THE BUDAPEST TIMES iulie 2013

THE BUDAPEST TIMESHungary’s English-language weekly.Volume 11, No. 28 12 July – 18 July 2013 www.bzt.hu HUF 750/EUR 3

0033 PPRRIIDDEE && PPRREEJJUUDDIICCEE 1000s of police man gay march barriers 1166 WWHHAATT LLIIEESS BBEENNEEAATTHH Jobbik... Maybe they’re trying to be funny

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51.2%the odds of beingborn maleaccording tocensus

4.11seconds - theworld record fordrinking a litre ofbeer

12newborns givento the wrongparents dailyaround the globe

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1222 Bp. Nagytétényi út 48-50 • Tel: (+36-1) 382-9000Fax: (+36-1) 382-9003 • e-mail: [email protected] • open: 8am-8pm 7 days a week

Closer to the city’s pulse

Over a quarter-millionHungarians, or almostfive per cent of

Hungary's working-age popula-tion, were working abroad for at

least six months at the end ofJune, according to a survey byeconomic research instituteGKI.

The number is up from last

year's 230,000 and 2010's60,000, GKI said, citing datafrom the Central StatisticalOffice and research instituteKopint-Tárki respectively.

While the rate is higher thanin Western countries (forexample, some 1.5 per cent ofFrance's working-age popula-tion is employed abroad and the

number of Canadian-bornworking abroad was estimated at1.33 per cent of the populationin 2009), it is in line with othercountries in the region.

Estonia's 2011 populationcensus showed 4.4 per cent ofthe country's employed, or25,000 people, finding theirgreener pastures further afield.

Number of Hungarians working abroad nearly quadruples since 2010

W hile being at the heart of a city was considered sacrosanct,most newspapers, TV and radio stations have been fleeingfrom cities’ downtown cores for decades now, favouringlower rents over being close to the centres of power andthe people. Budapester Zeitung (now 14 years in print) and

The Budapest Times (10 years this September) came into being after theexodus and although we have moved office a few times, it’s always been onthe Buda side of the Danube. On 1 July the editorial office of the two news-papers opened in the Corinthia Hotel Budapest in District VII on the Pestside.

What may sound bizarre at first - what are our newspapers doing at a five-star address, especially in these times? - has an entirely plausible explana-tion. Corinthia general manager Thomas M. Fischer wishes to contribute toensuring the continued existence of the newspapers, and to benefit from thepositive effects of a symbiosis with the two valued newspapers of the expatcommunity. He offered the publishing company an attractive office in theeastern atrium of the hotel, in the immediate vicinity of the Szamos confec-tionery and under generous rental conditions. (See interview on page 5.)

Naturally our move across the Danube was not motivated by cost factorsalone: the move to the Pest side of the capital fulfils our long-time desire tobe nearer the heart of the city, which tends to beat in Pest rather than Buda.

The fact that the Corinthia Hotel Budapest lies on the section of the

Nagykörút (Grand Boulevard) that bears the name of the Austrian empressErzsébet (Empress Elisabeth of Austria, otherwise known as Sissi), equallywell-known and beloved in the German-speaking world and in Hungary, is alucky coincidence for a German-Hungarian publishing company that iscommitted to the best possible German-Austrian-Hungarian cooperation.

The unhappily married empress did not just give rise to kitsch costumefilms. She is said to have played just as important a role in the backgroundof the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which had such a beneficialeffect on Hungarian development, as Count Gyula Andrássy, whom shehighly esteemed and after whom the nearby prestigious boulevard is named,did in the foreground.

With the move from our previous office on the fringe of the commercialarea of Óbuda, which was very calm but also rather isolated, to the centre ofPest life in a well-frequented hotel with excellent transport connections, wealso hope to come closer to our readers. This is naturally extremely impor-tant to us as a service provider to the expat community.

The large glass doors of our new editorial office are not just an elegantentrance - they should also be understood as an invitation to look through,to drop by and to engage with us.

Jan Mainka,Publisher, The Budapest Times and Budapester Zeitung

Corinthia general manager Thomas M. Fischer (left) officially hands over the office to The Budapest Times and Budapester Zeitung publisher Jan Mainka on Wednesday.

The Budapest Times and Budapester Zeitung in the heart of Budapest

Businessthreat toEurope:HungaryGovernment blames big

business for European

Parliament rebuke

ROBERT HODGSON

Powerful business interests liebehind a recent vote in theEuropean Parliament tocensure Hungary over the

right-wing government's majoritarianrule, according to a resolution pushedthrough Parliament last Friday bygovernment and nationalist lawmakers.The Tavares Report endorsed inStrasbourg earlier in the week raisedserious concerns over the Fideszgovernment's commitment toEuropean values and democraticnorms.

Drawing up conclusions

The resolution, which speaks in thename of "We, Hungarians", names therecent decision to force utilities firms tolower their bills as a key factor behindthe adoption of the Tavares report, aswingeing critique of sweeping institu-tional, legal and judicial reforms. "TheHungarian Parliament believes it is amajor threat to the whole of Europe ifthe interests of business groups areenforced in the European Unionunchecked and may overwrite the ruleslaid down in the Treaty," the resolutionsays.

The government has also sought todownplay the significance of theTavares report, which envisages a newCopenhagen Committee with thepower to force member states to abideby the commitments to democraticprinciples and free trade that theymade before accession.

– Continued on page 2 as ‘The spin’

BZT

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12 July – 18 July 20130022 THE BUDAPEST TIMES

THE BUDAPEST TIMES

Published by: BZT Media Kft.1073 Budapest, Erzsébet körút 43-49.

(Corinthia Hotel Budapest)

Publisher: Jan Mainka

Subscriptions, sales and editorial officesTell: 453-0752, 453-0753 Fax: 240-7583E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.budapesttimes.hu

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News Editorial: Robert HodgsonWriters/editors: Attila Leitner, ChristopherMaddock, Bénédicte Williams, William Lower,Mary Murphy, Bob Dent, Ines Gruber, DanielHirsch, Elisabeth Katalin GrabowTranslator: Jacqueline White

Letters to the editor: We welcome letters tothe editor, analysis and opinion pieces. Theviews expressed by external contributors do notnecessarily reflect those of this newspaper.

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The spin

doctor is in– Continued from page 1

In an exemplary piece by the Fidesz party'schief English-language spin doctor, FerencKumin wrote in a 4 July blog post: "The votingcame down to 370 supportive votes and 331votes not supporting. Those political forces thatare opposed to the current Hungarian govern-ment pushed this report through with 39 votesout of 701, which is 2-3% of all the votes. It'sclear that one side supported it and the otherdid not."

It's lucky Kumin is not running the EconomyMinistry if he thinks 39 is "2-3%" of 701.Notwithstanding that, he failed to mention that82 of the "votes not supporting" the report werein fact abstentions. Only 249 voted against thereport - presumably including the variousnationalist and eurosceptic factions. Thissuggests that many members of the EuropeanPeoples Party (EPP) were, at best, reluctant tosupport Orbán's party in a secret ballot.

Another victory in defeat

The main aim of government diplomacybefore the vote was to persuade the 269-memberEPP group (274 after Croatia's accession) not tosupport the adoption of the Tavares report,Foreign Minister János Martonyi said on pro-government news channel HírTV on Saturday.This strategy succeeded, as the European legis-lature's largest group "essentially unanimously"stood by Hungary, Martonyi reckoned.

Meanwhile, outgoing Czech Prime MinisterPetr Necas has come out in support of Orbán'sgovernment, pro-government newspaperMagyar Nemzet reported on Monday. "It is unac-ceptable that any parliament can decide with asimple majority whether a state is respectingbasic rights or not," Necas said.

Czech prosecutors asked lawmakers onMonday to strip Necas of his immunity fromprosecution over a corruption scandal that hasbrought down the government.

Banner protest

MPs face penaltyHouse Speaker László Kövér has

proposed that MPs Tímea Szabóand Benedek Jávor, of the opposi-tion Dialogue for Hungary party -may each be fined HUF 50,000(EUR 170) for displaying a banner inParliament last week.

It said: "We do not want such aEurope Hungary, where the biggerabuses its strength and the majorityabuses its power." Apart fromchanging "Europe" to "Hungary",this was a direct quote from PrimeMinister Viktor Orbán's speech in theEuropean Parliament two daysearlier.

Students give

Jobbik high marksJobbik is the most popular party

among higher-education studentswith 17 per cent in favour of theextreme-right formation, accordingto a survey recently released byActive Young People ResearchGroup (Aktiv Fiatalok).

Governing party Fidesz and itscoalition partner KDNP (ChristianDemocrats) garnered 15 per centapproval, followed by Együtt2014-PM (a socialist-alternative coalition)with 13.7 per cent, 7.7 per cent forgreen-alternative LMP, three percent for socialist MSZP and one percent for socialist breakaway partyDK.

Forty per cent could not or did notwant to say who they support.

The research showed a splitbetween students in Budapest andin provincial institutions, the formerplacing Együtt2014-PM aheadfollowed by Fidesz, and the latterpreferring Jobbik, with Fidesz againin second place.

Some 23 per cent thought dicta-torship could under certain condi-tions prove better than democracy.Six per cent said Hungary's currentsituation is so bad that only dictator-ship would be the solution.

Forty-four per cent said they wereplanning to study abroad, particu-larly among Budapest students (57per cent). Almost 20 per cent weredecided to move abroad to work andanother 48 per cent were consid-ering doing so. Fewer than 10 percent rejected the idea of movingabroad for work (see page 1).

Former

PM laid

to restGyula Horn

famous for role

in bringing

down the Wall

Gyula Horn, a senior memberof Hungary's last communistpolitburo, was laid to rest in

Fiumei Utca cemetery on Monday,with many international dignitariesand politicians in attendance. Asforeign minister in 1989, Horn wasthe man who announced the openingof the border with Austria, allowingthousands of East German refugeesto flee to the West, a move seen astriggering the wave of mainlypeaceful revolutions in Warsaw Pactcountries that led to the fall of theBerlin Wall and the eventual reunifi-cation of Germany.

Tributes

Martin Schulz, the Socialist presi-dent of the European Parliament,said Horn had "helped to unite anartificially divided continent". In an

apparent dig at Prime MinisterViktor Orbán, Schulz - a harsh criticof the current government's domesticpolicy - said: "Gyula Horn made itpossible to leave separation behindus. There's also a need now toconsider whether it's time to leaveseparation behind us again."

Former German foreign ministerHans-Dietrich Genscher praisedHorn's "humanity" and said Germanywould never forget his contributionto the reunification of the dividednation. Prime Minister Viktor Orbánwas at the funeral but did not speak.

Orbán paid tribute at Horn'sgrave, as did former prime ministers

Peter Boross, Peter Medgyessy, FerencGyurcsany and Gordon Bajnai, andthe current Socialist party leaderAttila Mesterhazy. Miklós Németh,the last communist prime minister ofHungary and at least as important amotor for reform as Horn, failed tomake it to the funeral because oftraffic.

PM booed

Some people in the assembledcrowd booed Orbán, according tostate news agency MTI. Socialistlawmaker Ferenc Baja, who was aminor politician in the last days of

the former regime, rued the incidentin a Facebook post: "The whole thingmade me rather sad, and I know thatthe majority of those who werepresent distance themselves fromthat type of behaviour."

Gyula Horn died on 19 June at theage of 80 following a lengthy illness.After the transition to democracy hehelped found the HungarianSocialist Party and - following aninitial electoral hammering in 1990 -went on to head a coalition govern-ment from 1994 to 1998. Thousandsof members of the public attendedthe funeral.

– Robert Hodgson

Christianity needs another

resurrection: ministerThe sources of Europe's Christian heritage will hope-

fully be given new strength by this year's assembly of theConference of European Churches, Human ResourcesMinister Zoltán Balog said on Saturday one day before theclose of the conference held in Budapest last week.

It is sad that such a renewal has so far been playeddown in Europe, where churches seem to have becomeestranged from each other in the same way as the enthu-siasm of the 1989 democratic transition has vanished, hesaid.

Hungary's Constitution starts with the name of God andincludes the protection of life from the moment of concep-tion, and Hungary is the last of former communist coun-tries to have passed a law under which students areprovided with the necessary education in ethics, moralityand faith, Balog, a Calvinist pastor, told the assembly.

The new Constitution, introduced last January throughright-wing Fidesz's parliamentary supermajority, takes ona more conservative direction than its predecessor withreferences to religion in the preamble and a recentamendment defining marriage as between a man and awoman. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has also taken tolinking Christian values, nation-building and economicrenewal in his speeches, despite the latest censusshowing the number of Hungarians declaring themselves

to be religious fell from over half the population in 2001 tofewer than 40 per cent in 2011.

Europe could easily become a pagan continent again,Hungarian Evangelical-Lutheran Bishop Tamás Fabinysaid.

The Conference of European Churches, founded in1959, includes 115 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican andOld Catholic Churches from across Europe, and 40 asso-ciated organisations.

Ex-security officials

jailed for spying

Lajos Galambos, the director of the National SecurityOffice (NBH) from 2004 to 2007, and György Szilvásy, thesecret services minister of the Ferenc Gyurcsány cabinet,were both sentenced to two years and 10 months jail forspying by Debrecen Court last Friday.

While all documentation of the criminal proceeding wasclassified until 2040, the trial was very likely about foldersfound on the office laptop of Sándor Laborc, another formerdirector of the National Security Office, who received asuspended sentence.

According to right-leaning weekly Heti Válasz, afterLaborc gave back his computer two folders called "Ovi" and"Bajusz" (Moustache) were found. The paper said thesecontained evidence the NBH was spying on Prime MinisterViktor Orbán and mustachioed House Speaker László Kövérduring their opposition days.

Both the defence and prosecution appealed against thecourt ruling.

After most of the opposition parties demanded that thedocuments be declassified, three members of the governingFidesz initiated an extraordinary session of Parliament'snational security committee this Monday. According tocommittee chair Máté Kocsis, the reaction from the left is"extremist and dangerous", which necessitates theconvening of the committee.

Teacher pay rise finally

coming throughSome 150,000 teachers will receive an average 34 per

cent pay rise from 1 September, Human Resources MinisterZoltán Balog said on Wednesday.The increase, backdated toJanuary, will be followed by others until 2017, and currentlyrepresents 60 per cent of teachers' overall expected salaryunder the new career model to be introduced in September,he said. Teachers just starting would receive a proportion-ately higher increase, meaning the profession would becomemore appealing for young people.

Funds are already available for the teacher pay rise, towhich HUF 40-45 billion (EUR 136.61-153.69 million) will beallocated this year and HUF 170-180 billion (EUR 580.59-614.75 million) next year, Economy Minister Mihály Vargasaid.

In a spat with Fidesz vice-president and former educationminister Zoltán Pokorni in early June, Varga had denied theexistence of funds to cover the increases planned for thefollowing two years. Citing a government decision in May andbudgetary adjustments passed in July, he now suggestedsufficient resources were available to increase salaries to alevel closer to levels seen in other central European coun-tries.

Head of teachers' union PSZ Mrs István Galló said thenew teacher career model presented the major drawback offailing to reward better performance, but that teachers wouldwelcome an average HUF 40,000-60,000 (EUR 136-205)rise in their monthly salaries.

Metropolitan Emmanuel of France (left) at the assembly of theConference of European Churches at RAM Colosseum inBudapest on 6 July. Beside him are Zoltán Balog, HumanResources Minister, and Tamás Fabiny, bishop of theEvangelical-Lutheran Church in Hungary in charge ofecumenical and international relations.

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003312 July – 18 July 2013THE BUDAPEST TIMES

Holocaust payout

delay solvedSome USD 5.6 million (EUR 4.2

million) will be transferred to the JewishHeritage of Hungary PublicEndowment (Mazsök) as part of a resti-tution deal with a US-based Holocaustrestitution organisation, the govern-ment announced on Saturday.The dealends a year-long dispute over trans-parency that had led to a freeze inpayments to survivors living abroad.

An earlier, five-year deal with theClaims Conference signed in 2007under which USD 21 million (EUR 16million) would have been paid toHolocaust survivors lapsed last yearand has not been extended.

“Holocaust survivors of Hungarianorigin living abroad will be able toreceive the compensation to which theyare entitled as soon as possible,” PMOchief of staff János Lázár said.

Nazi crimes case

suspendedThe prosecution of a 98-year-old

former police captain for abetting themurder of some 15,000 HungarianJews has been suspended. BudapestMunicipal Court ruled on Monday thatLászló Csatáry, had already beensentenced to death in absentia in 1948by a Czechoslovak court over hisactions as commander of a transitcamp in Kosice, now part of Slovakia.The Budapest court halted the trial ofCsatáry, who was discovered living inthe capital by the UK’s The Sun news-paper last year, until the legal enforce-ability of that sentence is established.The prosecution service has appealedagainst the decision.

Forex loans OKThe banking sector breathed a sigh

of relief on 4 July when the Kúria, thesupreme court, ruled in favour of OTPBank in a case where a borrower hadchallenged the validity of a foreign-currency mortgage. According to finan-cial newswire Bloomberg, some HUF3.48 trillion (EUR 11.89 billion) of forexmortgages are held by Hungarianhouseholds. Prime Minister ViktorOrbán said the following day that hebelieved the loans were “faulty” andshould not have been marketed even ifcustomers were made aware of therisks.

A ruling against OTP – when thecontract was challenged on thegrounds that the loan was not “really” inforeign currency – could have openedthe floodgates to thousands of similarclaims. Low-interest, foreign-currencymortgages, mainly Swiss franc, wereall the rage in Hungary until the finan-cial crisis hit. Now tens of thousands ofhouseholds are saddled with far higherthan expected monthly repayments,negative equity, and one-in-ten arealready in default.

Gay rights versus far rightOrganisers claim march was largest yet but questions are raised over violence and police response

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NIKLAS JAKOBSSON

Corruption in Hungary is on the rise,watchdog TransparencyInternational (TI) states in its latest

Global Corruption Barometer, with 61 percent of Hungarians believing that the situ-ation has worsened in the past two years.

