesday, 1 March
A38 SHIP at 8pm: Budapest Bár. Hungarian
chansons from the ‘30s and ‘40s revived by
the Gypsy band of Róbert Farkas. Venue:
Ship moored on Buda side of Petõfi Bridge.
Tel. (06-1) 464-3940. www.a38.hu
SZIMPLA KÁVÉZÓ at 9pm: Jazz pianist Dezsõ
Oláh. Venue: District VII, Kertész utca 48.
www.szimpla.hu
Thursday, 3 March
Classical entertainment
HUNGARIAN RADIO MARBLE ROOM at 6pm:
The Egri & Pertis Duo (Mónika Egri and Attila
Pertis (piano)) will perform works by Liszt.
Venue: District VIII, Pollack M tér 8. Tel. (06-1)
328-8388
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at 7pm:
The Kamarazovs – ballet set to the music of
Rachmaninov, Mogyest Mussorgsky, Wagner
and Russian Gipsy music and choreographed
by Boris Eifman. Details: Tuesday, 1 March
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: The Hungarian National
Philharmonic Orchestra with Kristóf Baráti
(violin) conducted by Alexandr Vedernikov will
perform Liadov’s Nenie, Op. 67, Glazunov’s
Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82 and
Scriabin’s Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op.
43. Details: Monday, 28 February
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 10.30am and
3pm: Peter and the Wolf performed by the
Compagnie Yvette Bozsik. Details: Tuesday, 1
March
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB at 9pm: Panchan –
Édenkelet album release concert. Venue:
District VIII, Múzeum utca 7. Tel. (06-1) 267-
2610 (5pm to 11pm on concert days), (06-70)
413-9837 (10am-3pm on weekdays).
www.bjc.hu
Friday, 4 March
Classical entertainment
BARTÓK BÉLA MEMORIAL HOUSE at 6pm:
Márta Ábrahám (violin), Péter Bársony (viola)
and Ditta Rohmann (cello) will perform string
trios by Beethoven. Venue: District II, Csalán
utca 29. Tel. (06-1) 394-2100. www.bartokmuseum.hu
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at 7pm:
Puccini’s La Bohéme. Details: Tuesday, 1
March
ÓBUDAI TÁRSASKÖR at 7pm: Concert to raise
money to renovate the organ of the Sárospatak
Basilica. The Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra
will perform Tchaikovsky’s String serenade in
C major, Op. 48, Shostakovich’s Chamber
symphony, Op. 110 and Liszt’s Hungarian
Rhapsody No. 2 transcribed by Wolf. Details:
Monday, 28 February
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: The Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra
of Pécs with Ildikó Komlósi (voice) conducted
by Tibor Bogányi will perform Webern’s
Passacaglia No.1, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder
and Dohnányi’s Symphony No. 2 in E major,
Op. 40. Details: Monday, 28 February
HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM at 7.30pm:
The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Stephen D’Agostino will perform
Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, Op. 25,
Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and Bartók’s Suite No.
2, Op. 4. Venue: Múzeum körút 14-16. Tel. (06-
1) 318-6599. www.hnm.hu
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 7pm: Carnival
performed by the Central Europe Dance
Theatre (Performance followed by fancy dress
party.) Details: Tuesday, 1 March
PALACE OF ARTS FESTIVAL THEATRE at 7pm:
Premiere of Dózsa, dance chronicle about the
deeds of György Dózsa performed by the
Honvéd Dance Theatre. Details: Monday, 28
February
A38 SHIP at 8pm: Jazz/electronic band Bin-Jip
celebrates its first birthday, supported by
Czech band Lesni Zver. Details: Wednesday, 2
March
Saturday, 5 March
Classical entertainment
OLD MUSIC ACADEMY at 11am: Ksenia
Nosikova (piano) will perform works by Clara
Schumann, Schumann and Meyerbeer-Liszt.
Venue: District VI, Vörösmarty utca 35. Tel. (06-
1) 322-9804
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: Concerto Budapest with Miklós
Perényi (cello) conducted by András Keller will
perform Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter
Festival Overture, Op. 36, Shostakovich’s Cello
concerto No. 2, Op. 126 and Tchaikovsky’s
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64. Details:
Monday, 28 February
HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES GREAT
HALL at 7.30pm: Katalin Szutrély, Péter
Bárány, László Kálmán, Dávid Csizmár (voice),
the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra
conducted by György Vashegyi will perform
Bach’s Was willst du dich betrüben, Was frag
Ich nach der Welt, Nimm von uns Herr, du
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
Drummer’s versatility difficult to beat
E
Brian Blade
at the Palace
of Arts
xceptional American jazz
drummer and composer
Brian Blade will perform at
the Palace of Arts on Sunday, 6
March. Blade is the very opposite of
all the clichés about drummers. His
latest production Mama Rosa is intimate
and subtly crafted. He not only
plays drums but also sings and plays
acoustic guitar. Backing will be
provided by his Fellowship Band (Jon
Cowherd, Chris Thomas and Kurt
Rosenwinkel).
Notable contributions
Blade began his career in New
Orleans and has played with stars of
the jazz world including Kenny
Garett, Joshua Redman and Brad
Mehldau as well as world music notables
such as Norah Jones, Bill Frisell,
Seal and Bob Dylan. He has
contributed to several Grammywinning
albums and is a member of
the Wayne Shorter Quartet.
Bin-Jip Friday
Mama Rosa marks a new direction
for Blade. The album is named after
his grandmother and the lyrics bring
to life the story of his whole family.
Love, acceptance, faith, memories
and home all form part of the subject
A38 SHIP at 8pm on Friday, 4 March: Jazz/electronic band Bin-Jip celebrates its first birthday,
supported by Czech band Lesni Zver. Venue: Ship moored on Buda side of Petõfi Bridge. Tel. (06-
1) 464-3940. www.a38.hu
material. Stylistically it is a move
towards folk music with a mixture of
pop and jazz elements. Blade’s
gentle, melodic singing is in the foreground,
while the drums are less
prominent.
Album not jazzed up
Hardcore jazz fans might miss
his spectacular, colourful jazz
improvisations. His voice remains
in mid-scale and it is noticeable
that he is not a singer.
However, the lack of jazz improvisations
is clearly deliberate.
Blade has avoided the duels
between instruments, variations on
themes and atmospheric instrumental
passages that are characteristic
of jazz. The songs are instead
almost spartan in style.
Nevertheless, or precisely for that
reason, the album is very
convincing.
Anyone whose favourites include
Bob Dylan or Jack Johnson will
surely enjoy the concert.
The ticket
treuer Gott and Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes
Gut. Venue: District V, Roosevelt tér 9.
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 7pm: The Black
Mill performed by the Company Dezsõ Fitos.
(Performance followed by carnival dance workshop.)
Details: Tuesday, 1 March
ÓBUDAI TÁRSASKÖR at 7pm: Róbert Rátonyi
Kr. (piano), Gyula Csepregi (saxophone),
Ferenc Gayer (double bass) and György
Jeszenszky (percussion) will perform jazz
adaptations of popular songs by Rezsõ Seress
and other Hungarian composers of the 1920s
and 1930s. Details: Monday, 28 February
A38 SHIP at 8pm: Steve Lukather Band.