The report can be read as heavy criti-cism by the people of their government:82 per cent believe that the actions of thestate and government are “somewhat orheavily” influenced by a few groups ofbeneficiary firms. On a scale of one to five– with five being the most corrupt – theHungarian government scores a high 3.8,according to the survey.

TI points out in its suggested guide-lines for improvement that the biggestcorruption risk in Hungary originates fromthe strong ties between the businesssector and the state. The report alsoaddresses the current situation regarding

political party finance, asserting that “aslong as the financing of parties is corrupt,parties are overall not interested in takingaction against corruption”.

Another telling statistic suggests that48 per cent of Hungarians believe thegovernment’s fight against corruption isinefficient. A further 85 per cent believethat personal relationships have an inte-gral role in solving administrative issueswith public offices, whether state ormunicipal.

However, self-regulation – through citi-zens voluntarily reporting acts of corrup-tion – is another area that needs improve-ment. The report shows that 70 per centof Hungarians would not report a case ofcorruption. The watchdog comments thatthis is “exceptionally high” in Europeancomparison.

József Péter Martin, executive directorof Transparency International’s office inHungary, said: “According to citizens,corruption is unfortunately very wide-

spread in Hungary. This is related to thefact that public trust is alarmingly low andinstitutions do not work efficiently.Everyone’s effort is needed in order tomake a change in this subject.”

The apparent apathy seems to belinked to this lack of faith in the authori-ties: 58 per cent of respondents said theybelieve that there would be no follow-upto a report of corruption, and 30 per centadmitted they would keep quiet for fear ofthe possible consequences of speakingout.

The statistics show a drastic change inmindset during the current governmentadministration: in the 2010 barometer 90per cent of Hungarians claimed theywould report acts of corruption if theyencountered it.

The EU average, according to TI, isalmost the exact opposite of Hungary. Inthe EU overall, 71 per cent of citizens saidthey would report corruption. Only 29 percent said they would not bother to report

it: less than half the figure in Hungary.German respondents professed to beleast tolerant of graft, with 94 per centclaiming they would speak out.

The Hungarian media gets a boot fromits people as well. Fifty-one per cent ofrespondents believe that the nationalmedia is corrupt or extremely corrupt.Other European countries fair a lot worse:in the United Kingdom 69 per cent believethat the media is corrupt while 54 per centof Germans have little – or no – faith intheir publications.

In Transparency International’s annualCorruption Perception Index, releasedlate last year, Hungary ranked 46thamong 176 countries surveyed, with ascore of 55 out of 100. NeighboursAustria ranked 25th with 69 points. TheEU’s newest member state, Croatia,slotted in at 62nd with 46 points, whileDenmark, Finland and New Zealandcame out jointly on top with a score of 90out of a maximum 100.

Hungarian film makes

critics take noteA Hungarian feature film, The Notebook (A nagy füzet)

by director János Szász, won the Crystal Globe at KarlovyVary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic onSaturday, the first local production to take the main prize atthe region’s premier cinefest.

It is set against the savage backdrop of the SecondWorld War and based on the debut novel by Hungarianémigré author Agota Kristóf, Le Grand Cahier.

The German-French-Hungarian-Austrian co-productiontells the grim story of two boys sent to live with a viciousgrandmother in an unnamed border village.

Kristóf left Hungary in 1956 at the age of 21 and settledin Switzerland, where she later began writing in French.She died in 2011, and The Notebook became the firstdomestic production subsidised by the new HungarianFilm Fund. Hungarian-born Hollywood mogul Andy Vajna(Terminator, Rambo) was appointed head of the fund, witha view to boosting the international appeal of Hungariancinema.

Official tries to quell town

fear over refugee centreVámosszabadi in northwestern Hungary will host a new

refugee centre from August, Immigration and CitizenshipOffice head Zsuzsanna Végh said on Monday. The firstrefugees are expected to arrive in August after renovationis completed.

The news has led to intense protest, with hundreds ofresidents gathering at a town meeting addressed by Végh.Roads have been partially blocked twice since the openingof the new centre on the outskirts of town was announcedin late June.

“There will be no criminals” at the centre and thoseaccommodated will pose no public health or safety issues,Végh told the residents, adding that the expected 200 wererefugees and their children fleeing war zones.

Vámosszabadi’s new reception centre is the ninth toopen in Hungary to address an increase in illegal immi-grants detained as they crossed into the country and thusentered the EU’s border-free Schengen area.

There are an estimated 4,000 refugees in Hungary, withillegal migration trends showing a steep rise since last year.Most arrive from the former Yugoslavia, Africa and theMiddle East.

Hunted Ukrainian caught

in nightclubUkrainian authorities have until 14 August if they plan to

seek extradition of former Ukrainian MP OleksandrShepelev, who is from the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko andthe Party of Regions, after his arrest at a Budapest night-club by Hungarian police and Interpol agents last week.Shepelev had been sought over an assassination attempt

against a Ukrainian businessman last spring and forallegedly embezzling around EUR 54 million of private andstate funds. According to Hungarian law, after 14 Augusthe would be freed in the unlikely event that Kyiv does notapply for extradition.

Rail to safeguard

deadly drop at tunnelThe capital’s District I will build a guard rail and refurbish

the ledge above the road tunnel at Clark Ádám Square toavoid further accidents, which have claimed many livesover the years. “There has been a deadly fall on almost ayearly basis and most of these deaths happened by acci-dent,” district mayor Gábor Tamás Nagy said. There is afence but it doesn’t stop people who want to get nearer theedge, then slip, he said. The rail is expected to becompleted this summer.

Heavy police security ensured thatthe annual Budapest Prideparade passed off peacefully onSaturday, with several thousand

participants marching from Heroes’ Squareto Olympia Park on the Danube riverside – arecord attendance according to the organ-isers. However, an alleged attack on threehomeward-bound participants by far-rightthugs has prompted a police investigationand expressions of concern from civil rightsombudsman Máté Szabó.

The small liberal party SZEMA said threeof its members were assaulted near Nyugatirailway station shortly after the official end ofthe event. According to a statement, some 30“uniformed neo-Nazis” beat up their targetswhile shouting “Gypsy faggots”. SZEMAdemanded an explanation from police andthe Interior Ministry after it alleged that thethree victims were subsequently subject to IDchecks while the perpetrators were allowedto leave the scene.

Police responded on Sunday that theattackers had already gone when the victimsapproached police to complain about theassault. The following day, however, an inves-tigation was launched into an attack carriedout against “members of a community” by agroup of unidentified perpetrators.

According to a Monday statement on thenational police website, the three victimswere interviewed over the weekend and had backed uptheir allegations with medical reports from outpatientclinics. One of the men, media later reported, was theheadmaster of a grammar school.

Witnesses, especially those who may have photo-graphic or video evidence, have been asked to comeforward.

Ombudsman Szabó noted on Tuesday that to ensurethe right to free assembly, police have a duty to ensurethe safe passage of participants as they disperse, notonly to secure the event itself. Police had informed himthat the operation to keep an estimated 300 anti-gayprotesters away from the 4,000 participants in themarch had been successful, but that a number ofarrests were made elsewhere in the capital.

Biggest yet

Organisers put the number of participantsat 8,000 and said the 18th annual marchwas the largest Budapest Pride event todate.

As in recent years, the unbroken fencingthat lined the route meant that only thosewho began on Heroes’ Square were able tojoin the march.

Among the speakers at a “civil picnic” inOlympia Park was Austrian Green MEPUlrike Lunacek. Domestic politicians fromthe opposition Socialist Party, green LMPand Dialogue for Hungary were among theparticipants.

Representatives of several embassiestook part, with 18 of them having previouslyendorsed the event.

The Christian Democrats, junior partnerin the ruling coalition, issued a statementdescribing Budapest Pride as a “parade ofpolitical opportunists”.

The party called on participants not toprovoke people, families and communities whowere not “with them”.The event actually hindersthe acceptance of homosexuality by bringingsexual orientation out into the open rather thankeeping it where it belongs “inside the bedroomwalls”, the party said.

The extreme-right Jobbik party held a rallyon Érzsébet tér (square), ostensibly celebrating “cama-raderie”. The party had earlier said it would never haveallowed the event to go ahead under a Jobbik govern-ment. In an internal memo obtained by news websiteindex.hu, the party’s Budapest leadership bannedmembers who wanted to “attend” the “poofter parade”in a private capacity from wearing party insignia.

Stench of corruption just gets worse

“It is shameful that this could happen, just as it is shameful thatother European cities can secure an event like yesterday’s withno more than 50 to 100 police, while in Hungary we need adouble cordon and a thousand officers to protect peaceful citi-zens from frenzied, homophobic, racist members of theextreme right with identity disorders.”

– Opposition Hungarian Socialist Party member Zsolt Török after the Budapest Pride parade. Three men were allegedly beaten

by neo-Nazi thugs while returning from the event.

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Champions Bayern

Munich in GyõrUEFA Champions League 2013

winner Bayern Munich will playHungarian champion ETO in a galamatch organised for the 20th birthdayof the Hungarian affiliate of German carmaker Audi. The match will be in Gyõron 11 August at 5pm. Ticket prices willbe announced later with all proceeds togo toward the development of youthfootball and other social projects.

Ad campaign goes

to the hiltWith less than a month to go until the

World Fencing Championships, theHungarian Fencing Federation is aboutto launch a somewhat unusual mediacampaign, featuring athletes in filmroles where a foil or sabre plays a

significant part. The championships willtake place in Syma Event Centre from5 to 12 August with about 700 fencersfrom 89 countries. Tickets start at EUR4 for the qualification rounds and costEUR 12 for the days of the finals. Apass for all eight days is EUR 78.

Ball in your court:

state aid for sportsPrime Minister Viktor Orbán and the

leaders of 16 sport associations signedan agreement in Parliament onWednesday that will provide the sportswith HUF 12.5 billion (EUR 42.51million) in government funding this yearand HUF 135 billion (EUR 459.25million) during 2014-2020. “The goal ofthis agreement is to ensure thatsuccessful athletes need not workabroad,” Orbán said. A significant payrise would be given to those trainerswho mentor athletes who achieveoutstanding results, he said. “Hungaryis in a position to utilise its economicresources to spend on sports andrecruitment even in crisis because thefuture of Hungary is in the hands of ourchildren, and when children areinvolved nothing is too expensive,”Orbán added. The subsidies do notinclude the five major sports – football,basketball, handball, ice hockey andwater polo – because these haveaccess to money originating from theTAO tax. This allows businesses topledge a percentage of tax for youthdevelopment programmes in clubs inthese major sports.

Medieval madness

at Visegrád nowThe medieval royal town of

Visegrád travels back in time thisweekend as the Visegrád PalaceGames open this Friday, promisingvisitors a programme of fourteenth-century entertainment.

The three-day festival will be set in1335, the era of the meeting betweenCasimir III of Poland, Charles I ofHungary and John of Luxemburg,King of Bohemia. Characters will bedressed in period costume, and visi-tors can enjoy everything fromjousting knights (viewing, not doing) tomedieval court games.

Warrior groups will arrive fromseveral European countries for thefestival – including Slovakia, Italy andPoland, organisers told state newsagency MTI. The festival dates back to1985 and has traditionally been heldon the second weekend of July.

Economic hopes lie

behind cash carrot

for foreign students

Anew government programme offering some2,000 scholarships yearly to students fromCentral and Eastern Asia will soon be launched,external economic relations state secretary Péter

Szijjártó said on Monday. Countries targeted includeChina, Japan, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Jordan,Egypt, Lebanon, members of the Commonwealth ofIndependent States such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan andTurkmenistan, and the Western Balkans, primarilyMacedonia.

Only “the best foreign students” selected “after meetingthe entry requirements set forth by the (Hungarian) insti-tution” would be recruited for programmes in eitherHungarian or English and would receive a monthlystipend and the cost of their course. Each student wouldcost between HUF 1 million (EUR 3,409) and HUF 1.25million (EUR 4,262), which would be repaid in the longrun by increased cooperation between Hungary and thesending countries, state secretary for higher educationIstván Klinghammer claimed.

No date has been set yet for the awarding of the firstscholarships though negotiations with foreign partnersare already under way “in the interests of the earliestpossible launch of the programme”, according to a state-ment by the State Secretariat for Higher Education.

The programme may be extended to include NearEastern and Latin American countries, the statementsaid.

Fewer Hungarians applying

The scholarships will do little to compensate for thedecrease in university applications by home-grownstudents following the introduction of tuition fees and theslashing of scholarships under the Fidesz government’snew higher education policy. Out of 142,600 studentsgraduating from high school in 2011, 141,000 applied topostsecondary studies. This year, only 95,000 applied toHungarian higher education institutes – a two-decadelow.

Making connections

But the new scholarships, helpfully named StipendiumHungaricum in a clear effort to use a language universallyaccepted in the countries targeted, is openly acknowl-edged to be a piece in the strategy of economic “Openingto the East” launched by the government after 2010.

The foreign students studying in Hungary will “repre-sent a significant pool of contacts towards the develop-ment of our foreign trade relations, supporting our marketaspirations, the image of Hungary and the international-level awareness of Hungarian knowledge and intellect”, itwas said.

Alumni of Hungarian institutions were said to includeGhana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Venezuela’s Ministerof Finance, South Africa’s Speaker of Parliament andAlgeria’s Agriculture Minister, Klinghammer said. Of thefour, only Venezuela’s Nelson Merentes is actuallyrecorded as having studied in Hungary (he completed aPhD in Mathematics at Budapest’s ELTE University in1991), though Ghana’s Hannah Tetteh was born inSzeged but left before secondary school, and SouthAfrica’s Max Sisulu was the African National Congress’chief representative in Hungary between 1977 and 1981.

Truckers want to slam

brakes on e-tollsOnly one per cent of the 300,000 e-road toll users

filed some sort of complaint during the first week ofoperation, state secretary Pál Völner said this week asthree haulage organisations demanded that thegovernment immediately suspend the system becauseit has already caused them HUF 100 million (EUR341,500) damage.

Trucking associations MKFE, Fuvosz and NITHungary held a press conference on Monday, where ittook them about an hour to list the problems they havewith the new system, which started on 1 July. Somewhatsurprisingly the event was attended by a representativeof the State Motorway Management Company, whoresponded that most of the claimed faults are unfoundedand could only be corrected based on the feedback oftruckers, thus shutting it down is not an option.

This statement was followed by a slightly heatedverbal exchange, leaving it unclear whether theconcerns are real or part of a communication offensiveby the disappointed entrepreneurs, who now face lowerprofits due to the higher amount they have to pay forusing the roads.

The main worry of the three organisations is that thesystem overbills, which they estimate in the neighbour-hood of HUF 100 million in the first week alone. Whilethis is undoubtedly a significant amount, Völner hasalready announced that everyone will be compensatedand only be billed the real amount.

Though it is difficult to see who is telling the truth,most of the other issues listed by the organisationsseem to be solvable in a reasonable time if the operatorof the system receives the requested feedback. Many ofthe errors are the result of the system operating in aprepaid way. As of today a pre-purchased ticket for acertain section cannot be re-exchanged if the finaldestination changes for whatever reason.

According to Fuvosz, there were certain problemsthat they discovered before the introduction of thesystem, but the state does not seem to be in a hurry tofix these. A city mix-up for example – Csoma (in thesouth) instead of Csorna (in the northwest) – wasreported a week before the launch but still remains tobe amended, causing truckers to have to pay nearly200 kilometres extra for a less than 50 kilometre sectionin western Hungary.

SMEs ‘must pull more

weight in exports’The government will prioritise support for small- and

medium-sized companies (SMEs) this year, and plansto help increase their share of exports from 11 per centin 2012, Economy Minister Mihály Varga told a busi-ness forum on Monday.

“Eleven per cent is not enough, especially in the lightof these firms having a more than 60 per cent share inemployment,” Varga said. “Support will come in the formof state and European Union subsidies and promotionthrough diplomatic channels.

“Our goal with opening to the East was to geograph-ically expand our export markets, but despite openingtrade houses in the capitals of Russia, Kazakhstan andAzerbaijan, trade in this direction declined.”

Varga noted that the government has plans to doubleexports by 2020 under an optimistic scenario and by 50per cent in a more cautious projection. “2013 must be ayear of growth,” he said.

Based on data from the first half there appears to be arealistic chance for growth exceeding the slightlypessimistic projections. The government forecast 0.7 percent growth in its latest euro convergence report while thecentral bank projected 0.6 per cent.

Addressing the same forum, state secretary for foreigntrade and investment Péter Szijjárto said foreign policyhas changed as a result of the financial crisis. “It hasbecome much more dynamic and a part of domestic poli-tics,” he said. “Economic endeavours and promotion ofeconomic interests must be more central to foreign poli-cymaking.”

Szijjárto added that after the opening of trading housesin the Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russian capitals ofBaku, Astana and Moscow, Hungary will open such facil-ities in the Saudi Arabian and Chinese capitals of Riyadhand Beijing in the second half of 2013.

Later plans are to open trading houses in countries ofthe Maghreb Union – a trade agreement of NorthernAfrican nations – and in South America.

Prisons a growth industryThe prisons in northeastern Hungary are 5,600

inmates, or 200 per cent, over capacity, well above thenational average, Interior Ministry undersecretary foreconomic and IT affairs László Tóth announced atDebrecen prison on Wednesday.

Tóth announced that the four prisons in question willbe expanded within the next three years and a new,1,000-capacity prison will be built to accommodate thegrowing number of inmates. The government intro-duced a so-called “three strikes” law as part of itstough-on-crime policy.

Ericsson joins the

Hungarian clubThomas Jul (left), head of Swedish mobile

infrastructure maker Ericsson in Central Europe,and National Economy Minister Mihály Vargasigned a strategic cooperation agreement onWednesday. Ericsson, which already employs1,700 people in Hungary where its second-largest research and development centre islocated, said more jobs would be created.Research on cloud expansion and Big Dataservices are among the planned developments.