Details: Wednesday, 2 March
BUDAPEST CONGRESS CENTRE at 8pm:
Ghymes album release concert with guest Kati
Wolf. Venue: District XII, Budapest Jagelló út 1-
3. Tel. (06-1) 372-5429
Sunday, 6 March
Classical entertainment
– Ines Gruber
Brian Blade – “Mama Rosa”
Sunday, 6 March at 7.30pm
Palace of Arts,
District IX, Komor Marcell utca 1
Tickets: HUF 1,800 – 5,900.
www.mupa.hu
BARTÓK BÉLA MEMORIAL HOUSE at 11am:
Mária Kovalszki, Bálint Zsoldos (piano), Gábor
Devich (clarinet), Anita Miskolczi, Gergely
Devich (cello) and their students Júlia Pusker
(violin), Balázs Dolfin (cello) and Krisztina
Kocsis (piano) will perform excerpts from
works by Handel, Brahms, Debussy, Sibelius,
Kodály, Bartók and Piazzolla. Details: Friday, 4
March
OLD MUSIC ACADEMY at 4pm: Renáta
Darázs, Ildikó Gaál (voice), Gábor Galavics
(clarinet), Angéla Bálint (violin), János Kéry,
Dalma Lendvai, Sándor Leschák, Gábor
Monostori, László Stachó (piano), the
THReNSeMBle Contemporary Music Group
conducted by Balázs Horváth will perform
works by Grieg, Kókai, De Falla, Beethoven,
Kodály, Máté Szigeti and Bartók. Details:
Saturday, 5 March
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at 7pm:
Puccini’s La Bohéme. Details: Tuesday, 1
March
OLD MUSIC ACADEMY at 7pm: The Kelemen
Quartet will perform works by Haydn, Ligeti
and Mendelssohn. Details: Saturday, 5 March
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 10.30am and
3pm: Sleeping Beauty performed by the
Honvéd Dance Theatre. (Performance followed
by costume competition and dance workshop.)
Details: Tuesday, 1 March
11
FFOURTTEEN--DDAY GGUUIDDE

12
FOOUURRTTEEEENN-DAAYY GUUIIDDEE
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
PALACE OF ARTS FESTIVAL THEATRE at
7pm: Dreamtime performed by the Hungarian
State Folk Ensemble. Details: Monday, 28
February
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: Jazz drummer Brian Blade: Mama
Rosa. Details: Monday, 28 February
Monday, 7 March
Classical entertainment
URÁNIA FILM THEATRE at 2pm: Dance and
music from Lully to Piazzolla, from the
Baroque to the 20th Century performed by
the Pest County Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Tibor Noseda (conductor) and
the Company Canario Historic Dance
Ensemble (artistic director: Ágota Aranyos).
Works by Lully, Purcell, Corelli, Handel,
Haydn, Beethoven, Rózsavölgyi, Ruzitska,
Péter Pál Domokos, J. Strauss Jr., J. Strauss
Sr., Lanner and Piazzolla. Venue: District VIII,
Rákóczi út 21. Tel. (06-1) 486-3400.
www.urania-nf.hu
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE at 7pm: The MÁV Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Tamás Vásáry
(piano) will perform Mozart’s Don Giovanni –
overture, Liszt’s Piano concerto in A major,
No. 2 and Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 in B
flat major, Op. 38, “Spring”. Venue: District VI,
Nagymezõ utca 17. Tel. (06-1) 312-4866.
www.operettszinhaz.hu
ÓBUDAI TÁRSASKÖR at 7pm: Csilla Varga
(piano), Eszter Perényi (violin) and Judit Kiss-
Domonkos (cello) will perform works by
Louise Farrenc, Cecile Chaminade, Fanny
Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann. Details:
Monday, 28 February
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: Grigory Sokolov (piano) will perform
works by Bach and Schumann. Details:
Monday, 28 February
Popular entertainment
MARCZIBÁNYI TÉR CULTURAL CENTRE at
7pm: Calcutta Trio’s Indian music club. Venue:
District II, Marczibányi tér 5/a. Tel. (06-1) 212-
2820. www.marczi.hu
PALACE OF ARTS FESTIVAL THEATRE at
7pm: Carmina Burana performed by the
Szeged Contemporary Dance Company.
Details: Monday, 28 February
Tuesday, 8 March
Classical entertainment
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: Les Arts Florissants with
Emmanuelle de Negri, Hanna Bayodi-Hirt,
Virginie Thomas, Ed Lyon, Alan Buet and
Jean-Yves Ravoux (voice) conducted by
William Christie will perform Rameau’s
Anacréon and Pygmalion. Details: Monday,
28 February
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 10.30am and
3pm: Snow White performed by the Budapest
Dance Theatre. Details: Tuesday, 1 March
A38 SHIP at 8pm: Solo acoustic concert of
Danny Cavanagh (from British art rock band
Anathema). Details: Wednesday, 2 March
GÖDÖR CLUB at 8pm: Mardi Gras Mese –
Pribojszki Mátyás Band, Jambalaya and
guests, Ferenczi György és a Rackajam.
Venue: District V, Erzsébet tér. Tel. (06-20)
943-5464. www.godorklub.hu
PAPP LÁSZLÓ BUDAPEST SPORTARÉNA at
8pm: Troy – Dance Show. Venue: District XIV,
Stefánia út 2. Central Ticket Office (Ticketpro)
Tel. (06-1) 422-2682. www.ticketpro.hu
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB at 9pm: Thea Soti
Quartet (Jazz Icons series: Nina Simone).
Details: Thursday, 3 March
MOST! at 9pm: Vörös Niki Trió (jazz). Venue:
District VI, Zichy Jenõ utca 17. Tel. (06-70)
248-3322
Troy
The Hidden Men
horeographer Pál Frenák has a
reputation for making sensual, Chighly
aesthetic shows that don’t
shy away from provocative scenes. His
dance company’s style combines classical
and modern techniques with mimicry
and sign language, and takes inspiration
from circus, theatre and fashion. At Trafó
on Thursday and Friday audiences can
watch the remake of one of his most
acclaimed pieces, The Hidden Men (Les
hommes cachés), which premiered in
2004.
The one-hour choreography holds up
a mirror to male character types from
Hercules to Narcissus, with a heavy dose
of black humour. Grown men spitting out
dummies and a dancer rolling about in a
satellite dish as a symbol of the womb are
all part of the show. The mix of dance and
acrobatics on ropes (pictured top) is
described as creating a dream-like piece
that immerses viewers in the unconscious
mind of boys and men.
Wednesday, 9 March
Classical entertainment
BARTÓK BÉLA MEMORIAL HOUSE at 6pm:
András Csáki (guitar) will perform works by
Bach, Britten, Paganini, Mertz, Farkas,
Malats, Rodrigo and Tarrega. Details: Friday,
4 March
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
at 7.30pm: The Ernõ Dohnányi Symphonic
Orchestra of Budafok with Xavér Varnus
(organ) conducted by Gábor Hollerung will
perform Miklós Csemiczky’s Scherzo alla
ungherese, Kodály’s Háry János – suite and
Saint-Saens’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor
“Organ”, Op. 78. Details: Monday, 28
February
Popular entertainment
PALACE OF ARTS FESTIVAL THEATRE at
10.30am and 3pm: Magic Circus performed
by the Compagnie Yvette Bozsik. Details:
Monday, 28 February
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 7pm: Gipsies
of Nagyida performed by ExperiDance –
Sándor Román Company. Details: Tuesday, 1
March
LADÓ CAFÉ at 8pm: Hot Jazz Band. Venue:
District VII, Dohány utca 50. Tel. (06-70) 350-
3929. www.ladocafe.hu
Turkey’s Fire Of Anatolia Dance Group presents An Anatolian Legend – Troy – A Dance
Show from its Native Land complete with 85 dancers and an eight metre-tall wooden horse.
Tickets for the performance at Papp László Budapest Sportaréna at 8pm on Tuesday, 8
March are available from eventim.hu
Frenák’s sensibility to body language
and gesture is often attributed to being
brought up by deaf-mute parents, which
meant that his first means of expression
was sign language. Following the early
death of his father, he spent several
years in a state-run institute, where he
practised dance moves in front of the
mirror. Later he studied classical ballet,
folk dance and modern dance in
Budapest, before moving to France in
the 1980s where he worked with several
stars of classical ballet and studied new
dance techniques.
The Compagnie Pál Frenák was
established in Paris in 1989 and became
a joint Franco-Hungarian company based
in both the French capital and Budapest
ten years later. Les hommes cachés (or
Fiúk in Hungarian) won the prestigious
Rudolf Lábán award in 2006 and was
made into a film in 2008. The piece was
remade with two new dancers in 2010.