Áron Szilágyi as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Save

economy

instead of

saving faceDemján plugs away at PM

over savings co-op revamp

ATTILA LEITNER

The back and forth between Prime MinisterViktor Orbán and the head of the NationalSavings Cooperatives Association (OTSZ),

Sándor Demján, continued this week, when the lattersent another open letter criticising the way thegovernment is going about the restructuring of thesavings cooperatives system.

There are very few people, outside of any opposi-tion party, who would dare to openly criticise the

cabinet’s moves, but one ofHungary’s richest busi-nessmen can certainly allowhimself to do that.Nevertheless, Demján wasquick to note that he agreeswith the principal idea of thelaw – and the OTSZ willrespect it – but cannotsupport the way it wasexecuted.

Not you Mr. Prime Minister, of course

“We’ve known each other for decades,” he wrote. “Iknow that you work 16 hours a day, even on holidays. Iknow from my personal experience that it is impossiblefor an executive to read and fully analyse every contractor legislation. They will formulate strategic goals andtheir employees will execute these goals well or poorly.The Commissioner you appointed did a poor job.”

Orbán responded that before the law went toParliament months were spent on intensive work anddebating its content. “Along with those affected, wecame to the realisation that the system of savingscooperatives needed significant restructuring and forthe state to play a larger role,” he said.

No, it was a done deal: Demján

This seems to be the only part where the two agreebut Demján remembers the amount of debatepreceding the law somewhat differently. “During ourreconciliation meeting the Commissioner failed todisclose the fact that the legislative proposal wasalready finished, [that] after the consultation thecabinet will immediately put it on its agenda andParliament will pass it that week,” he wrote back.

Save country, not face

Demján said this was nothing like the reconcilia-tory process had looked like in the past decades. “Wewould not like to return to the earlier practice, wherea mistake made by an employee will be ignored justto maintain the prestige of the government and poli-tics in general.”

Sándor Demján

EECCOONNOOMMYY//SSPPOORRTT

0044 THE BUDAPEST TIMES12 July – 18 July 2013

Watermelon

ructions leave

sour taste

Retail chains are not willing toenter negotiations with the

Rural Development Ministryabout setting a minimum pricefor watermelon and have threat-ened to leave consultationsabout possible promotions of the

fruit if the issue of end-retailprice is raised, the dailyNépszabadság has learnedfrom various industry sources.The parties did, however, reachan agreement about retailerspromoting Hungarian water-

melon. Fixing a minimum pricewas achieved by a tricky legisla-tive change last year, whichprevented the CompetitionAuthority starting an investiga-tion on its own if there is suspi-cion of cartel activity in the rural

segment. According toNépszabadság, this year chainsdeclined to participate becauseof fears that the EU wouldconsider this a restriction ofinternational competition andissue a significant fine.

MT

I

Thomas M. Fischer,

general manager of

Corinthia Hotel

Budapest

Thomas M. Fischer has been in charge of theCorinthia Hotel Budapest for the last year anda half. The Budapest landmark celebrates thetenth anniversary of its reopening this year butis actually 127 years old. We spoke to him

about the market position of the hotel and its prospects, aswell as his reasons for offering generous terms to thehotel’s latest tenant, the editorial office of The BudapestTimes and Budapester Zeitung.

How was the first half of this year for your hotel?

We can’t complain. We recorded a growth in turnover ofseven to eight per cent compared to the same period of lastyear.We were also able to improve our occupancy rate andour average revenue per overnight stay.

What do you see as the reason for that positive develop-ment?

One reason is the further strengthening of our profile in theprivate customer field, which was necessary for reasonsincluding the Malév bankruptcy. In tandem with that, thecorporate customer field also picked up. In addition, thehigh water level of the Danube and the resulting interrup-tion of traffic on the river led to increased demand foraccommodation in the premium hotel segment. We bene-fitted from our very good cooperation with the cruisecompanies. In general, however, all hotels are helped bythe fact that Budapest is an incredibly attractive city wherethe value for money is unbeatable in the whole of Europe.

What about the current image of Hungary abroad?

Unfortunately that’s still a topic. I was recently on businesstrips in Germany, England and Switzerland. The currentimage of Hungary came up in all the talks. It doesn’t makeit easier to market Hungary. Without wishing to sugarcoatanything, I repeatedly have to make clear that a lot of whatis written in the Western media about Hungary doesn’tentirely match the reality. However, there are also miscon-ceptions in other respects, for example with regard topurchasing power. The large hotels in the premiumsegment here have average rates of 100 to 120 euros pernight and then, unlike in London or Paris, that’s the end.

What do you think is the reason for the fact that the numberof bookings in the corporate sector is gradually recovering?

A lot of airlines are rediscovering Budapest.Those who arereally benefitting tend to be the hotels in lower categories,rather than the five-star hotels, but of course some of it getsthrough to us as well. The general business climate hasimproved somewhat here. Overall our good figures are,however, also an indication that we have simply workedhard.

What distinguishes your hotel from its competitors?

We’re certainly the hotel in our segment with the longesthistory, dating back to 1896. That’s one reason why a lot ofcustomers choose us. We’re a grand hotel with history butabsolutely competitive and with a modern interior design.That combination is highly valued. We even offer tours ofour hotel, both to guests of our hotel and external guests.We have a small hotel museum which we put together thisyear to mark the tenth anniversary of our reopening.Another great advantage of our hotel is our complexity.

How do you mean?

We’re the most “complete” hotel on the market: there’s nocomparable hotel that offers so many different rooms andother options. Our wide range of conference and meetingrooms sets standards, not to mention what is probably thecity’s most beautiful ballroom. Such high ballrooms – ourshas a height of eleven metres – are rare throughoutEurope. Another highlight is our beautiful indoor swimmingpool in the spa area, which dates back to 1886. In otherwords, it’s even older than the hotel itself. Its size alsomakes us stand out in our segment.We offer our guests sixdifferent dining possibilities under one roof. That’s uniqueas well.

Presumably all that more than makes up for the lack of aDanube view.

Yes, definitely. And indeed it can even be debated whetherthe Danube represents the city centre, or rather Andrássyút. There’s no other five-star hotel that’s so close toAndrássy út, and in particular to cultural institutions such asthe Hungarian State Opera House and the BudapestOperetta and Musical Theatre. The Liszt Ferenc MusicAcademy, which will reopen in October, is so close to ourhotel that theoretically you can drink a glass of champagneat our hotel in the concert interval. Just a few minutes’ walkfrom us is also the Jewish quarter with its famous ruin pubsand one of Europe’s largest synagogues. Of course it isn’t

the case that we simply fall back on all those advantages.We’re constantly engaged in developing our hotel andimproving what we offer.

What are your plans in the near future?

We want to develop our dining offering further and developour events field, which functions well even now, especiallyin terms of technology, for example by offering modernsolutions using smartphones and tablet computers. Weplan to make greater use of such solutions in general. TheApple stores and airports are my models for that.There area lot of solutions there that could be adopted by us in thehotel industry, for example when it comes to checking in orconferences. I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t bepossible to use a smartphone or a QSR code stored on itas a room key, along the lines of the solutions used atairports. I believe there’s still a lot of potential for develop-ment there and further opportunities to distinguishourselves from our competitors. I don’t want to have a hotelthat’s just like all the others. We have to think ahead. Thatincludes looking out for successful solutions in other fieldsand implementing them here, as well as a certain open-ness and eagerness to experiment in general.

Do you have sufficient freedom here to do things your ownway?

Of course we have group guidelines that we have to followbut we’re a family-run company with nine hotels, andconsiderably quicker and more flexible in many respectsthan a mega enterprise with several thousand hotels. Ourtenth hotel, in Taormina in Sicily, will join the group nextyear, by the way. We’re also working on further projects inEuropean metropolises, as well as in New York, Africa andRio. Another key difference is that all our hotels are ownedby us. In other words, we aren’t a pure managementcompany like almost all other large hotel chains. Our capitalis invested in our hotels. Of course that also has an effecton our everyday business. The general managers areexpected to run their hotel like their own company. Anyonewithout an entrepreneurial spirit who simply waits forinstructions from the head office would be out of place.That’s quite unlike many large chains and requires acertain managerial type. Of course we also have corporateguidelines but also a great deal of freedom. Good commu-nication between the managers of our nine hotels is veryimportant. That makes it possible for good solutions to beadopted quickly by other hotels. Such experimentation anddevelopment is what makes my work so attractive.When it comes to experimenting, does having such ahistoric hotel pose difficulties?

On the contrary: we see our great past as a commitment forthe present and the future. Our hotel set standards in thepremium segment in Budapest over a hundred years agoand that should remain the case. It’s a question of carefullyretaining the achievements of the past, while also satisfyingthe demands of the 21st century, i.e. combining traditionand modernity. Of course we need to know what directionwe want to head in but we also shouldn’t forget our history.

When did you begin work as general manager here?

A year and a half ago. The time has passed incrediblyquickly and I don’t have a fixed-term contract. As long asour owners are satisfied with what we’re doing here, I don’tsee any reason to turn my back on Budapest. My prede-cessor was here for six years. I can envisage a similar time-frame.

Some managers would already gradually be thinking aboutpacking their bags again.

To my mind that doesn’t make any sense. I don’t regardstays of shorter than four to five years as very mean-ingful. Luckily my approach is in line with our very long-term company philosophy.

You even go so far as to live in the hotel itself.

That’s not strictly true. I don’t live here in the hotel – that’sa key point. We also have 26 residences in a separatebuilding that we manage. That’s where I’m living at themoment. The two buildings are connected but essentially Igo home in the evening from work like anyone else.Probably I won’t continue living there forever. I don’t intendto carry on living there throughout my time at the hotel likemy predecessors, but for the start it’s naturally perfect. I’mrelieved of having to take care of a lot of things myself thatI would have to if I had, say, a house in Buda. And of coursethat begins with the complicated search for a suitablehome...

You live not only near your workplace but also in the centreof an exciting district of Budapest. Do you take advantageof that?

Yes, certainly, whether we’re talking about the doner kebabstand just around the corner, the local Starbucks or one ofthe many fine-dining restaurants within walking distance ofa few minutes, such as Fausto. The multitude of gastro-nomic and cultural possibilities here is impressive, and it’scontinuing to develop. More and more sections of streetsare becoming traffic-calmed areas and new venues keepspringing up. The whole of this quarter is excellent. It’s fungoing out in the evening here.

Which restaurants or bars would you personally recom-mend to guests?

First of all, those in the hotel itself. Working their waythrough the menus there would keep guests busy forquite some time. (laughs)

And then?

Then I would perhaps first recommend the restaurantscene on Liszt Ferenc tér, where there are around 20 barsand restaurants in one spot, grouped around a small park.It feels almost like a large inner courtyard. The whole lowersection of Király utca is very good. I would definitely recom-mend a visit to one of the ruin pubs, in particular theperhaps most prominent representative, Szimpla. I haven’tseen such decor anywhere other than in Budapest. Thelarge market that takes place every Sunday in the Jewishquarter is also an experience.

What would you recommend on the cultural front?

Definitely the Hungarian State Opera House and theBudapest Operetta and Musical Theatre. It’s also certainlyworth visiting the Madách Theatre, which, like us, is situ-ated directly on the Nagykörút (large ring road), just a fewminutes on foot towards Blaha Lujza tér. It’s an excellenttheatre for musicals. I lived for three years in London andsaw a lot of shows in the West End but the quality is betterhere. The productions are absolutely world-class. Thestage sets alone are unbelievable. I hadn’t expected that,especially as the Madách Theatre is not particularly spec-tacular from outside. I really take my hat off to them.

You give the impression that you regularly find time in theevenings to visit all these places.

Far less than I would like to but enough to be able to forman opinion.

My next question concerns our own affairs. You haveoffered our editorial office generous rental conditions.Why?What is your reason for doing so?

Like The Budapest Times and Budapester Zeitung we area strong brand with a very interesting and exclusive clien-tele. There are large overlaps between our target groups. Ihope the fact that the two newspapers now have their edito-rial office here at our hotel will have both direct and indirectpositive effects for our business. I also assume that in termsof publicity it’s certainly not a disadvantage that these twovalued newspapers of the expat community are situatedhere. I’m thinking here of reporting about hotel events inparticular. Or how do you see it?

There’s a phrase “out of sight, out of mind”. I think theopposite is also the case, so I would say your assumptionis correct.

However, there’s also more to our hospitality. It’s not easyfor media companies today despite their importance. I’maware that The Budapest Times and Budapester Zeitungare hardly rolling in money and that their survival dependsgreatly on the solidarity of the German-speaking andEnglish-speaking communities. I find it very important thatboth newspapers continue to exist as integral parts ofBudapest’s foreign-language infrastructure, as well as theHungarian press landscape, so I was happy to contribute tothat with the help of my hotel. If the community wants tocontinue to have its own newspapers, its exponents needto contribute within their means. Incidentally, taking respon-sibility for our host country and its institutions is part of ourbusiness philosophy. For that reason we also support, forexample, the work of the Csodalámpa (magic lamp) foun-dation, which helps seriously ill children. To me and theCorinthia Group, sustainable management means lookingbeyond our own nose and engaging in other socially impor-tant areas too.

– Jan Mainka

12 July – 18 July 2013 0055THE BUDAPEST TIMES

TTOOPPMMAANNAAGGEERRIINNDDIISSCCUUSSSSIIOONN

Online job mart

regains groundThe HUF 2.8 billion (EUR 9.54

million) online job market couldexpand by 10 to 15 per cent this year,industry researcher eNET said thisweek. While the ratio of professionalstrying to find a job online is increasingannually, a significant growth this yearis mainly due to the low base causedby the financial crisis: the number oflistings on job portals is only about 40per cent of the level measured in2008.

Inflation creeps up

to 1.9% in JuneAnnual inflation in Hungary

reached 1.9 per cent in June, up from1.8 per cent in May, the CentralStatistics Office (KSH) announced onTuesday. In a month-on-monthcomparison, consumer prices saw a0.2 per cent increase compared to a0.1 per cent drop in May.

Heineken tries out

a new topThe Hungarian branch of Dutch

brewer Heineken has appointed 38-year-old Joris Huijsmans as its newCEO from July. Heineken Hungáriawas previously run by Dele Ajayi.

100 jobs seen in

Opel expansionThe Szentgotthárd factory of

German car maker Opel will undergoa EUR 60 million expansion, statesecretary for foreign trade and invest-ment Péter Szijjártó (right) and CEOof the plant Tamás Solt told a pressconference at Parliament on Tuesday.

The enlarged plant in thecountry’s westernmost city willexpand annual capacity by 70,000engines to 650,000, among them thenewly introduced 1.8-litre power-train. The investment is expected tocreate 100 jobs.

“This is the second phase of theinvestment we announced in 2010,which is a clear proof of ourcompany’s strategic role in theHungarian economy,” Solt said,stressing that Opel’s developmentsare always supported by the govern-ment.

Szijjártó drew parallels between thegovernment and Opel’s strategy thatconsiders expansion in the FarEastern market to counterbalance theEuropean recession. He noted thatthe cooperation between Opel and itsHungarian small- and medium-sizedsuppliers is exemplary.

“Opel doubled the earlier sum andnow buys in at a value of 130 millioneuros,” Szíjjártó said. “The goal ofthe government’s new economicpolicy was to make Hungary one ofthe production centres of the EU andthis investment is another part ofthat.

“The sum of foreign direct invest-ment totalled EUR 78.5 billion at theend of 2012, equalling 80 per cent ofthe Hungarian GDP, in which theautomotive industry and affiliatedindustries played a significant role.”

Tradition and modernityM

TI

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The latest attempt to create a substituteHungarian airline to replace bank-rupted national carrier Malév has a

number of plans to target the non-budget trav-eller segment, such as hiring hundreds ofworkers before the end of the year, aiming totransport eight million passengers with a EUR4 billion, 50-plane fleet by 2017 – ambitiousconsidering that Malév had a EUR 3 millionfleet before it collapsed – and intending tolaunch as soon as next month.

The plans of Sólyom (Falcon) Airways –which would use the Hungarian nationalcolours – sound impressive, but a closer lookreveals that the idea right now is only slightlycloser to reality than what a college freshmanwould draft for a first business proposal assign-ment. Putting aside the fact that most of theemployees of the company are reportedlyworking for free at present, the company doesnot seem to have actual money to fuel a plane,let alone lease one.

Sólyom has plans to involve only Mid-Eastern businessmen to fund its operation.This will be necessary because the NationalDevelopment Ministry has already confirmedthat it will not receive any funding from thestate, and about one month before thesuggested launch nobody has contactedBudapest Airport or the National AviationAgency to acquire the necessary permits for anew airline.

Budapest Airport CEO Jost Lammers toldThe Budapest Times: “Of course we welcomeevery initiative that helps to increase the airtraffic but right now it is too early to sayanything about it. The time schedule soundsvery ambitious, but in any case we will givethem full support as the effort proceeds.”

A ruinous headquarters – such as SólyomAirways has – can still be perfect to run a

company, but industry experts have quicklypointed out that the business model the airlineplans to use is pretty much what drove Malév tobankruptcy. According to an unnamed sourceof the weekly HVG, the only competitive airlinein the premium segment is Lufthansa, with therest of the field competing with low-costcarriers, so Sólyom plans to expand in an areawhere everybody else is cutting costs.

Also, the reports so far suggest that Sólyomwould fly BAE146 planes and these airlinersare being phased out by the three remainingcompanies using them, mainly because of agebut also due to high fuel consumption.