– Jacqueline White
The ticket
The Hidden Men (Les hommes
cachés) – remake
Compagnie Pál Frenák
3 and 4 March at 8pm
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts
District IX, Liliom utca 42.
Tel. (06-1) 215-1600 www.trafo.hu
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB at 9pm: Sárik Péter
Trió feat. Edina Szirtes and Balázs Cserta.
Details: Thursday, 3 March
JAM PUB at 9pm: Latin Combo Trió (salsa
party). Venue: District II, Lövõház utca 1-3.
Tel. (06-1) 345-8301. www.jampub.hu
PORTH ART PUB & RESTAURANT at 9pm:
DJ and prímás Szilva (Goulasch Exotica).
Venue: District VII, Dohány utca 7. Tel. (06-1)
351-4806. www.portside.hu
Thursday, 10 March
Classical entertainment
BARTÓK BÉLA MEMORIAL HOUSE at
6.30pm: Péter Somodari (cello) and Katalin
Csillagh (piano) will perform works by Bach,
Schubert and Chopin. Details: Friday, 4 March
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.30pm: Pálúr János (organ), the Kántus
Choir of Debrecen, the Choir of the Christian
University of the Partium (choir master:
Sándor Berkesi) and the Ewald Brass
Quintet) will perform works by Noordt, Bach,
Zoltán Gárdonyi, Mozart, Liszt, Dupré and
Durufle. (Artistic director: Levente Bakó).
Details: Monday, 28 February
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 7pm: Dance,
Dance, Dance performed by the Hungarian
Dance Academy, Faculty of Folk Dance.
Details: Tuesday, 1 March
PALACE OF ARTS FESTIVAL THEATRE at
7pm: Stravinsky Evening: The Wedding /
Firebird performed by the Compagnie Yvette
Bozsik. Details: Monday, 28 February
A38 SHIP at 9pm: Ladánybene 27 pres –
Ride Di Riddim Vol. 2 (reggae/dancehall/ska).
Details: Wednesday, 2 March
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB at 9pm: Tóth Viktor
Tercet. Details: Thursday, 3 March
JELEN at 9pm: Cabaret Medrano. Venue:
District VIII, Blaha Lujza tér 1-2. Tel. (06 20)
344-3155
MOST! at 9pm: Fábián Juli & Sárik Péter Duo
(jazz). Details: Tuesday, 8 March
Friday, 11 March
Classical entertainment
BARTÓK BÉLA MEMORIAL HOUSE at 6pm:
Balázs Fülei (piano) will perform Grieg’s
Improvisations on two Norwegian folk songs,
Op. 29, Bartók’s 15 Hungarian peasant
songs, Grieg’s 19 Norwegian folk songs, Op.
66 and Bartók’s Improvisations on Hungarian
peasant songs, Op. 20. Details: Friday, 4
March
DUNA PALACE at 7pm: The Danube
Symphony Orchestra with Livia Galambos
conducted by András Deák will perform works
by Johann Strauss Jr., Johann Strauss Sr.,
Josef Strauss and Eduard Strauss. Venue:
District V, Zrínyi utca 5. Tel. (06-1) 235-5533.
www.dunapalota.hu
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at 7pm:
Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Details: Tuesday, 1
March
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.45pm: The Budapest Festival Orchestra
with Petra Lang (voice) conducted by Iván
Fischer will perform Wagner’s Siegfried –
Idyll, Tannhäuser – overture and bacchanalia,
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – prelude,
Götterdämmerung – Dawn and Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey, Funeral March and Finale.
Details: Monday, 28 February
Popular entertainment
HOUSE OF HERITAGE at 7pm: Verbunkos
performed by the Hungarian State Folk
Ensemble. Venue: District I, Corvin tér 8. Tel.
(06-1) 225-6077. www.hagyomanyokhaza.hu
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 7pm: Chess
Game performed by the Gyula Castle Theatre
– Forte Company. Details: Tuesday, 1 March
SPINOZA at 7pm: Klezmer Friday with dinner
– SabbathSong. Venue: District VII, Dob
utca15. Tel. (06-1) 413-7488. www.spinozahaz.hu
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB at 8.30pm: Dés
András Quartet, followed by the Gyárfás
István Trio’s jam session at 11pm. Details:
Thursday, 3 March
Saturday, 12 March
Classical entertainment
OLD MUSIC ACADEMY at 11am: Members of
the Falvai family (piano) will perform works by
Liszt (Ave Maria, Waldesrauschen,
Funérailles, excerpts from the oratorio The
Legend of Holy Elizabeth – for four hands,
Tarantella, Petrarch sonnet in E major, Ballad
in B minor). Details: Saturday, 5 March
HUNGARIAN RADIO STUDIO 6 at 2pm and
4pm: Animals in Music (family concert). the
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and
the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir
conducted by Gabriella Thész and Stephen
D’Agostino will perform Prokofiev’s Peter and
the Wolf, Bartók’s Bread-baking, Kodály’s
Katalinka and Stork song. Venue: District VIII,
Pollack M tér 8. Tel. (06-1) 328-8388
HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES GREAT
HALL at 7pm: The Budapest Chamber
Symphony (Weiner-Szász Orchestra) with
András Csáki (guitar) conducted by Péter
Csaba will perform Mozart’s Symphony in D
major, K.297, “Paris”, Rodrigo’s Fantasia para
un gentilhombre – for guitar and orchestra,
Boccherini’s La Musica Notturna delle Strade
di Madrid, G. 324 and Mehul’s Symphony No.
1 in G minor (1808). Details: Saturday, 5 March
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at 7pm:
Bellini’s Norma. Details: Tuesday, 1 March
ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE at 7.30pm: The
MÁV Symphony Orchestra with Xiayin Wang
(piano) conducted by Marlon Chen will
perform Weber’s Oberon – overture,
Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.
54 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E
minor, Op. 64. Venue: District VIII, Bródy
Sándor utca 8. Tel. (06-1) 318-8144. www.italcultbudapest.hu
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL at
7.45pm: The Budapest Festival Orchestra
with Petra Lang (voice) conducted by Iván
Fischer will perform Wagner’s Siegfried –
Idyll, Tannhäuser – overture and bacchanalia,
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – prelude,
Götterdämmerung – Dawn and Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey, Funeral March and Finale.
Details: Monday, 28 February
Popular entertainment
IBS STAGE at 11am: Kolompos zenekar (folk
music). District II, Tárogató út 2-4.
Tel. (06-1) 391-2525
HUNGARIAN RADIO MARBLE ROOM at 5pm:
Péter Szendõfi (drums) and Transition
(Róbert Szakcsi Lakatos (piano), Gergõ Mits
(electric bass) and Árpád Dennert (saxophone).)
Details: Thursday, 3 March
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE at 7pm: The
Winds of Spring performed by the Duna Art
Ensemble. Details: Tuesday, 1 March
PALACE OF ARTS FESTIVAL THEATRE at
7pm: Avishai Cohen: Seven Seas. Details:
Monday, 28 February
FONÓ BUDA MUSIC HOUSE at 8pm: Kazai
Ágnes Quartet, Harcsa Veronika Quartet.
Venue: District XI, Sztregova utca 3. Tel. (06-
1) 206-5300. www.fono.hu
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB at 9pm: American
saxophonist, arranger and composer Tim
Ries and Oláh Kálmán Quartet, followed by
the Bolla Gábor Trio’s jam session at 11pm.
Details: Thursday, 3 March
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
Sunday, 13 March
Classical entertainment
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at
11am: Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Details:
Tuesday, 1 March
BARTÓK BÉLA NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
at 3.30pm: The Budapest Festival
Orchestra with Petra Lang (voice)
conducted by Iván Fischer will perform
Wagner’s Siegfried – Idyll, Tannhäuser –
overture and bacchanalia, Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg – prelude,
Götterdämmerung – Dawn and Siegfried’s
Rhine Journey, Funeral March and Finale.