– Attila Leitner

Minsk, Belarus, to be just

a flight awayBelarusian Airline Belavia will launch a year-

around flight on 19 September linking the capitalcities of Minsk in Belarus, Belgrade in Serbia andBudapest. The twice-weekly schedule will be flownpredominantly on Bombardier CRJ-100/200 aircrafton Mondays and Thursdays and will follow the Minsk-Budapest-Belgrade-Budapest-Minsk route. It will bethe first time that the Hungarian and Belarusian capi-tals have been connected. “This latest flight followsthe announcement of Bulgaria Air’s Budapest toSofia route and further demonstrates our airport’sstrength as a Central European hub,” Kam Jandu,aviation director of Budapest Airport, said. “We antic-ipate that this unique schedule will be attractive toboth the business and tourism sectors.”

Head in the cloudsSólyom Airways battling strong headwinds

12 July – 18 July 2013 0077THE BUDAPEST TIMES

TTOOPPMMAANNAAGGEERRIINNDDIISSCCUUSSSSIIOONN

44% wish to

renegotiate creditForty-four per cent of Hungarian

companies in a global Ernst and Youngsurvey indicated that they would like torenegotiate their loans, the advisor saidon Tuesday. While Hungarians are notalone in this desire, the rate is muchhigher than the 29 per cent globalaverage. The survey polled 1,600companies in 50 countries.

What more than half of theHungarian companies surveyed want isto renegotiate their loans in order toextend their maturity, while 18 per centseek lower interest rates.

There was a hopeful sign for growthof the economy; 32 per cent ofHungarians polled said they wanted toincrease their stock of credit. (See alsothe interview on the right which exten-sively covers the central bank’s “fundingfor growth” programme which aims toget cheap credit into the hands ofSMEs by the end of August.)

Car price catch-up

hits re-exportsThe number of new cars re-

exported from Hungary is on thedecline because the price differencebetween Western Europe and Hungaryis dropping, Gábor Gablini, the presi-dent of the Association of AutomobileDealers (GÉMOSZ), told businessdaily Napi Gazdaság on Tuesday. Re-exporting involves cars manufacturedabroad and sold to Hungary beingimmediately exported from the country.GÉMOSZ estimates that such salesmade up 15 to 20 per cent of themarket last year, significantly distortingfigures for the industry.

UPC pondering

appeal after fineThe National Media and

Communications Authority (NMHH)fined cable and internet provider UPCHUF 60 million (EUR 204,800) thisweek because the company unilaterallytried to modify the contracts of some800,000 subscribers last November.UPC is considering appealing on thegrounds the modification was only asimplification of the contract and did notaffect the packages offered.

Sun setting on

500 Sanyo jobs The Japanese-owned solar panel

factory of Sanyo will dismiss all of itsremaining 500 workers by Septemberbecause the company will be liqui-dated by early 2014, the firmannounced this week. A statementsaid production will be moved to Japanand Malaysia because Europeandemand dropped significantly aftervarious subsidies offered for theproduction of household solar energywere cancelled. Laid-off employeeswould receive all statutory compensa-tion, Sanyo said. Other benefits wouldbe agreed upon in negotiations withunions, set to begin next week.

Mobile wallet

under trial Two thousand people will take part

in the six-month testing of mobilewallet system “mobiltárca”, whichallows participants to use their mobilephones to pay at cashiers andmachines equipped with a PayPassbank terminal. The nationwide launchwill depend on what kind of issues thepilot programme reveals but it willlikely happen within two months of thetrial run’s conclusion. In the future themobile wallet will likely replace plasticcards altogether, but currently onlytwo-thirds of all mobiles sold aresmartphones and only 15 to 20 percent of these are capable of the NFC(near field communication) data trans-mission.

Being a banker inHungary involves greatchallenges and beingexposed to almostconstant stress tests by

the government since it won powerin 2010. There are, however, occa-sional bright spots for the industry,one of which is the “funding forgrowth” programme of the NationalBank of Hungary (MNB), which hasbeen running since June. We spoketo Peter Szenkurök, head of theHungarian subsidiary of OberbankAG, about the programme, as wellas other matters concerning bankingin Hungary.

Let’s start with the positive things bytalking about the “funding for growth”programme. Could you pleaseexplain the essence of thisprogramme to our readers?

In simplified terms, the NationalBank of Hungary supplies the partic-ipating commercial banks with forintrefinancing at a zero rate. Thesebanks then assume the obligation ofpassing on the refinancing funds totheir corporate customers at amaximum interest rate of 2.5 percent. The aim of the central bank isto revive corporate financing inHungary.

Are there international models forthis?

It looks as though it was at leastpartly guided by a former measuretaken by the Bank of England,namely its funding for lendingscheme.

Who is the programme aimed at?

At small- and medium-sized enter-prises. According to the EU definitionthese are companies that do notexceed certain limits: 250employees, turnover of EUR 50million and balance sheet total ofEUR 43 million.

At an event of the German BusinessClub (DWC) attended by centralbank governor György Matolcsy, you described his“funding for growth” programme as a great move that canadvance the economy. Why do you take that view? Whatpotential do you think the programme has in terms ofpromoting investments and creating jobs? What realeffects could it have on economic growth?

First, this programme enables companies to financethemselves on a forint basis at low cost. We’ve observedthat companies have largely restructured their existingloan financing, rather than using the additional financialleeway to make new investments. That’s related to theshort deadlines for making use of the programme. Theloan agreements need to be concluded by the end of thisAugust at the latest. In other words, for the most partexisting financing has been converted to forint financing,at a record low interest rate of a maximum 2.5 per cent.That eliminates exchange rate risks for companies andmakes investments more predictable. Second, projectsand investments become more profitable as a result oflower interest costs. In addition, the programme gets thecorporate credit market in Hungary moving. Some largebanks were evidently very reserved in terms of issuingloans in recent years. For a company with a forward-looking strategy it’s important, however, to have a reli-able and strong banking partner by its side that proac-tively supports its projects and investments withfinancing. That in turn benefits the whole Hungarianeconomy and the labour market. However, it’s difficult topredict what specific impact that will have on economicgrowth. That’s why I don’t want to get involved in suchspeculation

At the same DWC event in mid-May you announced thatyou would participate keenly in the programme. What hascome of that?

Following an intensive appraisal phase we’re participatingin a substantive way in the programme. Luckily the refi-nancing that Oberbank Hungary applied for from theNational Bank of Hungary was granted in full.

Why did you decide to get so involved? What do you hopeto achieve with your participation?

It’s very simple. First, it’s a question of strengthening andpromoting companies in Hungary. As a bank we should beopen to such a measure. Supporting companies is ulti-mately our most important task. Since we’re convinced thatthe programme is a good thing, we don’t want to depriveour existing customers of this possibility. We’ve also beencontacted by numerous potential new customers inconnection with this programme.

Was it difficult to obtain the refinancing funds that youwanted? How large was the demand?

As far as I know the planned refinancing funds were over-subscribed several fold. That alone speaks for the successof this measure and, as a result, for central bank governorDr. Matolcsy. Despite the enormous excess demand,Oberbank was lucky: it was granted the quota that itapplied for.

Have all the terms and conditions for granting the loansbeen clarified or are there still question marks? Are therestill certain uncertainties concerning the issue of the loans?

There were intensive talks betweenrepresentatives of the National Bankof Hungary and the banks. An effec-tive programme was worked out in arelatively short time. We’re alreadyfully engaged in implementation ofthe programme with our participatingcustomers. After several meetingswith the central bank and generalclarification by the central bank,there are currently no significantuncertainties concerning this creditprogramme.

What further improvements wouldyou like to see?

I’ve already mentioned that thisprogramme is largely aimed at elim-inating exchange rate risks andlower cost “refinancing” of invest-ments that have already been madeand financed, or at least that is howour customers have largely used thissupport. It would also be good to seea measure aimed chiefly at newinvestments. However, that wouldrequire the programme to have alonger term. At present it is too shortfor many companies, in particularwith regard to new investments.

How great is interest among yourcustomers?

The interest was and is enormous.We can hardly keep up with all theinquiries. We aren’t having any diffi-culties placing the funding on themarket, i.e. with our customers.We’re pleasantly surprised by thegreat interest.

What is the mood like among yourcustomers in general?

Of course they have varying views.The majority of our customers,however, are in the fortunate positionthat they are looking ahead andacting accordingly. Oberbank takesthe same approach.

What changes has the introductionand recent increase in the financialtransaction tax led to at your bank?

The tax has kept us very busy internally.There were count-less internal meetings, as well as with customers. Therewas also a great deal of correspondence with customers.We had to respond repeatedly to complaints and give addi-tional explanations with regard to account statements. Thenew tax also gave us a lot of extra work in the IT field, espe-cially because of the large number of things that needed tobe reprogrammed. But what can we do? Laws have to becomplied with.

What’s your view of the base rate policy of the centralbank?

I don’t wish to comment on that. I know that bank repre-sentatives occasionally do so. However, there are otherexperts, in particular macro economists, who can do sobetter and earn money in that way.

How is the Oberbank Group faring overall?

Oberbank is present in Hungary, Austria, Germany, theCzech Republic and Slovakia with a total of 150 branches.We were able to increase our profits before tax by five percent to EUR 132.4 million in the 2012 business year,following an excellent previous year’s result too. In partic-ular, a multi-year comparison clearly shows that theOberbank Group has developed considerably better thanthe banking market as a whole. We haven’t recorded anyfall in earnings in the past years. Since 2006, i.e. evenbefore the beginning of the financial crisis, banking crisisand sovereign debt crisis, we’ve been able to increase ourearnings before taxes by a total of 60 per cent, while thebanking market as a whole has recorded a significantdecrease. In Hungary our business has constantly devel-oped in a positive direction since our market entry in 2007and we’ve been able to increase our loan and depositvolumes in particular, as well as our yields.

What strategy does Oberbank pursue?

Oberbank chiefly focuses on corporate banking for SMEs.Our core competence is in that segment. Based on ourexcellent earning position, we are also very well set up withown funds and core capital. With an own funds rate of16.81 per cent at present, we meet the stringent require-ments of Basel III even now and thus don’t need to restrictour lending, unlike some large banks that have already hadto. Our business model is based on traditional banking,sustainable economic activity and long-term customer rela-tionships. That makes us a predictable, stable financialpartner offering maximum reliability to our customers.

– Jan Mainka

‘Funding for growth’ is great successPeter Szenkurök, head of the Hungarian subsidiary of Oberbank AG

First, this programme enables compa-

nies to finance themselves on a forint

basis at low cost. We’ve observed that

companies have largely restructured

their existing loan financing, rather

than using the additional financial

leeway to make new investments.

That’s related to the short deadlines for

making use of the programme. The

loan agreements need to be concluded

by the end of this August at the latest.

In other words, for the most part

existing financing has been converted

to forint financing, at a record low

interest rate of a maximum 2.5 per

cent. That eliminates exchange rate

risks for companies and makes invest-

ments more predictable. Second,

projects and investments become

more profitable as a result of lower

interest costs.”

– Peter Szenkurök, Oberbank AG


Rich symbolism rises from the gloomReview: Satantango, by László Krasznahorkai

BBOOOOKKSS BÉNÉDICTE WILLIAMS

In a small, derelict settlement on anabandoned estate, a few lost souls wakeup to a day that could be as devoid ofhope as any of the others preceding. Inwhat was “once the home of a thriving

industry, now nothing but a set of dilapidatedand deserted buildings” surrounded by aseasonally unpassable sea of mud, where thegaze runs from “the topmost beams of a derelictfarmhouse from which the roof tiles had beenstripped” to the “green mildew” that “coveredthe cracks and peeling walls” in Mrs Schmidt’shouse, everything shows defeat and resignationon the inhabitants’ part.

Yet the day, which gets off to an early start onthe prompting of the unusual sound of bells inthis church-forsaken area, ends up bringingmomentous changes as it is announcedKelemen, the driver, has seen Irimiás andPetrina. That the two, long thought dead,should reappear and be rumoured to beheading back to the settlement, cannot leavethe community indifferent.

A village enthralled by a false prophet

While some on the estate are sceptical, otherssuch as Futaki the cripple already start dreamingof a new, brighter future: “Irimiás (…) is a greatmagician. He could turn a pile of cow shit into amansion if he wanted to.” He is the only mancapable of “holding together things that just fallapart when we’re in charge”, Futaki says.

Yet, at times prophetic and at others scathing,admired and reviled in equal measure, patron-

ising in public but dismissive in private, Irimiás,the “Lord of Misrule”, wreaks havoc with thesettlement’s inhabitants.

Himself a despised informer for unspecifiedpowers in town, he recruits most of “the long-suffering lot” for the same cause, after havingled them to believe in “a new model economy”established by him, an empty, hopeless schemefor which they sacrifice crumbling homes andhard-earned cash.

Only a few remain behind - the doctor, anoverweight pálinka-drunkard obsessed with

order and with minutely recording hissurroundings; the two Horgos girls whoring inthe old mill; and Esti, their defenceless, simple-minded younger sister whose suicide beforeIrimiás and Petrina’s arrival is a smaller scalepre-run of the other inhabitants’ figurativecollective death at the end of the book.

On screen too

When referring to Satantango, LászlóKrasznahorkai’s first book (originally publishedin Hungarian in 1985), it is usually de rigueur tomention the similarly named 1994 film, towhich the epithet “epic” is often attached for itsduration (over seven hours) and for filmdirector and long-term Krasznahorkai associateBéla Tarr’s relentless, black-and-white filmingof the hopeless gloom and flaws of humanity ingeneral and certain aspects of Hungariansociety in particular.

At 275 pages of dense prose, the book mayseem to be less epic but it is certainly rain-soak-ingly bleak. Krasznahorkai, in fact, excels atdepicting the slow inner decomposition ofhuman communities where “death meantgetting used to, first the soup, then to the meatdishes, then, finally, to go on consuming thevery walls, chewing long laborious mouthfulsbefore swallowing”.

This, he has said in interviews, should not betaken as showing too literally any particularaspect of life in a village under Hungary’s brandof communism (though Krasznahorkai’s one-time job as a night guard on a dairy farm ineastern Hungary in his early years certainlycontributed some local colour).

It is, rather, an early expression ofKrasznahorkai’s disillusion with humanity andhuman nature, a theme also pervading some ofhis later output, among which War and War andThe Melancholy of Resistance are also translatedinto English (more recent works such as SeioboThere Below, a collection of reflections on artand metaphysics, also recently released inEnglish, show a less gloomy and more peri-patetic side to his writing).

Satantango abounds in symbolism, from thedance-like chapter numberings to the biblicalreferences and surprisingly circular construc-tion. What the characters stand for, whetherKrasznahorkai aimed for them to stand foranything, and how Satantango should be inter-preted, remains up to each to decide - it is toorich to be pinned down so easily.

There is, at the same time, nothing toohermetic about the natural and flowing prosedressed in long sentences beautifully renderedin English by George Szirtes. Deemed to beKrasznahorkai’s most easily accessible work,Satantango is an intricate, intriguing andthought-provoking novel by one of Hungary’sleading contemporary authors.

Buy the book

Satantango By László Krasznahorkai

Translated by George Szirtes Tuskar Rock/Atlantic Books, 2012

Hardback, GBP 12.99

Giving voice to foreign literature

Born in Budapest in1948 but a resident ofthe United Kingdomsince 1956, GeorgeSzirtes is not only an

English-language poet but also one ofa number of translators working fromHungarian to English. Alongsideworks by Hungarian novelists andpoets Imre Madách, DezsõKosztolányi, Gyula Krúdy and SándorMárai, he has translated three novelsby László Krasznahorkai, the latest ofwhich, Satantango, was published lastyear in the US by New Directions andin the UK by Atlantic Books. TheBudapest Times spoke to Szirtes abouttranslation and about the place ofHungarian literature in the world.

You describe Krasznahorkai’s prose asbeing “a lava flow of narrative, a blackriver of type”. To what extent have youhad to devise new, creative ways of trans-posing Krasznahorkai’s linguistic devicesinto English?

The new way I’ve discovered is bydoing one paragraph and thentaking a long rest. Of course every-thing has to be completely rewrittenbecause the order of language inHungarian is different from the orderof the language in English. I think

when translating somebody youlearn, for Krasznahorkai particularly,how to handle the voice you hear andthen to try to make a voice. In English Krasznahorkai may beslightly funnier; the humour buttongoes up a bit. The whole style, a verylong style, is not a style which isnormally used in fiction. It’s likebuilding a castle: you keep adding andadding, and there’s tension there butalso there’s always a point at which itwill fall down. So there’s a kind ofmurderous laughter associated with it.It’s also because the long sentencesand the long developments some-times cover very minor incidents.The example I always give is from TheMelancholy of Resistance, where theprofessor of music is being advised byValuska, one of the heroes of thebook, that there’s going to be a riot inthe town and he should board up hiswindows. This man has never done aday’s physical work in his life. At thebeginning of this section of the bookhe’s standing in front of the window,thinking about the hammer, where tohold it, where to put his fingers, whatto concentrate on when moving thehammer. It goes on for a page and ahalf. It’s funny. It’s funny inHungarian too but in English theprose expectations are less teutonic.

There is already a predisposition tofind whatever happens as potentiallyfunny. The humour of Krasznahorkai,which is black humour, is slightlyintensified in English. So you hear this possibility oflanguage, and it helps, because youcan then begin to think about how toreconstruct the sentences, you have tofind some constructions that work inEnglish and which create a kind ofslow build-up. And then of course youlisten to your own voice because you’rewriting in English, not in Hungarian.

This is not the first Krasznahorkai workyou have translated, so how much did youbenefit from that?

You get used to it. I translated first TheMelancholy of Resistance, then War andWar, which was the most difficult,because every chapter is a singlesentence. Some of the chapters areeight or nine pages long, so that’s avery long sentence. That took me ages,and of course there are no paragraphs,so just visually you can get lost.

Did his style become more complex afterSatantango, his first book?

Yes, it becomes a literary creation. I’mgoing to be starting another

Krasznahorkai very soon, Északrólhegy, Délrõl tó, Nyugatról utak, Keletrõlfolyó [To the north by a mountain, tothe south by a lake, to the west byroads, to the east by a river]. Some ofthose are short chapters but every-thing is a single sentence. I think Iknow what I’m dealing with and whatI’m listening to, I don’t have to try tounderstand the whole message fromthe start. So it has become easier.Earlier I did about four Sándor Márainovels and, again, you learn how thisvoice seems to behave.

You received very recently the BestTranslated Book Award for Satantango.What do you think appealed to the jury inthe book and in this translation?

I think it appealed particularly toAmericans because there’s somethingquite mega and apocalyptic aboutKrasznahorkai’s vision. It’s verysweeping, which appealed very muchto the American imagination. Thebook was also longlisted for an Englishbook prize, the Independent ForeignFiction Prize, which was not just forthe translation but for the whole book,but didn’t make the shortlist. I thinkthe English preference is on the wholefor the intimate, the smaller scale,which is less of an advantage for

Krasznahorkai. In America there’s atradition of great universalist works, ofthe great American novel. This kind ofvision in which everything issubsumed under some kind of apoca-lyptic omen appeals more to theAmerican imagination. That’s mytheory, but I don’t know.

Hungary has a fairly small populationand a not very well-known language, andyet it really seems to punch above its weightin terms of how well it’s known abroad.

Hungary doesn’t get a bad deal. Itprobably has more literary works inAnglo-Saxon languages than, say,Slovak or Bulgarian and just about asmuch as Danish or Dutch, for instance.I’m only guessing now but I think thatthere is a kind of imperial precedentbecause of the Austro-Hungarianempire. As far as England goes, thatconsciousness of once-greatness andthen the melancholy following is anidentifiable thing. Hungarian novelshave the appeal of historical novels.The Bánffy books, for instance, strucka nerve [Miklós Bánffy, 1873-1950,author of The Transylvanian Trilogy andThe Phoenix Land]. But even then thereadership for such books is very small.

- Bénédicte Williams


BBOOOOKKSS

Budapest, September 2009

György Ugron: ‘You might say that commu-nism destroyed three generations here: thegeneration of my grandparents, that of myparents and my own. My parents’ generationhad a great childhood and could learnlanguages, but had a tough time after that. Mygeneration had a pretty tough time too.’

On 19 March 1965 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dejdied. Three days later his protégé, NicolaeCeausescu, was chosen as First Secretary of theRomanian Communist Party. Two and a halfyears after that, in December 1967, Ceausescuannounced that the class struggle in Romaniawas over. He no longer needed to target thearistocracy or the bourgeoisie, since both hadbeen virtually crushed. So he turned on minori-ties. He wanted to put an end to the multi-ethnic composition of Transylvania and he triedas far as possible to drive minorities out of thecountry. He sold the Jews and Saxons to Israeland Germany for hard currency and braggedthat Romania’s three most successful exportproducts were Germans, Jews and oil.

György Ugron left Transylvania in the summerof 1989 with his wife and his daughter Zsolna.‘We arrived in Budapest by train. Twenty-ninerelatives were waiting for us at the station. It wasa tremendous feeling, as if we were theHungarian ambassador and family. Life underCeausescu in the 1980s was hard. To pay off thenational debt, practically everything the countryproduced was exported. Shelves in the shopswere empty. Wherever Ceausescu went on a visit,all the stores were filled with specially deliveredproducts. He came to Kolozsvár a couple of timeswhile we lived there. The whole city was closed offand a day before his arrival the sale of alcohol wasbanned. People lined the roads, clapping. In thefields along the route, potatoes were buriedahead of his arrival and they were harvested bychildren as he passed. Whenever he visited statefarms, they would make heaps of vegetables andfruit out of painted polystyrene, with a few at thefront that were real, just in case he picked one up.He lived in a fantasy world.’

György’s daughter Zsolna told me she alwayscame home from school to a cold, dark house.In the 1980s electricity and gas were availablefor only a few hours a day. The first thing shedid on getting home was to put a cushion overthe telephone. You were obliged to use state-issued phones, which worked as eavesdroppingdevices twenty-four hours a day. Zsolna also saidthat a queue at the baker’s or the supermarketwas a good sign; you always joined it immedi-ately. There were no luxury articles at all, andalmost all basic products were scarce. There washardly any toilet paper. The only things youcould nearly always get were beetroot and cheapRomanian champagne.

The ration card for Brasov in 1987, forexample, shows the amounts of food each familyhad a right to buy, a semi-starvation level ofnutrition that was presented to the Romanianpeople as a ‘scientific diet’. In Brasov a year’sration amounted to 8.5 kilos of meat (23 gramsa day), 2.5 kilos of flour (7 grams a day), 10litres of cooking oil (27 millilitres per day), 10.5kilos of salami (29 grams per day) and 10 eggs(1 egg per 36 days). Diesel for cars was cut backto a minimum. It was this grinding poverty, withno prospect of improvement, that drove theRomanian people to the verge of despair andeventually, even in the perfectly controlledpolice state that Romania then was, provokedthem to rise in revolt in December 1989.

It looks as if it’s been filmed in black-and-white. The twenty people on the balcony are alldressed in black, with occasional shades of grey.They line the bottom of the image. Thebuilding rises powerfully behind them. Theangle is low, a worm’s-eye view. A good deal ofthought has gone into the camerawork. On thefaçade of the robust grey building are pillars

many metres high, emphasizing man’s insignifi-cance. The dictator is wearing a long dark coatand a high black hat, standing against the back-drop of a window with net curtains. Next to himis his wife, one of two women on the balcony.

It’s 21 December 1989. On the square, calledthe Piata Republica, are 80,000 workersdrummed up from Bucharest and thesurrounding districts, holding banners bearingjubilant slogans and portraits of NicolaeCeausescu. They look up at the balcony of thebuilding that houses the Central Committee ofthe Romanian Communist Party. As ever, thereare many Securitate officers among them. Thegathering has been organized to reaffirm theauthority of the great leader. As Ceausescufinishes his first few sentences, the bussed-inworkers, keeping almost perfect time, set up aslow Stalinist applause that resounds withoppression and death.

Eight minutes in, workers fromTurbomechanica outside Bucharest startchanting ‘Ti-mi-so-ara, Ti-mi-so-ara’, the nameof the city where deaths have occurred in riotsover the previous few days. The crowd takes upthe cry. Ceausescu falters. As the protest swells,his mouth falls open.

It’s the ultimate image of a dictator losing hisgrip. Louis de Funès could not have portrayed itbetter. Nicolae Ceausescu actually resembled himin a way, especially when frivolously clad in hiswhite summer suit with matching flat cap, off toinspect kolkhozes, his belly sticking out, vacantand self-satisfied, eyes fixed on machinery, onscale models and above all on the camera, or inboots and a tasteless hunting costume with a bigbreakdown lamp and no gun, standing next to aslain brown bear. He’s right in the middle ofpractically every photograph, unambiguouslypresented as the centre of the Romanianuniverse. Despite his absolute power as a man ina position to decide at random on the life ordeath of any of his twenty million subjects, hisgestures, posture and physiognomy betray hiscramped and primitive nature. However high thepedestal, however far he has climbed and nomatter what suit or uniform he has put on, healways makes you think of a gherkin.

A man wearing a hat opens the door behindhim and beckons to the dictator. Judas. ButCeausescu remains standing there behind thesix microphones into which he is desperatelyshouting ‘hello’. You could almost feel sorry forhim. He shouts it at least twenty times. Thecamera has turned away from the leader and thepeople massed below, and all this time it’s beenfocused on the sky and the upper floors ofseveral important buildings. The microphonesare still on. In the background you can hear thecrowd. Elena whispers that he must promise awage rise. Meanwhile the desperate ‘hello,hello’ echoes against the backdrop of that seriesof buildings and the grey sky.

Four days before this extraordinary scene, onSunday 17 December 1989, Elena and NicolaeCeausescu spoke to the interior minister, thehead of the Securitate, the supreme com-mander of the army and the minister of defenceabout the unrest that had started in Timisoara.When the minister replied that the militia andthe Securitate hadn’t opened fire on the crowdbecause they had no ammunition, Elena said it

was alarming that the interior minister didn’tknow the right thing to do.

Nicolae Ceausescu took up the theme: ‘A fewtroublemakers want to destroy socialism and youmake it child’s play for them. Fidel Castro wasright. You don’t silence an opponent byspeaking to him like a priest but by destroyinghim.’ Ceausescu added that they, the leaders ofthe Securitate, the militia and the army, werecowards and he was taking over supremecommand himself. ‘You know what? I’ll put youin front of a firing squad. You can’t keep orderwith rubber truncheons. From now on everyonewill have weapons and ammunition.’

Eight days after that, he and Elena wereexecuted, after a show trial in the best Soviettradition in a small building at the military basein Targoviste. One of the paramilitaries, amember of the firing squad who helped to tiethe hands of an uncooperative Elena Ceausescubehind her back, later testified that she didn’tsmell good: she’d shat her pants. Of the actualexecution all you can see is gunsmoke, and thenNicolae Ceausescu’s corpse, legs folded underhim. His greatest fear had been realized. Theman who built a career in the party primarily bymeans of brutal aggression, who personallyopened fire on farmers protesting at losing theirland, who was so paranoid that even after theBritish queen shook his hand he carefullycleaned his fingers with alcohol, was dead.Those images of the dictator as a rag doll werereplayed endlessly on Romanian television.

Zsolna Ugron watched the balcony scene ontelevision in Hungary, along with her father.Her parents couldn’t believe it. What if it’s nottrue? What if it’s all a fabrication? They’descaped Ceausescu’s oppression only a fewmonths before. When the first reports offighting in Timisoara leaked out, Zsolna and hermother, a cellist, were in the Ferenc LisztAcademy in Budapest. Someone came into theauditorium during the performance and whis-pered in Zsolna’s mother’s ear. They immedi-ately hurried home to watch the story unfold ontelevision. In the days that followed there was aconstant stream of phone calls and a buzz ofrumours. Eleven-year-old Zsolna wrote a poemabout the dictator’s death.

Béla Bánffy junior was in Kolozsvár. He wastwenty-two and employed at a metal works,along with his brother. They regularly listenedto the Hungarian radio station Kossuth and toRadio Free Europe, so they knew what was goingon in Timisoara. At the end of the working daythere were whispers at the factory that they wereall going into town to demonstrate. Severalhundred people gathered in front of the factory.The director tried to stop them. The route tothe centre of town was blocked by tanks, as wasthe bridge over the Szamos. The demonstrationswelled to several thousand people and theydidn’t stop at the line of tanks. The soldiers letthem pass. Then from the top floors of thehouses came gunfire. Béla ran into a doorway.Everyone fled into courtyards and stairwells.The shooting continued. In Kolozsvár that daysome twenty people were killed.

Gergely Roy Chowdhury, twelve years old, wasin Graz, Austria, at school. He doesn’t remembermuch about the events, except that his motherKatalin Mikes, brought up in Transylvania, wasextremely on edge. She travelled with the firstconvoy of aid supplies sent to Romania by theAustrian branch of the Order of Malta, a sover-eign Catholic order of knights set up in thetwelfth century to provide medical treatmentduring the crusades. A truck filled with Maltesein blue uniforms came to their house in themiddle of the night to pick up his mother.

Tibor Kálnoky was twenty-three and living inMunich. In 1987, with his father, he’d come toKõröspatak for the first time, the village where theKálnoky castle stands. He watched as the villagersembraced his father, who had decided beforecoming that this would be his last visit toTransylvania but was so overwhelmed by his

reception in the village that they returned in 1988with Tibor’s younger brother, Boris, who was juststarting out as a journalist. He became the firstWestern journalist to write about the uprising, inan article published in Die Welt in October 1989,two months before the revolution: ‘Romanians,awake!’ Three days after Ceausescu’s execution,Tibor Kálnoky arrived in Romania with his fatherand brother and forty tonnes of humanitarian aid.

The first two months after the revolution wereeuphoric. The Romanians openly thanked theHungarian minority for saving them from thedictator (since the Romanian revolution started inTimosoara at the church and home of Hungarianpastor László Tõkés), but three months laterRomanian nationalism raised its head and Tibor,his father and two Hungarian journalists barelyescaped lynching during a meeting of the GreaterRomania Party in Alba Iulia, which was attendedby four thousand people. They were dragged to alamp post by a mob shouting: ‘We drinkHungarian blood.’ Someone had fetched a rope.Just in time to avoid being hanged, Tibor was ableto show them his American passport and hisfather produced a French identity card. Threeweeks later, in March 1990, at a similar meeting inMarosvásárhely, eight Hungarians were lynched.The number would have been far greater were itnot for the gypsies of Marosvásárhely, who cameto their rescue shouting: ‘We will help ourHungarian neighbours!’

Gábor Teleki was twenty-one and staying inBrussels with his family for Christmas. The tele-vision was on all the time. His mother cried asshe watched and kept asking herself why shewasn’t there.

Zsigmond Mikes was twelve years old and atboarding school in Germany. He saw the televi-sion pictures of the revolution without under-standing quite what they meant. Suddenly, as aboy with his origins in Romania, he was thecentre of attention among his fellow schoolpupils. Briefly, at any rate.

Beetroot and champagneWe continue our series of excerpts from Jaap Scholten’s Comrade Baron. A Journey through the Vanishing World of the

Transylvanian Aristocracy, recently released in English by Corvina Kiadó. Comrade Baron is Scholten’s first non-fiction

work. It traces the lives of members of the Transylvanian aristocracy before and after March 1949, when the collectivisa-

tion of agriculture under the new communist regime included the expropriation and deportation of all large landowners.

Buy the book

Comrade Baron. A Journey through theVanishing World of the TransylvanianAristocracy

by Jaap Scholten Corvina Kiadó, 2013404 pages, HUF 3990

The book is available at Bestsellers (District V,Október 6 u. 11) and at Massolit (DistrictVII, Nagy Diófa u. 30).


TTRRAAVVEELL

MMaallaayyssiiaabbeettwweeeenn rreellaaxxaattiioonn aanndd aaddvveennttuurree

Flying out of Budapest with a connec-tion at Istanbul, the two-partkingdom split by the South ChinaSea can be reached in under 14hours’ flying time. Once you arrive

at the bustling metropolis that is Kuala Lumpurit could be tempting to enjoy the endless shop-ping options, take in the modern architecture orstroll down to the underwhelming Chinatown.

But what about going somewhere different -to a place where you can escape the chokingfumes of a million cars, the constant chase forprofit and the never-ending stream of people onthe streets? In the heart of mainland Malaysiathere is a hidden gem - a place where you canmix relaxation and adventure: the CameronHighlands.

Resorts amidst the jungle

Known for its lush tea and strawberry planta-tions, this 712 square kilometre area has gonefrom a backpackers’ heaven to a place whereever more tourists are coming to experience adifferent, relaxing side of Malaysia. At the sametime, the various resorts spread out over themountaintops and in the villages offer visitors arange of excursions and “adventures”.

It can feel like an adventure without a punchline. A three-hour jungle walk in a well-preserved rainforest is all well and good - for thefirst hour. With the dense jungle it is nearimpossible to lay your eyes - or your camera lens- on a stunning view or an exotic animal.

However, if you are fortunate enough to havea real native guide from one of the local tribes,they will show you everything from how to makea trap to catch squirrels to the basics of making

a fire from tree bark. It is certainly an experi-ence in its own right - but one that could be cutshort after the first hour.

Tea is in the heart of many countries - fromIndia and China to England - and the planta-tions on the rolling mountainsides of theCameron Highlands are famous across Asia.Visiting a tea factory is an option, if you are upfor a trek. The Boh tea plantation is the mostfamous one in Cameron, mainly because three-

quarters of the production is still done by hand.Enthusiastic tourists and backpackers make thehour-long uphill trek, whilst the more comfort-able travelers put down 20 Ringit (EUR 5) andtake a taxi.

At the visitor centre you can enjoy thedazzling views of the plantations, sip a cup oflocal tea or even have a photo-shoot for yourwedding. A stroll through the factory only takesa few minutes, but the tantalising smell of fresh

tea leaves will keep you inside for a lot longer.But the Highlands are about more than just

tea: strawberries and street markets are just aspopular amongst tourists as the plantations. Inthe case of the markets, it is safe to say that theydo not live up to the expectations of manyseekers of authentic south-east Asian bargains.Everything is mass-produced, mainly fromChina, and it is more of your standard touristexperience than a unique treat.

The practicalities

Accommodation in the Highlands is in largesupply, with options to suit any traveler’s wallet.Low-budget hostels cost as little as 15 Ringit(EUR 3.60) a night while more luxurious resortscan set you back upwards of 500 Ringit (EUR122).

Transport to and from the area might bewhere you fork out the largest wedge of cash.One of the safest, and fastest, options is to booka tour bus from Kuala Lumpur airport and takethe three-hour ride to the top of the Highlands.A brave soul might jump on a local bus or evenrent a car and tackle the winding roads.

Tours to the area are widely available fromoperators in Malaysia and abroad. If your ideaof holiday bliss is tranquility, peace and quiet -and a nice cup of tea - then there are few betterplaces to find them than the CameronHighlands.

The sun sets over a white sandy beach and music blasts out from a nearby bar as tourists and

locals alike dance the night away in a haze of pina coladas and tequila... We stereotype places

just as we stereotype people. Reporting for The Budapest Times, Niklas Jakobsson travelled east

to find another side of one of Asia's most popular tourist destinations: Malaysia.

To find out more

www.turkishairlines.comwww.tourism.gov.my

Nik

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12 July – 18 July 2013

Friday 12 July

Popular entertainment

MILLENÁRIS BETWEEN 9AM AND 11PM:Gastro Picnic and Night Market with artisanalbeer tastings.

DISTRICT III, FÕ TÉR AT 7PM: Djabe (jazz,world music).