Details: Monday, 28 February
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTRE at 7pm:
Orsolya Korcsolán (violin), Péter Bársony
(viola), István Varga (cello) and Márta
Gulyás (piano) will perform works by
Elemér Gyulai, György Justus, Imre Sárosi,
Ferenc Weisz, Arvo Part and Brahms.
Venue: District IX, Páva utca 39. Tel. (06-1)
453-333. www.hdke.hu
HUNGARIAN STATE OPERA HOUSE at 7pm:
Erkel’s Bánk bán. Details: Tuesday, 1 March
NÁDOR ROOM at 7pm: The Accord String
Quartet (Péter Mezõ, Csongor Veer, Péter
Kondor and Mátyás Ölveti) will perform
works by József Bujtás. Venue: District XIV,
Ajtósi Dürer sor 39. Tel. (06-1) 344-7072
Popular entertainment
GÖDÖR CLUB at 8pm: Athe Sam (Roma)
talent contest. Details: Tuesday, 8 March
DOWN THE ROAD
MONDAY, 21 MARCH at 8pm: Faithless –
The Dance Never Ends at the Papp László
Budapest Sportaréna
MONDAY, 4 APRIL AND TUESDAY, 5 APRIL
at 7pm: Rhoda Scott and Xaver Varnus
“battle of the organs” concert at the Dohány
utca Synagogue
TUESDAY, 5 APRIL at 8pm: Duke Ellington
Orchestra at the Budapest Congress
Center
FRIDAY, 8 APRIL at 8pm: Miyavi at Petõfi
Csarnok
FRIDAY, 8 APRIL at 8pm: Slayer and
Megadeth concert at the Papp László
Budapest Sportaréna
SUNDAY, 7 MAY at 8pm: Gipsy Kings at the
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna
Waka Waka
T
ickets for Shakira’s The Sun
Comes Out World Tour 2011
show in Budapest on
Thursday, 5 May went on sale last
Friday. Superlatives are the norm for
the international star, who has won ten
Grammy Awards, 15 Billboard Music
Awards and four MTV Music Awards.
She is the only artist from South
America to have reached the numberone
spot on the US and UK charts.
Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time For
Africa)” was chosen as the official song
for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and has
become the biggest selling World Cup
song of all time. Her videos recently
surpassed a billion views on YouTube,
making her the third most-viewed
artist of all time.
The ticket
Shakira: The Sun Comes Out World
Tour 2011
Thursday, 5 May, 6pm
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna
Stefánia út 2., District XIV
www.eventim.hu

THE BUDAPEST TIMES
MUSEUMS
AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM Permanent exhibitions
covering life in a medieval village, viticulture,
plants and more.The temporary exhibition
A Taste of Europe runs until 31 August. Open
Tues-Fri, 10am-4pm, Sat-Sun, 10am-5pm.
Closed on Mon. District XIV, Vajdahunyad
Castle in City Park. Tel. (06-1) 363-5099.
www.mezogazdasagimuzeum.hu
AQUINCUM MUSEUM Archaeological findings
from the remains of the Roman military
garrison and trading settlement Aquincum. An
exhibition of the most impressive archaeological
finds in Budapest, focusing particularly on
the M0 motorway runs until 31 March. Open
daily except Mon. 10am-5pm. The outdoor
ruins are open from 9am. District III,
Szentendrei út 139. Tel. (06-1) 250-1650.
www.aquincum.hu
BÉLA BARTÓK MEMORIAL HOUSE Concerts
featured in one hall, also a memorial room with
original furniture and Bartók’s folk art collection,
photos, letters and notes on his life. Open
10am-5pm Tues. to Sat. Closed Sun. and Mon.
District II, Csalán út 29. Tel. (06-1) 394-4472.
www.bartokmuseum.hu
BUDAPEST HISTORY MUSEUM Permanent
exhibitions covering the history of the capital.
An exhibition of 18th to 20th century paintings
of the city runs until 8 May. “Armales
Transylvanorum” – an exhibition of coat of
arms letters patent issued by Transylvanian
rulers runs until 13 March. Open 10am-6pm.
Closed on Mon. Buda Castle building E,
District I, Szent György tér 2. Tel. (06-1) 375-
9175. www.btm.hu
CAVE HOSPITAL A formerly secret underground
military hospital and nuclear bunker.
Open daily except Mon. 10am-7pm. District I,
Lovas utca 4/C. Tel. 06-30 689-8775 www.sziklakorhaz.hu
ELECTRO-TECHNICAL MUSEUM Open Tues.-
Fri. 10am-5pm and Sat. 9am-4pm. District VII,
Kazinczy utca 21. Tel. (06-1) 342-5750
EVANGELICAL NATIONAL MUSEUM Permanent
exhibition covering the Protestant faith in
Hungary. Open Tues-Sun, 10am-6pm. District
V, Deák Ferenc tér 4. Tel. (06-1) 317-4173.
www.evangelikusmuzeum.hu
FERENC HOPP MUSEUM OF EAST ASIAN
ARTS Works collected by the traveller Ferenc
Hopp. The current temporary exhibition is
When the Gates of Asia Opened – The Travels
and Treasures of Ferenc Hopp. Open daily
except Mon. 10am-6pm. District VI, Andrássy
út 103, Tel. (06-1) 322-8476. www.hoppmuzeum.hu
GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF HUNGARY The
museum has a huge collection of rocks and
fossils, but for many visitors Ödön Lechner’s
exquisite building is the highlight of a visit.
Open Thurs., Sat., Sun. 10am-4pm. District
XIV, Stefánia utca 14. Tel. (06-1) 251-0999
www.mafi.hu
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER Museum
covering the fate of Hungarian Jews in the
Holocaust. Open daily 10am-6pm except Mon.
District IX, Páva utca 39. Tel. (06-1) 216-6557.
www.hdke.hu
HUNGARIAN MUSEUM OF TRADE AND
TOURISM “The Dobos cake is 25 years old!”
runs until 7 March. Open daily except Tues.
11am to 7pm. District V, Szent István tér 15.Tel.
(06-1) 212-1245. www.mkvm.hu
HUNGARIAN RAILWAY MUSEUM Over a
hundred railway vehicles, ancient steam
engines, operational turntables, the largest
roundhouse in Central Europe with entertaining
interactive programmes like driving a
INTERNET GUIDE
General
WWW.BUDAPESTINFO.HU: Advice for visitors,
events, sights, tourism info
WWW.BUDAPEST.HU: Info, news, culture
WWW.BZT.HU: Daily news updates, archive
WWW.GOTOHUNGARY.COM: General tourism
info
WWW.TOURINFORM.HU: General tourism info
WWW.HUNGARY.COM: Tourism, hotels &
festival info
Travel
WWW.VOLAN.HU: Bus timetables
MAV-START.HU: Hungarian railway timetables
and information
WWW.TRAVELPORT.HU: Hotels, restaurants,
travel in and out of Hungary
WWW.WIZZAIR.COM, WWW.RYANAIR.COM,
WWW.JET2.COM, WWW.EASYJET.COM:
locally based budget airlines
WWW.BKV.HU: Urban transport in Budapest
Classical music
WWW. KONCERTKALENDARIUM. HU:
Comprehensive classical listings (in English
and Hungarian)
WWW.OPERA.HU: Detailed programme of the
State Opera at the Opera House and the
Erkel Theatre in English. Booking online
WWW.MUPA.HU: Classical concerts and other
entertainment at Hungary’s principal venue
for the performing arts
WWW.OBUDAITARSASKOR.HU: Concerts at
the Óbudai Társaskör. Online reservation
possible.
hand cart and travel on a self-powered rail car
and engine driving. District XIV, Tatai út 95. Tel.
(06-1) 238-0558 www.vasuttortenetipark.hu
LISZT FERENC MEMORIAL MUSEUM A reconstruction
of Liszt’s last Budapest flat on the first
floor of the Old Music Academy containing his
original instruments, furniture, books, scores,
some personal objects and memorabilia. Open
Mon.-Fri. 10am-6pm, Sat. 9am-5pm. Closed
Sun. and on national holidays. District VI,
Vörösmarty utca 35. Tel. (06-1) 3229-804.
www.lisztmuseum.hu
MEDIEVAL JEWISH HOUSE OF PRAYER The
collection sheds light on the life of Jews during
the Middle Ages. Open Tues-Sun, 10am-6pm.
Closed Mon. District I, Táncsics Mihály utca 26.
Tel. (06-1) 225-7816
MEMENTO PARK Huge Socialist-realist statues
of Marx, Lenin and other Communist-era
figures in a park on the edge of town. Direct
buses leave from Deák tér at 11am; look for the
bus stop with the Memento Park timetable.
Open daily from 10am till dusk. District XXII,
Balatoni út, corner of Szabadkai utca. Tel. (06-
1) 424-7500. www.mementopark.hu
MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS Open daily except
Mon. 10am-6pm. The exhibition Aristocratic
Textiles from the Esterházy Treasury runs until
4 September. The exhibition On the Border of
Two Ages – Persian Art in the Qajar Period
(1796-1925) runs until 18 September. An exhibition
of works by 2010 László Moholy-Nagy
scholarship-holders opens on 25 February and
runs until 3 April. District IX, Üllõi út 33-37. (06-
1) 456-5107. www.imm.hu
MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY The permanent
exhibitions cover traditional customs and
clothing. The temporary exhibitions are Living
Folk Art 2010, which runs until 24 April and
Jazz, blues, folk, rock
WWW.PESTIEST.HU: In depth, what’s on guide
to popular culture in Budapest
WWW.BUDAPESTBLUES.COM: Upcoming
blues performances
WWW.PECSA.HU: Rock gigs at venue in the
City Park
WWW.A38.HU: Ship which hosts gigs on the
Danube
WWW.NEMZETITANCSZINHAZ.HU: Goings on
in the National Dance Theatre
WWW.OPERETTSZINHAZ.HU: The programme
of the Operetta Theatre in English
WWW.HUNGARIAKONCERT.HU: Folk events,
organ concerts, concerts of the Danube
Symphony Orchestra and boat trips can be
booked on the website
Culture
Nation and Art
HUNGARIAN NATIONAL GALLERY Nation
and Art, Portrait and Self-portrait runs
until 3 April. Pictured is Pál Jávor’s
Vásárfia (Fairing), circa 1910. Mihály
Munkácsy’s Christ Trilogy is on show until
WWW.FESTIVALCITY.HU: Info on the capital’s
wide range of seasonal festivals
WWW.HUNG-ART.HU: A guide to the fine arts
WWW.MUSEUM.HU: Links to Budapest’s
museums
WWW.BUDAPESTSPAS.HU: Guide to bathing in
the capital
Food and drink
WWW.BUDAPEST.COM/RESTAURANTS.HTM:
Links to lots of restaurants in Budapest
WWW.BUDAPEST-TOURIST-GUIDE.COM: Food
and wine info in addition to usual tourist advice
30 April. Open 10am-6pm. Closed Mon.
Wings B, C and D of the Royal Palace.
District I, Szent György tér 2. Tel. 06-20
4397-325 or 06-20 4397-331.
www.mng.hu
How We See the Finns? – Finland: A
Hungarian Perspective, which runs until 1 May.
Open 10am-6pm daily except Mon. District V,
Kossuth Lajos tér 12. Tel. (06-1) 473-2400.
www.neprajz.hu
MUSEUM OF MILITARY HISTORY The history of
mankind at its most inventive. Open daily
except Mon. 10am-4pm. District I, Tóth Árpád
sétány 40. Tel. (06-1) 325-1647. www.militaria.hu
MUSEUM OF TRANSPORT Permanent exhibitions
covering the history of road and rail transport
in Hungary. The aerospace collection is in
the nearby Petõfi Csarnok (Zichy Mihály utca
3). Open Tues.-Fri. 10am-4pm, and Sat.-Sun.
10am-5pm. Closed Mon. District XIV,
Városligeti körút. 11. Tel. (06-1) 273-3840.
www.km.iif.hu
NATIONAL MUSEUM Permanent exhibition
covering the whole of Hungarian history, from
the ancient origins of the Hungarians, their
journey to the Carpathian basin and events
until 1990. The temporary exhibitions are The
Worlds of Széchenyi, which runs until 6 March
and The Gold Treasure of Kassa – one of the
most sensational archaeological finds of the
last century, which runs until 20 March. Open
daily except Mon. 10am-6pm. District VIII,
Múzeum körút 14-16. Tel. (06-1) 338-2122,
(06-1) 327-7749. www.hnm.hu
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Permanent
exhibitions covering botany and zoology. The
temporary interactive exhibition Empire of the
Six-Legged Creatures runs until November.
“Camera Naturae et Artis Productorum” –
Natural History in the 19th century runs until
November. There is something new under the
earth – Minerals discovered in the
Carpathian region runs until 21 November.
The Future Vision – North Pole exhibition of
QUICK GUIDE
Important numbers
All emergencies: 112
Police: 107
Ambulance: 104
Fire: 105
Domestic directory: 198 Intl: 199
Where to find what 198
Foreign language police hot line:
438-8080
Fault-clearing service: 143
24-hour pharmacies
ARANYHORGONY PATIKA:
IV. Pozsonyi út 19 Tel.: 379-3008
DÉLI GYÓGYSZERTÁR:
XII. Alkotás út 2. Tel.: 355-4691
ÓBUDA GYÓGYSZERTÁR:
III. Vörösvári út 86 Tel.: 368-6430
SZENT MARGIT PATIKA:
II. Frankel Leó út 22 Tel.: 212-4311
TERÉZ GYÓGYSZERTÁR:
VI. Teréz krt. 41 Tel.: 311-4439
MÁRIA GYÓGYSZERTÁR:
XIII. Béke tér 11 Tel.: 320-8006
Taxis
6x6 266-6666
Budataxi 233-3333
City Taxi 211-1111
Fõtaxi 222-2222
Taxi 2000 200-0000
Taxi Plus 8888-000
Tele5Taxi 355-5555
the Canadian Embassy runs until 6 March.
Open daily 10am-5pm, except Mon. and
Tues. District VIII, Ludovika tér 6. Tel. (06-1)
333-0655, (06-1) 313-0842. www.nhmus.hu
PALACE OF MIRACLES Interactive games,
experiments and laser shows on scientific
and technological themes. Open Mon-Fri
9am-6pm, Sat.-Sun. 10am-6pm. District III,
Fény utca, 20-22, Building C. Tel. (06-1) 350-
6131
STAMP MUSEUM Permanent exhibition of
stamps from around the world. Open daily
except Mon. 10am-4pm. District VII, Hársfa
utca 47. Tel. (06-1) 341-5526
GALLERIES
ARTBÁZIS “Attention” – exhibition of works
by new members of the Studio of Young
Photography Artists runs until 10 March.
Open Tues.-Fri. 4pm-7pm or by prior appointment.
District VIII, Horánszky utca 25. Tel.
(06-20) 461-6919. www.artbazis.hu
BARTÓK ‘32 GALLERY The exhibition The
Journey of W.G.M. Sebald by painter Miklós
Szüts runs until 12 March. Open Mon.-Fri.
12pm-6pm and Sat. 10pm-2pm. District XI,
Bartók Béla út 32. Tel. (06-1) 386-9038.
www.bartok32.hu
BUDAPEST GALLERY Posters and Visual
Graphics – works by graphic artist Ferenc
Baráth runs until 16 March. Open Tues.-Sun.
10am-6pm. District V, Szabad Sajtó út 5. Tel.