KOBUCI KERT AT 7PM: Blues Festival with

Jambalaya; AT 8.15PM: Muddy Shoes; AT9.30PM: Little G Weevil Band (USA).

SECESSIO CAFÉ AT 7.30PM: Mátyás Tóth(guitar) and Márton Soós (double bass) playjazz.

A38 AT 8PM: Mordeye, Konyha (rock); AT10PM: Spanish Wax (electronica, hip hop,funky, soul).

INTERCONTINENTAL BUDAPEST AT 8PM:Erika Náray sings jazz.

BUDAPEST PARK AT 8PM: Pannonia AllstarsSka Orchestra (ska, dancehall, reggae).

BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 8PM: Trio Midnight;AT 10.30PM: Balázs József Trio.

MARGIT ISLAND STAGE AT 8PM: Oliver!

DÜRER-KERT AT 8.30PM: colorStar, TheCarbonfools (electronica, rock).

BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTRE AT 9PM: GayerMátyás Trio (jazz).

Saturday 13 July

Classical entertainment

KOBUCI KERT AT 10.30AM: Concert for chil-dren with Alma Ensemble.

LISZT FERENC MEMORIAL MUSEUM AT 11AM:Randall Scotting (counter tenor).

INNER CITY PARISH CHURCH OF ST MICHAELAT 7PM: Alta Cappella Krakow, Szczawnica

Chamber Choir, Musica Aeterna Bratislava,Zoltán Megyesi (tenor) and Nicholas Spanos(countertenor) conducted by AgnieszkaZarska perform Bach’s cantatas BWV 129“Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott” and BWV 29“Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir” andHandel’s Chandos Anthem No. 6 B “As pantsthe hart for cooling streams”.

DUNA PALACE AT 8PM: Duna SymphonyOrchestra conducted by András Deákperforms works by Berlioz, Delibes, Bartók,Haydn, Liszt, Strauss and others.

A38: Boat moored on Buda side of Petõfi Bridge.Tel. (+36-1) 464-3940. www.a38.hu

BENCZÚR HOUSE: District VI, Benczúr u. 27.www.benczurhaz.hu

BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB: District XIII, Hollán Ernõ u. 7. Tel.(+36) 70 413-9837. www.bjc.hu

BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTRE: District IX, Mátyás u. 8.(+36-1)216-7894. www.bmc.hu

BUDAPEST PARK: District IX, Soroksári út 60.http://budapestpark.hu/

BUDAPEST ZOO: District XIV, Állatkerti krt 6-12.Tel. (+36-1)273-4901. www.zoobudapest.com

DUNA PALACE: District V, Zrínyi u. 5. Tel. (+36-1) 235-5533.www.dunapalota.hu

DÜRER-KERT: District XIV, Ajtósi Dürer sor 19-21.Tel. (+36-1) 789-4444. www.durerkert.com

FRENCH INSTITUTE: District I Fõ u. 17. Tel. (+36-1) 489-

4200. www.inst-france.huHILTON BUDAPEST HOTEL: District I, Hess András tér 1-3.

Tel. (+36-1) 889-6600. www1.hilton.com HOLDUDVAR: District XIII, Margitsziget. Tel. (+36-1) 236-

0155. www.holdudvar.net HUNGARIAN HERITAGE HOUSE: District I, Corvin tér 8. Tel.

(+36-1) 225-6056. www.heritagehouse.huIF CAFÉ: District IX, Ráday u. 19. Tel. (+36-1) 299-0694.

www.ifkavezo.huINNER CITY PARISH CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL: District V,

Váci u. 47/b. (+36-1) 337-8116. www.szentmihalytem-plom.hu

INTERCONTINENTAL BUDAPEST: District V, Apaczai Csere u.12-14. Tel. (+36-1) 327-6333. www.budapest.interconti-nental.com

KOBUCI KERT: District III, Fõ tér 1. Tel. (+36) 70 205-7282.www.kobuci.hu

LISZT FERENC MEMORIAL MUSEUM: District VI,Vörösmarty u. 35. Tel. (+36-1) 322-9804 www.lisztmu-seum.hu

MARGIT ISLAND OPEN-AIR STAGE: District XII, MargitIsland. Tel. (+36-1) 375-5922, 356-1565.www.szabadter.hu

MILLENÁRIS PARK: District II, Fény u. 20-22. Tel. (+36-1)438-5335. www.millenaris.hu

MOZSÁR CAFÉ: District VI, Mozsár u. 2.www.mozsarkavezo.hu

MÜSZI ARTS CENTRE: District VIII, Blaha Lujza tér 1, thirdfloor of Corvin Shopping Centre, entry from SomogyiBéla u. www.muszi.org

MUSEUM OF MUSIC HISTORY: District I, Táncsis Mihály utca7. Telephone (+36-1) 214-6770.www.zti.hu/museum/index_en.htm

ÓBUDA SOCIAL CIRCLE (TÁRSASKÖR): District III,

Kiskorona utca 7. Telephone (+36-1) 250-0288.www.obudaitarsaskor.hu/

PAPP LÁSZLÓ BUDAPEST SPORTARÉNA: District XIV,Stefánia út 2. Central Ticket Office (Ticketpro) Tel. (+36-1) 422-2682. www.ticketpro.hu

PEST COUNTY HALL (PESTI VÁRMEGYEHÁZ): District V,Városház u. 7. Tel. (+36-1) 215-5770.

SECESSIO CAFÉ (HOUSE OF HUNGARIAN ART NOUVEAU):District V, Honvéd u. 3. Tel. (+36) 20 285-1207.www.secessio-cafe.hu

VAJDAHUNYAD CASTLE: District XIV, Vázsonyi Vilmossétány 2. Tel. (+36-1) 364-0072.

VÁROSMAJOR OPEN-AIR STAGE: District XII, Városmajor.www.szabadter.hu

ZÖLD PARDON: District XI, Pázmány Péter sétány at theBuda end of Rákóczi bridge. Tel. (+36-1) 279-1880.www.zp.hu

WW HH EE RR EE II TT ’ SS AA TT

Lakeside electronic

festival until Sunday

Apart from standing on the shores of LakeBalaton just opposite Tihány Peninsulaand some 110 kilometres south of

Budapest straight down the M7 motorway,Zamárdi doesn’t have that much more to offerthan any other average southern Balaton settle-

ment. The few days when it turns into “the bestbeach party of Europe” with several stagesfeaturing DJs, electronic and live acts, hip hopartists and bands are the exception, and thosedays – known as Balaton Sound – run now untilthis Sunday.

Who’s who

Steve Aoki (USA), Armin van Buuren(Netherlands), Above and Beyond (UK),MiniCoolBoyz (Italy), Axwell (Sweden),

Fairmont (Canada), Magda (Poland) andHernán Cattáneo (Argentina) are some of theinternational names to grace the eight stagesover the four-day festival, while names such asPannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra, Vad Fruttik,Akkezdet Phiai and Carbonfools provide thelocal colour.

Camping, Saturday sold out

Festival passes are sold out as are day tickets forSaturday. Camping is also sold out. Day tickets

(6am-8am the following day) for other daysremain available for EUR 55 and so do VIP daytickets, guaranteeing super-fast entrance, grand-stand access, festival T-shirt and drinks couponfor EUR 105. Zamárdi is also accessible by trainfrom Keleti and Déli stations (about two hours,from HUF 2,930 one-way, see www.elvira.hu).

Up-to-date information on programmes,tickets and accommodation is available atwww.sziget.hu/balatonsound_english

– Bénédicte Williams

BBaallaattoonn SSoouunndd ooffff!!

ZZaammáárrddii’’ss mmoommeenntt iinn tthhee ssuunn

BBaallaattoonn SSoouunndd ooffff!!

ZZaammáárrddii’’ss mmoommeenntt iinn tthhee ssuunn

1122

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MILLENÁRIS BETWEEN 9AM AND 11PM:Gastro Picnic and Night Market with arti-sanal beer tastings.

FRENCH INSTITUTE AT 6PM: Frenchnational holiday celebrations with music byLe Train Fatal, Presszó Tangó Libidó andDJ Palotai (Hungary).

A38 AT 6PM: Flash-f@sztival with ZsuzsiUjj and Kristóf Darvas (rock); AT 8PM:Flash, Lopunk, C.A.F.B., Vidámpark (rock);AT 10PM: 101 Depeche Mode Club (elec-tronica).

BUDAPEST PARK AT 7.15PM: ZUP, VadFruttik (rock).

VÁROSMAJOR OPEN-AIR STAGE AT 8PM:Budapest Bár.

BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 8PM: HajduKlára Quartet; AT 10.30PM: Gáspár KárolyTrio.

BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTRE AT 9PM: GáborSubicz (funk, soul).

Sunday 14 July


PAPP LÁSZLÓ BUDAPEST SPORTARÉNA AT7PM: David Helfgott and BudafokiDohnányi Orchestra perform Rach-maninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3.


MILLENÁRIS BETWEEN 9AM AND 11PM:Gastro Picnic and Night Market with arti-sanal beer tastings.

A38 AT 8PM: Cabaret Medrano, A.K.T.(jazz); AT 8PM: White Fence (US, rock).

MARGIT ISLAND OPEN-AIR STAGE AT8PM: Oliver!, musical.

DÜRER-KERT AT 8.40PM: The Casualties(US, punk, rock).

Monday 15 July


VAJDAHUNYAD CASTLE AT 8.30PM:Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestraconducted by Péter Kováts with TiborTátrai and Antal Gábor Szûts (guitar)perform works by Piazzolla and Latin hitsfor guitar and string orchestra.


ZÖLD PARDON AT 7PM: Paddy and theRats.

IF CAFÉ AT 7.30PM: András Jász andJános Vázsonyi.

HOLDUDVAR AT 8.45PM: The Rendez-Vousof Déjà-Vu (La Fille du 14 Juillet), Frenchfilm with English subtitles. Open-airshowing.

Tuesday 16 July


BUDAPEST PARK AT 7PM: Junkies, TheGrenma (punk).

ZÖLD PARDON AT 7PM: DJ Shadow (USA),hip hop.

IF CAFÉ AT 7.30PM: Neumann Balázs Triowith Balázs Neumann (piano), LászlóMáthé (double bass) and István Baló(drums).

MOZSÁR CAFÉ AT 8PM: English-languagestand-up comedy with Toby Muresianu(USA) and Neil Morgan (Ireland).

A38 AT 8PM: Random Trip (hip hop, funk,soul).

KOBUCI KERT AT 8PM: Bohemian Betyars(folk, world music).

BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 8PM: MyrtillMicheller (vocals), Tibor Pintér (guitar) andRichárd Révész (piano).

HUNGARIAN HERITAGE HOUSE AT 8PM:Hungarian Rhapsody by Hungarian StateFolk Ensemble.

Wednesday 17 July


BENCZÚR HOUSE AT 7PM: Carlos Gallardo(piano) performs works by EnriqueGranados and Isaac Albéniz.


A38 AT 7.30PM: Babes in the Wood, PillsFor Side Effects (heavy metal); AT 10PM:LóriPoP (rock, punk, heavy metal).

IF CAFÉ AT 7.30PM: Tamás Mészáros(vocals) and Balázs Reviczky (piano).

BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 8PM: Ninagram.

ÓBUDA SOCIAL CIRCLE AT 8PM: ÁgnesHerczku (vocals), Nikola Parov (violin, kaval,keyed fiddle, bouzouki), László Halász(accordion) and Sándor Födõ (piano,percussion), folk and world music.

BUDAPEST PARK AT 8PM: Irie Maffia(reggae, hip hop, funk).

KOBUCI KERT AT 8PM: Pál Utcai Fiúk.

BUDAPEST ZOO AT 8.30PM: Csík Zenekarand Mihály Dresch.

Thursday 18 July


INNER CITY PARISH CHURCH OF STMICHAEL AT 7PM: Grazioso ChamberOrchestra conducted by Gergely Madarasperforms Nielsen’s Suite for Strings andTchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.

PEST COUNTY HALL AT 8PM: ConcertoBudapest conducted by György Vashegyiperform three Haydn symphonies.


A38 AT 7PM: Magidom, Battery Band, Fákalatt (rock, indie); AT 10PM: DJ Garfield andOrdiman (hip hop, funk, soul).

HUNGARIAN HERITAGE HOUSE AT 8PM:Hungarian Rhapsody by Hungarian StateFolk Ensemble.

BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 8PM: A.B.S.Z.Ensemble with Zoltán Barna and OszkárNémeth (drums) and Mihály Móricz andZoltán Pomázi (guitar).

VAJDAHUNYAD CASTLE AT 8.30PM:Budapest Klezmer Band with MariannFalusi.

HILTON HOTEL AT 8.30PM: Budapest GypsySymphony Orchestra with operetta singersBarbara Bódy and Károly Peller perform clas-sical and operetta airs.

BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTRE AT 9PM: ChrisDevil Trio with Krisztián Ördög (saxophone),Viktor Paczári (bass guitar) and Dániel Serei(drums).

Friday 19 July


MUSEUM OF MUSIC HISTORY AT 4PM:Csaba Király performs piano works bycomposers of the Romantic era.


DISTRICT III, FÕ TÉR AT 7PM: Eszter Horgasand Talamba Percussion Ensemble.

SECESSIO CAFÉ AT 7.30PM: Balázs Pecze(trumpet) and Mátyás Tóth (guitar).

BUDAPEST PARK AT 8PM: Edda Mûvek(rock).

A38 AT 8PM: Tej, Spacesh!t (indie); AT10PM: Spanish Wax (electronica, hip hop,funk); AT 10PM: DJ Garfield and Ordiman(hip hop, funk, soul); AT 10PM: No DiscoSummer with Bit Busters, Mira, Metha, OutOf Sync (electronica).

BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 8PM: SzõkeNikoletta Trio; AT 10.30PM: Egri János Trio.

KOBUCI KERT AT 8PM: Heaven StreetSeven.

MARGIT ISLAND OPEN-AIR STAGE AT 8PM:James Bond 60, film music concert-showwith Budapest Symphony Orchestraconducted by Nic Raine.

BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTRE AT 9PM: GáspárKároly Trio with Klára Hajdú (vocals).

Saturday 20 July


ÓBUDA SOCIAL CIRCLE AT 7PM: Open-airperformance of Donizetti’s Don Pasqualewith Tamás Altorjay (Don Pasquale), IldikóSzakács (Norina), András Hajdú (Ernesto),Csaba Gaál (Malatesta) and Rita Kertész(piano).

INNER CITY PARISH CHURCH OF ST MICHAELAT 7.30PM: RBS Choir and Ars LongaChamber Orchestra conducted by Nigel Perrinwith Csaba Nagy (oboe), Gabriella Szili and

Helga Varga Bach (soprano) and KornéliaBakos (alto) perform Lajor Bárdos’ Libera Meand Popule Meus, György Deák-Bárdos’ Eli!Eli, Miklós Kocsár’s Nunc Dimittis, Marcello’sOboe Concerto in D minor, Monteverdi’sBeatus Vir and Ave Maris Stella and Vivaldi’sGloria.

DUNA PALACE AT 8PM: Duna SymphonyOrchestra conducted by András Deák performworks by Berlioz, Erkel, Delibes, Bartók,Haydn, Liszt and others.


BUDAPEST PARK AT 8PM: Rotfront (Germany,world music).

MÜSZI ARTS CENTRE AT 8PM: Lynn Book(USA, jazz).

A38 AT 8PM: Hangmás, Kollaps (rock); AT8PM: Cloud 9+, Dizzy Effort (electronica, hiphop, funk, soul); AT 11PM: The Panacea(Germany, electronica).

BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 8PM: Gyula Babos(guitar), József “Pluto” Horváth (bass guitar)and Emilio (drums); AT 10.30PM: PéterRozsnyói Trio.

BUDAPEST MUSIC CENTRE AT 8PM: MartinaKirály.

VÁROSMAJOR OPEN-AIR STAGE AT 8PM:Ágnes Herczku, Nikola Parov and theirorchestra (world music).

Sunday 21 July


ÓBUDA SOCIAL CIRCLE AT 7PM: Open-airperformance of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale withTamás Altorjay (Don Pasquale), Ildikó Szakács(Norina), András Hajdú (Ernesto), Csaba Gaál(Malatesta) and Rita Kertész (piano).


VÁROSMAJOR OPEN-AIR STAGE AT10.30AM: Swan Lake, performance for chil-dren.

MARGIT ISLAND OPEN-AIR STAGE AT 8PM:Buena Vista Social Club with OmaraPortuondo and Eliades Ochoa.

DDOOWWNN TTHHEE RROOAADD

MONDAY 16 SEPTEMBER (7.30PM): EvgenyKissin at Palace of Arts

SUNDAY 22 DECEMBER (7.30PM): JordiSavall, La Capella Reial de Catalunya atPalace of Arts

“It’s a mountain. It’s the hardest piece you could‘Everest’ play,” is one of many waysRachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 has beendescribed. Composed in 1909, “Rach 3”, as

some call it, is said to have been its composer’s favouritepiano concerto and has gained a fearsome reputation as apiece of music best left to either the foolhardy or theseasoned.

Among those to have tackled the piece is Australian-born David Helfgott. Famously, he went mad and was insti-tutionalised for over a decade before making it back to thestage thanks in part to his wife’s support. That, at least, isthe version found in Shine, a highly popular 1996 filmretracing Helfgott’s life with Geoffrey Rush in the mainrole, and from which comes the quote above.

What is or isn’t true about Helfgott as presented in Shineis difficult to say, but what remains is that the pianist isforever associated with Rachmaninov’s piano work to theextent that it is the mainstay of his repertoire. This, indeed,is the only piece on Sunday’s programme when he will bejoined by the Budafoki Dohnányi Orchestra.

Helfgott’s performances, with his grunts and mutteringsand general eccentricity, have been lambasted by critics assecond-rate and defended by fans as triumphs of the human

spirit over mental disorder. Whether the audience in PappLászló Budapest Sportaréna will be “shocked, stunned andamazed” (another Shine line) remains to be seen.