(06-1) 317-1321. www.budapestgaleria.hu
FÉSZEK GALLERY An exhibition of pieces by
fashion designer Anna Latin runs until 25
March. District VII, Kertész utca 36. Tel. (06-
1) 341-5527. www.feszek-muveszklub.hu
KISCELLI MUSEUM Permanent exhibitions of
paintings. Amnesia temporis – an exhibition
of works by photographer Endre Kovács runs
until 6 March. Desire – an exhibition of works
by Eszter Csurka runs until 20 March. Open
daily except Mon. 10am-6pm. District III,
Kiscelli út 108. Tel. (06-1) 388-7817.
www.btmfk.iif.hu
KOGART GALLERY An exhibition of works
purchased in 2010 by the Gábor Kovács Art
Foundation opens on 4 March and runs until
27 March. Open Mon.-Fri. 10am-6pm. District
VI, Andrássy út 112. Tel. (06-1) 354-3839.
www.kogart.hu
LUDWIG CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM
PALACE OF ARTS Collection of contemporary
art with temporary exhibitions. The exhibition
Taiwan Calling – Elusive Island runs
until 1 March 2011. Open daily except Mon.
10am-8pm. On the last Sunday of every
month entrance is free for visitors under 26,
and up to two adult relatives accompanying a
child under 18. District XI, Komor Marcell
utca 1. Tel. (06-1) 555-3444 www.ludwigmuseum.hu
MAI MANÓ HUNGARIAN HOUSE OF
PHOTOGRAPHY Shows works by Hungarian
and foreign photographers. András Balla’s
The Fragrant Garden runs until 20 March.
Gábor Kasza’s Y runs until 20 March. Szami’s
Glaze runs until 20 March. Open weekdays
2pm-7pm, weekends 11am-7pm. District VI,
Nagymezõ utca 20. Tel. 473-2666
www.maimano.hu
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS Huge collection of
Hungarian and international painting. The
temporary exhibition Lucien Hervé 100 runs
until 30 April. Closed Mon. Open 10am-
5.30pm (ticket office closes at 4.30pm). On
Thurs. the museum is also open until 9.30pm
with a Museum + events ticket. District XIV,
Hõsök tere. Tel. (06-1) 363-2675. www.szepmuveszeti.hu
Embassies
AUSTRALIA: XII. Királyhágó tér 8- 9.
Tel.: 457-9777
BRITAIN: V. Harmincad utca 6
Tel.: 266-2888
CANADA: II. Ganz utca 12-14
Tel.: 392-3360 Fax: 392-3390
FINLAND: XI. Kelenhegyi út 16/A
Tel.: 385-0700
IRELAND: VII, Szabadság tér 7-9.
Bank Center. Tel. 301-4960
ITALY: XIV, Stefánia út 95.
Tel.: 460-6200
KOREA: VI. Andrássy út 109.
Tel.: 351-1179
SWEDEN: II, Kapás u. 6-12.
Tel.: 460-6020
TAIPEI REP.OFFICE: VIII Rákoczi út
1-3. 2.emelet. Tel: 266-2884
UNITED STATES: V. Szabadság tér
12 Tel.: 475-4400
COMMONWEALTH NATIONALS
without an embassy can register at
www.britishembassy.hu to be
eligible for emergency assistance.
Airlines
Air Berlin 06 (80) 017-110
British Airways 411-5555
Delta Airlines 296-8860
KLM (SMS f. #)+44 77 81 488747
Lufthansa 411-9900
Luxair (35) 2 2456-4242
Malév (40) 212-121
Airport numbers
Arrivals: 296-8000. Departures: 296-
7000 Lost & Found: 296-8108
Community
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011
PLATÁN GALLERY (POLISH INSTITUTE) “Tell
me” – an exhibition by Estonian artist Marge
Monko runs until 25 March. Her work consists
mainly of photo series and videos focusing on
women in Estonia. Open Tues.-Fri. 11am-7pm.
District VI, Andrássy út 32. Tel. (06-1) 331-
3911. www.lengyelkultura.hu
SLOVAKIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE Towards the
Essence of Things – an exhibition by Slovakian
sculptor Milan Lukac runs until 4 March. Open
Mon.-Thurs. 10am-6pm and Fri. 10am-2pm.
District VIII, Rákóczi út 15. Tel. (06-1) 327-
4000.
VASARELY MUSEUM Huge permanent collection
of works by the Hungarian-French artist
Victor Vasarely, the founder of op art. The
temporary exhibition Transparency featuring
works by contemporary artists runs until 1 May.
Open daily except Mon. 10am-5.30pm. District
III, Szentlélek tér 6. www.vasarely.tvn.hu/
VINTAGE GALLERY The exhibition Postcards –
works by Dezsõ Szabó runs until 4 March.
Szabó, who began his career as a painter,
combines painting and photography in these
experimental works from 1992. Open Tues.-Fri.
2pm-7pm. District V, Magyar utca 26. Tel (06-1)
337-0584. www.vintage.hu
VÍZIVÁROSI GALLERY A temporary exhibition
of works by glass sculptor Zoltán Bohus runs
until 10 March. Open Tues.-Fri. 1pm-6pm and
Sat. 10am-2pm. District II, Kapás utca 55. Tel.
(06-1) 201-6925. www.vizivarosigaleria.hu
A
BRITISH WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION:
Meets last Friday of every month
10am – noon. Contact Fiona
Whiteside (chair) on +36 30 569-
9767, bwahungary@hotmail.com
INTERNATIONAL WOMAN’S CLUB
FOUNDATION: IWCA Office; Hajós
utca 1. 1065 Bp. Tel./fax: 321- 4604
www.iwc.org.hu
ROTARY CLUB BUDAPEST-CITY:
First Tuesday of the month 19:30
Dinner. Other Tuesdays 12:30
Lunch. Location: Hotel Kempinski
Budapest, Erzsébet tér 7-8
Church in English
A BIBLIA SZÓL VIII. Golgata ut. 3.
Rhema Community Center. Sun.
@ 10:30am & 6pm & Wed. @
6.30pm.
DANUBE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH:
District XI, Etele út 55. Sunday at
10:30 a.m. www.danubechurch.org
GREATER GRACE INTERNATIONAL
CHURCH: XII. 22/b Szilágyi E. fasor
Now open:
Hungarian
Tragedy
temporary exhibition on the
massacre of ethnic Hungarians
in Vojvodina in 1944 and 1945
was unveiled at the House of Terror
Museum last Tuesday. Some 15,000-
20,000 of the 500,000-strong
Hungarian population were killed by
Yugoslav communists with another
84,000 fleeing for their lives. The
massacre was payback after occupying
Hungarian forces in 1942 killed
thousands of Serbs, Jews and resistance
fighters, according to historians.
Venue: Open Tues.-Fri. 10am-6pm,
and Sat.-Sun. 10am-7.30pm. Closed
Mon. District VI, Andrássy út 60. Tel.
(06-1) 374-2600. www.terrorhaza.hu
13
GGAALLLLEERRIIEESS ANDD MUUSSEEUUMMS
Sunday at 10:30 am. Sunday school
INTERNATIONAL BAPTIST CHURCH
OF BUDAPEST: II. Móricz Zsigmond
Gimnázium, Törökvész út 48/54.
Services @10:30 am, Sunday. 06-
30-641-5001, lee@leepowell.com
INTERNATIONAL CHURCH OF
BUDAPEST: Óbuda Culture Center
District III. Kiskorona u. 7. 10:30 am
Sundays www.church.hu
KAPOSVÁR INTERNATIONAL
CHURCH: Hotel Kapos, Ady Endre
u. 2 in Kaposvár @11 am Sundays
ibck@t-email.hu 06-30-255-5014
NEW COVENANT CHURCH: 10 am
Budapesti Módszertani Szociális
Központ, District XIII, Dózsa György
u. 152. Tel.: 06-30-624-0599
THE REDEEMED CHRISTIAN
CHURCH OF GOD 11-13 Üllõi utca.
10 am Sundays. Tel. +3630 737-
7543
ST. COLUMBA’S CHURCH OF
SCOTLAND: VII. Vörösmarty utca
51 Tel.: 246-2258
ST. MARGARET’S ANGLICAN/
EPISCOPAL CHURCH: District VII.,
Almássy u. 6. Sundays @10:30 am
Tel.: 06-23-452-023.

14
CUULLTTURREE
28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011 THE BUDAPEST TIMES
One, two, unbuckle my shoe
One could listen for
hours to Anna
Zaboeva as she talks
with animated
gestures and laughs
readily. The lively 26-year-old
Russian shoe designer with cropped
blonde hair plays with crayons as she
tells us about hitchhiking from
Siberia to Budapest and establishing
her own shop in Wesselényi utca.
Why and how did you come to Budapest?
I had studied film back at home but
who makes films in Russia? I was
afraid that I wouldn’t be able to identify
with my work, which is why I
simply wanted to get away and escape
everything. When I was 20 I travelled
around Russia for a year and decided
that I wanted to live abroad. When I
left I had just one euro in my purse
but I was young and I thought “what
does it matter?” The journey itself
was rather adventurous. I didn’t really
have a plan. I travelled by train and
hitchhiked. At that time Budapest was
the only place where I could imagine
living. I had visited Budapest before
because of a film festival so I already
knew the city. And now it’s my fourth
year here.
What happened after you arrived in
Budapest?
I got the possibility to take part in a
post-graduate programme for Russian
students and study textile design at the
Moholy-Nagy University. It wasn’t easy
because I didn’t speak any Hungarian
at that time. I just did my thing. My
degree project consisted of nine pairs
of shoes. My friends thought they were
great but the teachers absolutely didn’t
know what to make of them. Not a
single one of the teachers came to the
presentation of my degree project. My
friends thought I should try selling
them online. And people were crazy
about them. Demand was huge. At that
time, however, I didn’t have the tools
to make shoes, so bit by bit I tried to
purchase everything I needed to satisfy
all the orders. I got to know some
shoemakers, who gave me advice. And
then suddenly, without knowing what
was happening, I won first place in a
shoe-design competition. That gave
me publicity and, most importantly,
new customers. That’s when I realised
that my kitchen wasn’t the ideal place
to make my shoes.
Designers in Hungary – Part II: Anna Zaboeva – founder of Pleasemachine
And was that when you opened the shop?
No, not quite yet. First I opened a
small workshop with a good friend of
mine. It wasn’t suitable as a shop,
however, because it was in a bad location
and didn’t attract any walk-in
customers. It was incredibly lucky that
we found the shop in Wesselényi utca
a few months ago but it also meant
that I had to do an awful lot of things
at once. I was the shoe designer, shop
manager and production manager.
My friend did all the paperwork.
Before we opened the shop, everybody
told me that I mustn’t be disappointed
if we made a loss in the first
year. But right from the very first
month we were able to balance the
books, which was great. Especially
given that I’ve never invested in
advertising. But of course being a
shoe designer means that I don’t have
a fixed salary. It’s impossible to
predict how much will be left at the
end of each month. But the important
thing is that I’ve fulfilled my dream.
What exactly do you sell in your shop?
Mainly the shoes of my
“Pleasemachine” brand. The name
comes from the fact that via my
webshop customers can order shoes
in various colours and sizes and have
them made according to my design.
It’s important to me, however, that
the shoes remain affordable. In my
shop the average price is around
EUR 100. I think that is absolutely
reasonable for handcrafted designer
shoes. For that customers get an individual
design, regardless of whether
we are speaking about trainers, boots,
sandals, ballerinas or Oxfords. In my
shop, which is called “Siberia” – I
don’t think I need to explain the
name! – I also sell some items made
by my friends such as jewellery,
purses and ties.
Where do you get your ideas from?
From everywhere, really. I am often
inspired by quite simple things, such as
BZT/Aaron Taylor (6)
discarded clothing. I like the idea of
letting those textiles live on in my
shoes. In Slovakia, for example, I
recently found a beautiful material in
the street. It comes from a 1970s
dressing gown and I want to work it
into a whole series of shoes. It’s funny
because most people probably
wouldn’t suspect that they are wearing
things from a rubbish dump but I like
to recycle. I also take the leather for the
shoes, if possible, from old leather
jackets. However, quality is very important
to me, both in terms of the materials
used and how the shoes are made.
I want to offer quality at a fair price.
A
First steps
– Lisa Weil
nna Zaboeva is 26 and
comes from Russia. She was
born, as she says, in the
“deepest Siberia”. She studied
textile engineering and film
directing in Novosibirsk before
moving to Budapest in 2007. Here
she studied leather design at
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and
Design.
In 2010 she opened her shop
“Siberia”. She also sells handcrafted
footwear shoes based on
the wishes of customers.
Webshop:
www.erayo.com/Pleasemachine
Siberia:
District VII, Wesselényi utca 19

THE BUDAPEST TIMES 28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011 15
Too much emphasis on Hitler rather than Nazis
German foreign office taken to task by historian for attempting to wipe out Nazi history
DOMINIK KRANZER
P
rofessor Dr. Hans Mommsen
tackled aspects of Germany’s
attempts to face its Nazi past
when he delivered a lecture titled
“Coming to terms with the Nazi past in
the Federal Republic of Germany.
Burden and Obligation” at Andrássy
University last Tuesday.
Ellen Bos, head of the political
sciences department at the university,
expressed her delight at the historian’s
visit: “It has been planned for many
years and has finally happened.” She
praised Germany’s honest and
unsparing way of coming to terms with
the past and pointed to its significance
for Hungary.
The myth of passivity
Mommsen began by describing
various aspects of facing up to the
past, beginning with the post-war
orientation phase when Germans
developed a new national consciousness
and prominent figures such as
writer Martin Walser assumed that
after a certain time had elapsed there
could be a return to normality.
Mommsen noted that the German
population for a time saw itself as a
passive part of the Nazi period.
He said that projecting guilt onto
representatives of the Nazi period
BOB DENT
O
n 30 January 1933 Adolf Hitler
became chancellor of Germany and
the Nazi Third Reich was born. Two
days later the radio station in Berlin’s
Potsdammerstrasse broadcast a talk by a 26year-old
theologian. The address had the dry
title of “The Younger Generation’s Altered
Concept of Leadership” but it was political
dynamite because it dealt with the so-called
Führer principle. It was an idea, popular in
Germany since the end of the First World War,
that what the country needed was a new,
strong leader to guide it back to greatness.
The young theologian explained how such a
leader inevitably becomes an idol and a “misleader”.
Before he could finish, the speech
was cut off.
Whether there had been some kind of technical
mix-up or the speech was censored by
the Nazis is not known. What is a fact,
however, is that 12 years later in April 1945
the young theologian, whose name was
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, would be executed by
hanging at Flossenbürg concentration camp
just weeks before the Nazis were finally
defeated. His crime had been to get involved
with the German resistance and its attempts to
assassinate Hitler.
At the time of the broadcast Bonhoeffer was
certainly an anti-Nazi, but he would have
some way to go before crossing the Rubicon
and moving from opposition in principle to
resistance in practice. Eric Metaxas’ lengthy
biography explains the developments in
Bonhoeffer’s thinking and activity, both
before and after Hitler came to power.
The poster behind historian Dr. Hans Mommsen reads: “Coming to terms with the Nazi past in the Federal Republic of Germany. Burden
and Obligation.” Mommsen accused modern-day historians of “starting again from scratch” in order to justify state funding.
was a form of defence. “It is a myth
that the population was neutral at
that time,” the 80-year-old historian
said. He highlighted the Adolf
Eichmann trial in 1961-62, which
was seen as drawing a line under the
past because from that time onwards
Faith...
What emerges is the story of a man driven by
his Christian beliefs, but that simple statement
is not enough to characterise Bonhoeffer. There
were many Germans who claimed to be driven
by Christian beliefs but had nothing to do with
opposing Hitler. Indeed, as Metaxas describes,
many in the mainstream Lutheran church were
fairly active supporters of the Third Reich, or at
least were prepared to go along with it. So what
made Bonhoeffer different?