– Bénédicte Williams

The ticketDavid Helfgott

Sunday 14 July at 7pmPapp László Budapest Sportaréna

District XIV, Stefánia út 2Tickets HUF 9,000-25,000 available on www.ticketpro.hu and

all major ticket sellers

Szigetseessales

slumpNew attractions

to compensate for

festival struggles

Hungary’s most famousfestival, Sziget, starts in lessthan a month, with the week-

long musical extravaganza to includethe UK’s Blur, Enter Shikari andTotally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs,France’s David Guetta, Australia’sEmpire of the Sun, Germany’s ChrisLiebing, Russia’s Nina Kraviz, Serbia’sEmir Kusturica and the No SmokingOrchestra, Macedonia’s Shutka RomaRap and the multinational Nick Caveand the Bad Seeds.

From its studenty beginnings in1993, Sziget Festival has grown intoone of Central Europe’s major summerfixtures, with its 60 stages raking insome 400,000 visitors last year and(organisers say) some five millionviewers for its live feeds on YouTube.

Yet it is regularly beset by financialproblems. Chief organiser andpromoter Károly Gerendai confirmsticket sales are lagging between sevenand eight per cent behind last year.Many big international names areunable to accept invitations because ofa lack of time, he claims.

And while the rise of low-cost airlinesis globally seen as beneficial to thefestival trend, Gerendai also blames thecollapse of national airline Malév lastyear and the incomplete replacementof its flights by budget carriers for thelower ticket sales. (Malév wasn’t flyinglast summer either.)

Tickets, ranging this year from EUR49 for a standard day ticket (less for the-1 and 0 days) to EUR 229 for a weeklypass with the option of camping,account for some 75 per cent of Sziget’stotal revenue, with the rest covered bysponsors and royalties from retailers.

Marketing will need to be strength-ened, Gerendai said. Organisers havealready taken steps to this effect. Apartfrom the 65-metre Ferris wheelcurrently stationed on Erzsébet tér(square) in District V and which will bemoved to Sziget for the festival, a river-side beach, a Colour Party and a circusshow are all on the festival map.

Sziget Festival

5-12 August (including -1 and 0 days,festival proper starts on 7 August)

www.sziget.hu (in English)

Shockingly bad or stunningly good?David Helfgott,

Sunday at 7pm

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SSOOCCIIEETTYYT

he law firm BWSP Gobert & Partnersand its financial consulting partnerG&G Wealth hosted a golfing and

family day in perfect weather at the Academygolf course in District III of Budapestrecently. The event was supported by theGerman Business Club Budapest.

Some 120 guests took to the well maintainedgolf course – which was built in the past few years– including many children, who tested their skillon the driving range and on the green with justas much enthusiasm as the adults. The guests

remained until the early evening for a smallparty at the clubhouse. Dr. Arne Gobert, seniorpartner and owner of the law firm and host ofthe event, handed over HUF 350,000 inproceeds from the entry tickets and tombola tothe director of the charitable organisationCsodalámpa (Magic Lamp Foundation), whichaims to bring joy to severely ill children bymaking their wishes come true.

The organisers thanked the following firmsand private individuals for supporting thetombola with donations in kind: AshtonCurrency, Budapester Zeitung, Casabrasil,Katalin and Manfred Bey, FirstMed,Kempinski, Lufthansa, Marriott HotelBudapest and Szeretett Kulcs.

Dr. Arne Gobert of BWSP Gobert & Partnersand Magic Lamp Foundation director ÉvaPatzauer.

Many golfers and a big winner

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BUDAPESTER ZEITUNGBUDAPESTER ZEITUNG

THE BUDAPEST TIMESTHE BUDAPEST TIMES

1144

MMUUSSEEUUMMSS


MMUUSSEEUUMMSS

AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM: Covering life in amedieval village, viticulture, plants and morewith a temporary exhibition on turn-of-the-century agriculture minister Ignác Darányi. Anexhibition on contemporary Hungarian craftsruns until 11 August. Open Tues.-Sun., 10am-5pm. Tel. (+36-1) 363-1117. District XIV,Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park.www.mezogazdasagimuzeum.hu

AQUINCUM MUSEUM: Archaeological findingsfrom the remains of the Roman militarygarrison and trading settlement Aquincum.The exhibition Tales of Finds, ArchaeologicalFinds from a Different Perspective is open until15 April. Open daily 10am-6pm except Mon.The outdoor ruins are open from 9am. DistrictIII, Szentendrei út 135. Tel. (+36-1) 250-1650.www.aquincum.hu

BÉLA BARTÓK MEMORIAL HOUSE: Concertsin one hall and a memorial room with originalfurniture and Bartók’s folk art collection,photos, letters and notes on his life. OpenTues.-Sat. 10am-5pm. District II, Csalán út 29.Tel. (+36-1) 394-2100. www.bartokmuseum.hu

BUDAPEST HISTORY MUSEUM: Covering thehistory of the capital. The exhibition TheCapital’s Treasury – 125 years of the BudapestHistory Museum is open until 31 August. Theexhibition Votive Rituals, Ancient Feasts isopen until 8 September. The exhibition onArmenian culture in the Carpathian Basin runsuntil 15 September. Open daily 10am-6pmexcept Mon. Buda Castle building E, District I,Szent György tér 2. Tel. (+36-1) 487-8800.www.btm.hu/

EVANGELICAL NATIONAL MUSEUM: Coveringthe Protestant faith in Hungary. The exhibitionA century of tolerance – Protestant church lifein the first half of the 19th century runs until 31October. Open Tues.-Sun., 10am-5pm. DistrictV, Deák Ferenc tér 4. Tel. (+36-1) 317-4173.www.evangelikusmuzeum.hu

FERENC HOPP MUSEUM OF EAST ASIANARTS: Works collected by the traveller FerencHopp with an exhibition on Land of theMorning Calm, Korean Art in the 18th-19thCenturies. Open Fri.-Sun. 2pm-6pm. DistrictVI, Andrássy út 103. Tel. (+36-1) 322-8476.www.imm.hu (Museum of Applied Artswebsite)

FERENC LISZT MEMORIAL MUSEUM: A recon-struction of Liszt’s last Budapest flatcontaining his original instruments, furniture,books, scores, personal objects and memora-bilia. The exhibition Liszt and the FrenchMusicians of his Time is running until 19October. In the Old Music Academy, District VI,Vörösmarty u. 35. Open Mon.-Fri. 10am-6pm,Sat. 9am-5pm. Tel. (+36-1) 322-9804.www.lisztmuseum.hu

GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF HUNGARY:Collection of rocks and fossils in a building byarchitect Ödön Lechner. Open Thurs., Sat.,Sun. 10am-4pm. District XIV, Stefánia út. 14.Tel. (+36-1) 251-0999. www.mafi.hu

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTRE: OpenTues.-Sun.10am-6pm. District IX, Páva u. 39.Tel. (+36-1) 455-3333. www.hdke.hu

HOSPITAL IN THE ROCK: Formerly secretunderground air-raid hospital and nuclearbunker, with an exhibition about FriedrichBorn, Swiss delegate of the Red Cross inBudapest from 1944-1945, who saved up to15,000 Jews by handing out protection docu-ments. Flashlight tour daily at 7pm in quest oflost treasures of Count Gorgey. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-8pm. District I, Lovas út 4/C. Tel.(+36) 70 701-0101. www.sziklakorhaz.hu

HOUSE OF HUNGARIAN ART NOUVEAU:Secession-era furniture, objects, instrumentsand paintings in contemporary house. Mon.-Sat. 10am-5pm. District V, Honvéd u. 3. Tel.(+36-1) 269-4622. www.magyarszecesszio-haza.hu

HOUSE OF TERROR MUSEUM: Secret policeheadquarters during both the fascist andsocialist periods, with an exhibition onCardinal Mindszenty. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. District VI, Andrássy út 60. Tel. (+36-1)374-2600. www.terrorhaza.hu

HUNGARIAN JEWISH MUSEUM ANDARCHIVES: Religious and historical collectionat the Great Synagogue in District VII, Dohányu. 2. Tel. (+36-1) 317-1377. www.dohany-zsin-agoga.hu

HUNGARIAN MUSEUM OF TRADE ANDTOURISM: Catering industry relics based onthe private collection of Frigyes Glück andextended to include posters, scales, furnitureand a numismatic collection. The exhibitionHortus Conclusus by Gyula Wegrosta runsuntil 28 July. The exhibition on Hungariancamera design Pajtás runs until 15 September.The exhibition Realised and UnrealisedDreams runs until 15 September. The exhibi-tions “The good merchant is the benefactor ofthe world” – Two hundred years in the history ofHungarian trade and “I have never had ahome...” – Scenes from Gyula Krúdy’sBudapest Life run until 31 December. OpenTues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. District III, Korona tér 1.Tel. (+36-1) 212-1245. www.mkvm.hu

HUNGARIAN RAILWAY MUSEUM: Train buff’sparadise with many steam engines andcarriages, operational turntables, the largestroundhouse in Central Europe with interactiveprogrammes such as a self-powered rail carand engine driving. Children’s miniature railline. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. District XIV,Tatai út 95. Tel. (+36-1) 238-0558. www.vasut-tortenetipark.hu

KODÁLY MEMORIAL MUSEUM: Instruments,documents and original furnishings on displayin Kodály’s former flat. Open Wed.-Fri. 10am-12pm and 2pm-4.30pm by appointment.District VI, Andrássy út 89. (+36-1) 352-7106.www.kodaly-inst.hu

MEDIEVAL JEWISH HOUSE OF PRAYER:Collection shedding light on the life of Jewsduring the Middle Ages. Open Tues.-Sun.10am-6pm. District I, Táncsics Mihály u. 26.Tel. (+36-1) 225-7816. www.museum.hu

MEMENTO PARK: Communist statuaryshunted out of the streets and into a field onthe edge of town. Direct buses leave fromDeák tér at 11am daily. Open from 10am-dusk.District XXII, corner of Balatoni út andSzabadkai út. Tel. (+36-1) 424-7500.www.mementopark.hu

MILITARY HISTORY MUSEUM: Permanentexhibitions on the Hungarian military from1815 through the world wars and the fall of theIron Curtain. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-4pm.District I, Kapisztrán tér 2-4. Tel. (+36-1) 325-1600. www.militaria.hu

MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS: Permanentcollection of works of applied art in an ArtNouveau landmark. Art from the Monasteryof Clay, exhibition of collections of theKecskemét Contemporary Arts Workshop.International Ceramics Studio runs until 2September. The exhibition The Bigot Pavilionon Art Nouveau ceramics from Paris is openuntil 15 September. Masters of theSecession, works from the collections of theMuseum of Applied Arts, is open until 15September. The exhibition on Islamic Art isopen until 1 February. Open Tues.-Sun.10am-6pm. District IX, Üllõi út 33-37. Tel.(+36-1) 456-5107. www.imm.hu

MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY: Covering tradi-tional customs and clothing. Images andGypsies – Images of Gypsies runs until 20August. The exhibition “I was a humble film-maker” on László Keszi Kovács (1908-2012)runs until 1 September. Véménd 1916-1920,photographs by a village teacher, runs until 8September. History in Photographs of DanubeSchwabians runs until 8 September. The exhi-bition on Finnish Ryijy textiles between 1707and 2012 runs until 5 January. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. District V, Kossuth Lajos tér12. Tel. (+36-1) 473-2400. www.neprajz.hu

MUSEUM OF ÓBUDA: Permanent exhibition onÓbuda – Three faces of a town.The temporaryexhibition “So the last will be the first.” TheSalesian Wonder runs until 8 September.District III, Fõ tér 1. Open Tuesday-Sunday10am-6pm. Telephone (+36-1) 250-1020.www.obudaimuzeum.hu

MUSEUM OF TRANSPORT: Covering thehistory of road and rail transport in Hungary.The aerospace collection is in the nearbyPetõfi Csarnok (Zichy Mihály u. 3). OpenTues.-Fri. 10am-4pm, and Sat.-Sun. 10am-5pm. District XIV, Városligeti körút 11. Tel.(+36-1) 273-3840. www.mmkm.hu

NAGYTÉTÉNYI CASTLE MUSEUM: Eighteenth-century castle restored to former splendourfeaturing a permanent exhibition on the art offurniture making from the Gothic to theBiedermeier. Open Tues.-Fri. 10am-6pm.District XXII, Kastélypark u. 9-11. Tel. (+36-1)207-0005. www.nagytetenyi.hu

NATIONAL MUSEUM: Covering the whole ofHungarian history, from the ancient origins ofthe Hungarians, their journey to the CarpathianBasin and events until 1990. The exhibitionAffinities and Transformations on 18th and 19thcentury painting runs until 21 July. The exhibi-tion on Ancient Burial Masks is open until 13September. Open Tues.-Fri. 10am-6pm. DistrictVIII, Múzeum körút 14-16. Tel. (+36-1) 338-2122/327-7749. www.hnm.hu

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM: Covering botanyand zoology. From the sequoia to the geysers– an exhibition of photographs of the USA byAttila P. Kovacs runs until 21 July.The exhibitionWitnesses of the Ancient World is open until 1September. Open daily 10am-5pm exceptTues. District VIII, Ludovika tér 2-6. Tel. (+36-1)210-1085. www.nhmus.hu

PETÕFI LITERARY MUSEUM: Named after thepoet Sándor Petõfi (1823-1849). The exhibitionon photographs by Ferenc Berko is open until30 September. The exhibition SouthernAdventures. Hungarian writers’ experiences ofItaly 1890-1950 runs until 31 October. Thememorial exhibitions on Frigyes Karinthy andon Sándor Weöres run until 31 December and1 June 2014 respectively. District V, KárolyiMihály u. 16. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. Tel.(+36-1) 317-3611. www.pim.hu

PIETY MUSEUM: Items connected to funerals.District VIII, Fiumei út. 16, Building C. OpenMon.-Thur. 10am-5pm, Fri. 10am-1pm. Tel.(+36-1) 323-5132. www.nemzetisirkert.hu

POSTAL MUSEUM: Relics of Hungarian postand telecommunications history. District VI,Benczúr utca 27. Open Tuesday-Sunday10am-6pm. Tel. (+36-1) 269-6838. www.posta-muzeum.hu/indexa.html

STAMP MUSEUM: Items from around the world.Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. District VII,Hársfa utca 47. Tel. (+36-1) 341-5526.www.belyegmuzeum.hu

UNDERGROUND RAILWAY MUSEUM:Commemorates the continent’s first under-ground train line, the “Földalatti”, which openedin 1896 (now Metro 1, the yellow line). In anoriginal stretch of the tunnel at Deák tér metrostation in District V. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-5pm. Tel. (+36-1) 461-6500. www.bkv.hu

ZELNIK ISTVÁN SOUTHEAST ASIAN GOLDMUSEUM: Collected by a diplomat/busi-nessman over 45 years. Open Mon. 9am-6pm,Tues.-Sun. 9am-7pm (Fri. and Sat. till 9pm).District VI, Andrássy út. 110. Tel. (+36) 30 250-7210. www.zelnik-collection.com

GGAALLLLEERRIIEESS

ACB GALLERY: The exhibition Sense of Timeby Gyula Várnai is open until 26 July. OpenTues.-Fri. 2pm-6pm or by appointment. DistrictVI, Király u. 76. Tel. (+36-1) 413-7608.www.acbgaleria.hu

BÁLINT HOUSE: The exhibition Chipped Mirrorby Dániel Fehér runs until 31 August. Opendaily 9am-8pm. District VI, Révay u. 16. Tel.(+36-1) 311-9214. www.balinthaz.hu

BARABÁS VILLA GALLERY: The exhibition byAndrás Várkonyi runs until 13 July. Open Mon.-Fri. 10am-6pm, Sat. 10am-12noon. District XII,Városmajor u. 44. Tel. (+36-1) 457-0501.http://www.hegytortenet.hu/galeria

DEÁK ERIKA GALÉRIA: The exhibition Why donot you say hello ever again? by AlexanderTinei runs until 3 August. Open Wed.-Fri.12noon-6pm and Sat. 11am-4pm. District VI,Mozsár u. 1. Tel. (+36-1) 201-3740. www.deak-galeria.hu

DOVIN GALLERY: The collective exhibition MyLittle Cloud runs until 31 August. Open Tues.-

Fri. 12noon-6pm and Sat. 11am-3pm. District V,Galamb u. 6. Tel. (+36-1) 318-3659.www.dovingallery.com/

ERNST MUSEUM: The exhibition On theShore by Eszter Csurka runs until 28 July.Open daily 11am-7pm except Mon. DistrictVI, Nagymezõ u. 8. Tel. (+36-1) 413-1311.www.ernstmuzeum.hu

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL GALLERY: HungarianArt Photography in the New Millennium isopen until 28 July. The exhibition Monet,Gauguin, Szinyei Merse, Rippl-Rónai runsuntil 13 October. Open daily 10am-6pmexcept Mon. Wings B, C and D of the RoyalPalace. District I, Szent György tér 2. Tel.(+36) 20 439-7325 or (+36) 20 439-7331.www.mng.hu

KASSÁK MUSEUM (BRANCH OF PETÕFILITERARY MUSEUM): Mainly works of LajosKassák (1887-1967), leading figure of theHungarian avant-garde. The exhibition MADIUniverse – 20 Years of the Mobile MADIMuseum is open until 8 September. DistrictIII, Fõ tér 1 (Zichy House). Open Wed.-Sun.10am-5pm. Tel. (+36-1) 368-7021.www.kassakmuzeum.hu

LUDWIG CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM(PALACE OF ARTS): Pieter Hugo – This MustBe The Place, Selected Works 2003-2012 runsuntil 11 August. The Other Half of the Sky.Selection from the Ludwig Museum’sCollection is open until 1 January. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. On the last Sunday eachmonth entrance is free for visitors under 26,and up to two adult relatives accompanying achild under 18. District XI, Komor Marcell u 1.Tel. (+36-1) 555-3444 www.lumu.hu