The answer contains some surprising and
paradoxical elements. Bonhoeffer did not come
from a particularly religious family. He decided
to become a theologian and a pastor of his own
volition. He was a serious thinker, deeply interested
in exploring questions of ethics and
belief. He was an orthodox theologian in many
respects, even a fundamentalist in the sense of
taking his stance from the word of the Bible. At
the same time he was highly critical of what
might be called pious church-goers and even to
an extent of organised religion itself.
...and action
Bonhoeffer’s explorations into the Bible
made him look outward to the world. Faith, in
his view, should relate to and be reflected in
everyday practice, not relegated simply to
Sunday worship. That looking outward took
him beyond the boundaries of conventional
denominations, which meant Bonhoeffer was a
great ecumenist, finding common ground with
Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and even with
non-Christians. Though he never made it, he
once planned a trip to India to meet Mahatma
Gandhi.
no more Nazi perpetrators were to
be pursued.
Historians’ debate in 1986
Mommsen described what has come
to be known as the “historians’ debate”
of 1986 as having the most marked
impact on the process of dealing with
Germany’s Nazi past. One German
historian, Ernst Nolte, described
Nazism as a defensive reaction to the
threat of Bolshevism. Other historians
took issue with that position, reawak-
God before state
Crucially, Bonhoeffer’s theology rejected all
forms of anti-Semitism. In fact it embraced the
Jews as full members of God’s family. That put
him some distance from the thinking of Martin
Luther, the founder of German Protestantism,
who, as the author of this work documents, was
no friend, to put it mildly, of the Jews.
Hitler’s attitude towards and treatment of the
Jews, the Poles, the infirm, the mentally disabled
and all those regarded as “other” was anathema
to Bonhoeffer. They were all God’s children and
for him allegiance to Christ, the son of God, was
more important than allegiance to the state –
another aspect which put him at odds with many
in German society, which traditionally exhibited
strong patriotic, if not nationalistic, sentiments.
Bonhoeffer didn’t believe you could be a true
Christian and a nationalist – it’s an issue that still
has resonance in many parts of the world today.
Assassination plot
As the political situation in Germany deteriorated
during the 1930s and anti-Semitic attacks
were clothed in legal forms, and then when the
war broke out and news trickled through about
atrocities committed in Poland and elsewhere, a
number of outraged German army officers
communicated in secret and planned a coup to
rid the country of Hitler by assassinating him.
Bonhoeffer got involved through family and
other personal contacts. He wasn’t one of the
bomb-makers or planters of explosive devices
but he worked in the background on what might
be called the information and propaganda
front. In the end all the plots failed and the
plotters were executed.
ening interest in the topic and leading
to the Nazi period being addressed
more extensively in schools. “It is
always important to explain and not to
judge,” Mommsen stressed.
Hitler did not work alone
He warned of “the moralising interpretation
of the period by the media
as a reversion to the 1950s”. And
Mommsen criticised the excessive
emphasis on the person of Hitler. He
took Germany’s foreign office to task,
describing the book it commissioned
titled The office and the past: German
diplomats in the Third Reich and the
Federal Republic as an “attempt at
wiping out history” and a setback in
the process of coming to terms with
the Nazis. Care should be taken that
the government does not get too
involved, he said.
Mommsen commented that the
new generation of historians seems to
have forgotten the work of the
preceding generation. That barb was
directed at the authors of the book,
who made no mention of earlier
studies. Mommsen described this
approach of “starting again from
scratch” as a way of justifying state
funding. “Institutions close to the
government commission historians in
a targeted way. I think it would be
better to leave such initiatives to independent
research.”
Christian driven to rebel at Hitler’s atrocities
Review: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas
BZT/Aaron Taylor
Buy the book
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
by Eric Metaxas
Paperback, 591 pages, illustrated
Thomas Nelson, 2010. USD 29.99
How a Christian pastor could come to condone
the deliberate killing of another person, however
evil, is one of the themes of Eric Metaxa’s story. It
is a heroic tale but a tragic one, given the nature
of its ending. The author’s own Christian beliefs
are clearly reflected in his work but this
“ideology” is not rammed down your throat.
Indeed, whether you agree with his assertions and
nuances or not, he provides a good insight into
the contradictions of what often comes under just
one umbrella, labelled “Christianity”.
HHIISTORRYY BBOOKS

16 28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2011 THE BUDAPEST TIMES
EAATTIINNGG OUUTT
Versatile kitchen fares well delving
into rarer side of national cuisine
Review: Bock Bisztró, District VII
BÉNÉDICTE WILLIAMS
S
et in the same cluster of
buildings as the Corinthia
Hotel Budapest along the
Nagykörút, Bock Bisztró offers fine
food in a classy but relaxed environment,
half-way between open-plan
bar and restaurant. It has recently
branched out into Hungarian and
Asian-influenced breakfast offerings.
But its mainstays remain
Hungarian cuisine, often of the
kind that is least likely to figure
among Budapest’s top-end restaurants,
such as the humble but nutritious
hurka (blood sausage) or the
cracklings currently on the menu.
Hungarian gastronomic tradition
is not renowned for its friendliness
to vegetarians, a point that is driven
home by a quick perusal of the
menu and the specials on the board,
although there is also a number of
shellfish, and freshwater and
seawater fish options on offer. The
wine list, exclusively Hungarian, is
excellent. Service, too, is polite and
attentive.
The amuse-bouche of herby pork
fat served with sliced raw red onion,
strong green pepper and good,
homemade bread reveals some of
the roots of Bock’s inspiration in
upmarket peasant food. The
starters show the versatility of
Bock’s kitchen: the smoked trout
with its vegetable garnish, and
smoked paprika and Hungarian
sturgeon egg sauce, is firm and delicately
tasty.
The beef carpaccio, served in a
thin roulade with goose liver,
extremely soft and crumbly in
texture, and just relieved by a touch
of salt flakes, is in itself delicious with
its light salad and cheese shavings.
Its accompaniment of goose liver,
topped with sushi ginger, smoked
eel and wasabi sauce is imaginative
but perhaps somewhat too complex
and overwhelming for the delicate
taste of the carpaccio.
From the specials board, the
lobster cappucino with its tiger
prawn cheviche provides an
intriguing take on the coffee
concept, while the creamy meat stew
with porcini mushrooms and celery
offers a really delicious alliance of
tastes and textures.
Among the main courses, the
pike perch, served on a bulgur
base, is again a nice, firm, well
cooked and delicately flavoured
fish dish. The neatly presented ox
cheek in sauce, with dumpling,
lightly fried onion and garlic, and
bone marrow, is rather rich, naturally
because of the meat (which is
very well cooked, just tender
enough) and because of the dry
nature of the dumpling, where
extra vegetable content would help
to lighten up the whole dish.
The honey-drizzled, dillflavoured
cottage-cheese pie is
perhaps not the most obvious
dessert choice, especially after a rich
meal, but the dill does bring a
refreshing note; the croquambouche
base, made of a nut and crumbled
cake mix, is crunchy and flavourful,
and balances well with the compact
nature of the cheese part.
Price points
Starters & soups: ....HUF 950-3,700
Mains: ..................HUF 3,400-6,700
Dessert:...................HUF 350-1,100
Wine (bottle):.....HUF 3,700-21,000
Bock Bisztró
District VII, Erzsébet körút 43-
49 (entrance on the street)
Mon-Sat 12.00-24.00
(+36-1) 321-0340
www.bockbistro.hu
BZT/Aaron Taylor (9)
V. Zoltán u. 16
(next to Szabadság tér)
Reservations:
331-4352
To advertise in
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
BUDAPESTER ZEITUNG
RESTAURANTS
call 453-0752
w breakfast from 9am
w international cuisine
w pleasant atmosphere
w private and company events
SUNNY LOUNGE
Bp., 1035 Szentendrei út 36/a
Tel.: +36-1-367-3494
info@sunnylounge.hu
www.sunnylounge.hu