MAI MANÓ (HUNGARIAN HOUSE OFPHOTOGRAPHY): Shows works by Hungarianand foreign photographers. The exhibitionCodes of Reality/Observations/Relations,Series by twelve young photographers fromthe recent past is open until 22 September.Open weekdays 2-7pm, weekends 11am-7pm. District VI, Nagymezõ u. 20. Tel. (+36.1)473-2666. www.maimano.hu

MAMU GALLERY: The exhibition Art =Survival runs until 2 August. Open Wed. andFri. 2pm-6pm or by appointment. District VII,Damjanich u. 39 (entrance from Murányi u.).Tel. (+36) 30 308-9549. www.mamu.hu

MOLNÁR ANI GALLERY: The exhibitionSyntax of Parallels by Tanja Koljonen, GyörgySzász and Beatrix Szörényi is open until 6September. Open Tues.-Fri. 12noon-6pm.District VIII, Bródy Sándor u. 22. Tel. (+36-1)327-0095. www.molnaranigaleria.hu

MÛCSARNOK/KUNSTHALLE: The exhibitionReading Log by Veronika Jakatics-Szabóruns until 8 August. Art lives! by TamásKörösényi runs until 8 September. DistrictXIV, Dózsa György út 37. Open Tues.-Sun.10am-6pm except Thurs.12pm-8pm. Tel.(+36-1) 460-7000. www.mucsarnok.hu

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS: Huge collection ofHungarian and international paintings. Theexhibition of photographs by Helmut Newtonruns until 14 July. The exhibition EgonSchiele and his Age runs until 29 September.Open daily 10am-6pm except Mon. (ticketoffice closes at 4.30pm). Ticket desk openTues.-Sun. 10am-5pm, and on secondThursdays until 9pm with a Museum + eventsticket. District XIV, Hõsök tere. Tel. (+36-1)469-7100. www.szepmuveszeti.hu

STUDIO GALLERY: The exhibition Herecomes the folk science! by Tamás Kaszásand Anikó Loránt runs until 30 July. OpenTues., Thu. and Fri. 10am-6pm, Wed.12noon-8pm. District VII Rottenbiller u. 35.Tel. (+36-1) 342-5380. www.studio.c3.hu

VAM DESIGN CENTRE: The 3D exhibition ofpaintings by Van Gogh runs until 30 November.Open daily 9am-6pm. District VI, Király u. 26.Tel. (+36-1) 666-3100. www.vamdesign.hu

VASARELY MUSEUM: Large permanent collec-tion of works by Hungarian-French artist VictorVasarely, the founder of op art. The exhibitionGrauwinkel Collection, Berlin Concrete Art1982-2012 runs until 1 September. Open daily10am-5.30pm except Mon. District III,Szentlélek tér 6. Tel. (+36-1) 388-7551.www.vasarely.hu

VÍZIVÁROSI GALLERY: The exhibitionPaintings, Collages by Éva Sebõk, KatalinSzékelyi and László Ottó is open until 24 July.Open Tues.-Fri. 1-6pm, Sat. 10am-2pm. DistrictII, Kapás u. 55. Tel. (+36-1) 201-6925.www.vizivarosigaleria.hu

A FRIEND IN NEED

A FRIEND IN DEED

The Suspended Coffee movement

allows you to buy a warm

beverage or food in advance

for someone in need.

There are more than 100 participating

restaurants, cafés, service providers

etc. that are identified by this sticker on

the door, making it easy for anyone

who wishes to “pay forward” an item.

The list of businesses can be found on

the Facebook page of “Suspended

Coffee Magyarország”.

See an article on the movement here in

Hungary at http://tinyurl.com/csqtskx

This weekend’s

theme: beer

Since 22 June Millenáris Parkhas hosted a picnic with anight market until 11pm each

weekend evening.In addition to the farmers’ market

at which visitors can buy fresh prod-ucts such as honey, syrup, herbs,oils, jams, vegetables and more,selected handcrafted wares made ofwood, leather, pearls and textiles arefor sale.

Anyone can register to sell at theflea market. Dishes are served at thegrill terrace (www.huspatika.hu).

There is also entertainment forchildren: they can take part in

games of skill and tarmac painting,do arts and crafts, go for a ride withthe small railway or sit in a basketswing.

Each weekend has a theme. Fromthis Friday to Sunday everything willrevolve around beers made by smallbrewers, such as the Fóti, Lehmann,Bors and Hopfanataic brewers.Visitors can taste the best Hungarianproducts, presented personally bythe brewers. Entry is free.

The ticketGastro Picnic and Night MarketMillenáris Park12 to 14 July, 9am to 11pm. The

special weekends end on 20 August.District II. Fény utca 20-22 www.millenaris.huwww.facebook.com/gasztropiknik

Gastro picnic, night market at Millenáris

115512 JULY – 18 JULY 2013

EEAATTIINNGGOOUUTT

THE BUDAPEST TIMES

Worth its weight in goldReview: Arany Kaviár, District I

V. Zoltán u. 16

(next to Szabadság tér)Reservations:

331-4352

...then call Rob on 06-30-552-0840

or visit www.primecuts.hu

THE BUDAPEST TIMES

BUDAPESTER ZEITUNG

RESTAURANTS

To advertise in

call 453-0752

AArraannyy KKaavviiaarr RReessttaauurraanntt

Lunchtime traditional Russian Bistro: 5.900 Ft (20 EUR) - 3-course lunch with 1 glas (1dl) of wine,

mineral water and coffee! Every day from 12pm to 3pm!

1015 Budapest, Ostrom u. 19 Open every day: 12pm-3pm, 6pm-12amTel.: (+36 1) 201 6737 [email protected] www.aranykaviar.hu

BÉNÉDICTE WILLIAMS

There aren’t many representatives ofRussian cuisine in Budapest, in partbecause this cuisine is perhaps difficult todefine, perhaps also because it suffersfrom an ingredient-related image

problem compared to other national cuisines repre-sented in the city.

One of the very few exceptions to this statement isArany Kaviár (Golden Caviar), which tackles these twoproblems by, first, adopting a fairly lax, geopoliticallycontroversial definition of Russian (Ukrainian andGeorgian also feature on themenu) and, second, shining in itsselection of ingredients to suchan extent that it is possible, forinstance, to choose such other-wise under-inspiring dishes asmarinated herring salad witheyes closed and guaranteed satis-faction.

At this point, and in theinterest of transparency, it shouldbe noted that there is no connec-tion between these lines and thefact that Arany Kaviár is one ofthis newspaper’s long-termadvertising partners.

With quality often comes priceand this establishment is in linewith the rule, coming in as one ofthe more expensive restaurantsin town. Reassuringly, it alsocomes with a distinct feeling ofopulence carried through by theheavy draperies covering walls,tables and chairs, and the atten-tive but not overbearing service (admittedly also occa-sionally belied by the choice of tinned Slavic pop andelectronically-enhanced reworkings of eastern classics).

Weather permitting, the small courtyard at the back- part canopied patio and part lawn, flowers andkitchen herbs - helps bring down the solemnity a notchwhile retaining the levels of elegance and quality.

Dining options are regularly changed, reasonablyvaried and more often than not structured in menus -caviar menu, fish menu, with or without wine or vodkarecommendations, though these are also available a lacarte. Come lunchtime the price bracket is notcheddownwards somewhat with the inclusion of a Russianbistro menu, a three- or four-course menu for a fixedprice including water, a glass of wine and coffee.

Past the appetiser (a small, olive-encrusted roll of softgoat’s cheese with raspberries and cherry tomatoes ona fresh-tasting bed of peas) and the helping of home-made flatbread (special mention for the accompanyingcoins of plain and herby butter), starters included atthis point herring with variations on the theme ofcucumber (pickled, raw and so on) that well fitted thedescription provided in the introduction above.

Soup (borscht, solyanka, and bear’s garlic with smokedduck breast) was passed over this time in favour ofheading straight for mains, in this case simple, light,harmoniously prepared trout, speckled with black seasalt and served with a variety of marrow textures - some

grated, some cubed and some stuffed miniatures - a lotof dill and some mayonnaise-inspired sauce.

Widening options, as well as portion size and pricebracket, a la carte also serves up some delicious combi-nations of Slavic and seasonal ingredients. The platterof marinated and smoked fishes (trout, herring, salmon,with a few salty, pop-in-the-mouth salmon roe) is at oncesimple and perfect. A touch of mascarpone (not all ofwhich is necessary) and a few dots of wasabi-strengthgreen are the only distraction from the succulent fish.

Duck breast and liver, the first well but not over-cooked, the other soft and melting, and both searedand slightly sweet on the outside, are served for mainson a blanket of carrot puree enlivened by baby carrots

and concentrated blobs of elder-flower jelly. The pair of small,rounded, fried dumplings is lessexciting but does not detract toomuch from the main action,which is well harmonised andbursting with flavour.

Come dessert time AranyKaviár often falls a little short ofthe standards it sets for itself inthe savoury section. Like themenu’s coffee-flavoured medavikcake or the a la carte’s chocolatecake with its high cocoa contentwell offset by mango jelly, dessertshere tend to lack the little creativespark that turns something verygood into something worthcommitting to memory. But theyare still that: very good and, withthe wine (international list,sommelier advice on hand),coffee, vodkas, champagnes, kvass(fermented rye bread drink) andother optional add-ons available,

contribute to fulfilling all expectations.Unlike other lunch-menu places in Budapest that

adopt a speed-based approach to serving (not, in itself,a bad thing for busy tourists or office workers), AranyKaviár functions on a more leisurely reading of theclock. On a carefree day, with the sun shining and awell-dressed table displaying attractive dishes, it makesfor one of Budapest’s most pleasant - if expensive -dining options.

Price points

Starters and soups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HUF 1,890-3,950Mains: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HUF 3,900-14,900Desserts:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HUF 1,850-2,500Caviar:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . from HUF 4,900Lunch menu:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HUF 5,900-6,900Other menus: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . from HUF 12,900

Arany Kaviár

District 1, Ostrom u. 19Open daily, 12noon-3pm and 6pm-midnight

Tel. (+36-1) 201-6737, 227-7370www.aranykaviar.hu

BZ

T/F

ile

(2)

WWHHAATTLLIIEESSBBEENNEEAATTHH

FFAAIITTHHMMAATTTTEERRSS

THE BUDAPEST TIMES12 July – 18 July 20131166

Love never fails when faithfulness is blessedBRADLEY BELCHER

They met during theGreat Depression whilethey both worked at acandy factory in SaintJoseph, Missouri.

George was a hard-working, tall,window washer with a winsome smile,and she was a Midwestern beauty whoserved faithfully as one of thecompany’s secretaries. It wasn’t longbefore they had fallen in love witheach other. They began attending theBaptist church together as their lovegrew. A little later they were marriedin the church. They had their wholelives in front of them. They were so inlove. Everything was looking up.

As they began their life together,they became very involved in theirchurch and their work. Sheloved helping out at thechurch and Georgeloved working at thefactory. Early on inhis career theowner of thec o m p a n yapproached himwith an impor-tant project. Thecandy makers atthe plant werethe only oneswho knew how tomake the candy.From time to timethey would try to usethis knowledge totheir benefit. When-ever the candy makersweren’t happy with their payor benefits they would threaten towalk out.

Climbing the ladder

Because of this, the ownerapproached George and asked him to

spend time with the candy makers sohe could memorise how they weremaking the product. To do so hecouldn’t let on to them what he wasdoing. He wouldn’t be able to takenotes or ask too many questions. It allneeded to take place secretly.

Slowly George memorised all thecandy-making formulas and it wasn’tlong until he started working his wayup the promotional ladder. Within afew years he was vice-president of thewhole company.

As George climbed the corporateladder, he did the same on the lead-ership ladder of their church. In afew years their family began to growtoo with the birth of two boys and a

girl. George’s wife was a verydevoted follower of

Christ. She was soproud of the

husband God hadgiven her. To herit seemed thatwhatever Georgeput his hand tohe was blessedwith great succ-ess.

Leaving the

faith behind

And then ithappened. One day

George came homefrom a church business

meeting. It was clear that hewas very upset and frustrated. As

he looked into the eyes of his faithfulbride he proclaimed: “There aremore honest men in the world thanin that church. I’m never goingback.”

Her heart sank as she heard his

words. He had vowed to never to goto their church with her again. Hewas disgusted with the men of thechurch and was determined to walkaway from his faith.

She knew the Scriptures well. Sheknew what was in store for theChristian backslider. In the Book ofHebrews are the words: “For thosewhom the Lord loves He disciplines,and He scourges every son whom Hereceives.”

In her mind it was just a matter oftime before God would start dealingwith her wayward husband. She wasafraid that George would lose all ofhis favour from God and that fromhere on everything would becomevery difficult for them as he cameunder the discipline of the Lord.

So she began to pray for herhusband. She prayed that God woulddiscipline George gently and that hewould soon turn back to Christ.

Instead, George just worked all theharder as he threw himself into thework at the factory. He began takinglots of business trips, sometimes forweeks at a time. There was more andmore alcohol in the house. Now shewas basically left on her own to raisethe children.

Measures of success

However, in George’s world insteadof bad things happening he justcontinued to climb the corporateladder. He eventually became anationally recognised candy manu-facturing consultant. Major candymakers from across the country calledon his expertise.

For 25 years she prayed for herhusband and nothing happened. Shewas all alone in her faith and she wasall alone in her marriage to a man

who had become a workaholic. Hewas more married to the companythan he was to her.

Labour of love

But over the yearsshe remained faithfulto him. She raisedtheir children, shedid his laundryand she madehis meals withall the love shehad. Shebegan to won-der if Godwould everintervene andbring Georgeback to Himself.

Then she finallyhad a realisation.She thought thatmaybe she was prayingfor the wrong thing in herhusband’s life. She hadthought that surely God would dealwith her believing husband. God saidthat He would discipline those whowere His. Then it occurred to her,maybe George didn’t belong to Godafter all. Maybe George wasn’t “a son”whom God had received. MaybeGeorge had never been a Christian atall. She assumed that since heattended church with her in the earlydays he was a true believer, but maybehe had never put his faith and trust inJesus Christ at all.

She immediately changed herprayers. She began praying forGeorge’s salvation. She claimed theverse from the Book of Acts where theapostle Paul had told the jailer atPhilippi: “Believe in the Lord Jesus,and you will be saved, you and your

household.” She specifically held onto the phrase “you and your house-hold”.

The power of prayer

Finally, 25 years after hisannouncement to never attend

church, George came homefrom a business trip, walked

into the house andasked: “What time is

church tomorrow? Iwas saved thisweek.” She wasastonished andshe watched withfurther amaze-ment as hewalked over tothe drinkcabinet andpoured it alldown the drain.

God had trulysaved her husband

and restored theirmarriage. In their remaining

years they walked togetherwith Christ as they redeemed

the years that had been lost. God hadblessed her faithfulness. God alsoblessed her with children and grand-children who all followed Christ.Many are in full-time Christianministry to this day.

Ultimately it was the love of Christthat had made all the difference.Through God’s love, God hadpreserved their marriage, protectedtheir children and saved George’ssoul. The Bible is right: “Love neverfails.”

– Reverend Bradley S. Belcher is thesenior pastor with the InternationalBaptist Church of Budapest, www.ibcbu-dapest.org. Should you have a question orcomment regarding this column, [email protected].

Wholly Matrimony – Part VI

WILLIAM LOWER

Ihave always been somewhat suspiciousof people or organisations with nosense of humour. With the exception ofpuns and toilet jokes, a sense ofhumour is often a reliable sign that a

person (or collectively, an organisation),commands an above-room-temperature IQ.

Perhaps this apparent lack of humour hasbeen at the root of my uneasiness with Jobbik &Co. However, I am the first to admit when I amwrong, and it seems, like so many others, I havefallen into the trap of taking Jobbik seriouslywhen it would appear they are simply strugglingcomedians in search of a stand-up routine.

During the last election when Jobbik’s headof PR had to resign after photographs emergedof him having a gay old time at Toronto’s GayPride festival, I took it seriously. I thought,“Seriously?”

When a Jobbik MP announced he was going

to resign after it was discovered that there wasJewish blood in his family (and therefore him),I took it seriously. I thought, “Seriously?”

Little did I know these events were Jobbik’sattempt to break into the crowded world ofcomedy.

Dying’s easy, comedy’s hard

It was only recently I realised they werejoking. I came to this realisation when JobbikMP Zsolt Németh announced he was proposingto Parliament that Hungary grant EdwardSnowden political asylum. That’s when Irealised Jobbik wasn’t serious, they were justhaving fun with us.

For those not up on America’s most-wanted,Snowden is at the top of the list. He is thecomputer programmer who blew the whistle onAmerica’s covert activities on its own peopleand anyone else living and breathing on planetearth. There is a warrant for Snowden’s arreston charges of espionage and other sundryoffences.

At the time of this writing, Snowden remainsin the transit area of the Moscow airport, andRussia, never one to miss giving a back-hand tothe United States, has refused to hand him over.

The thought of Hungary granting Snowdenasylum is hilarious. Move over Saturday NightLive, here comes Jobbik! Can’t you just see thestand-up comedy now? Maybe Jobbik & Co. areplanning on doing a David Letterman-esqueTop Ten Reasons Why Hungary Should GrantSnowden Asylum routine.

I’ll play that game. Boy, who ever knew those

Jobbik folks could be so much fun? I havetotally misunderstood. OK, here are thereasons:

Since everyone would be talking about it, nowdumb blondes on game shows will know thatHungary is a country and not a physical cravingfor food.

No one will any longer think Bucharest is thecapital of Hungary.

The forint would tank again, just when spec-ulators thought there was no more money to bemade on Hungary’s demise.

Hungary could rescind the asylum and thensell Snowden in exchange for foreign aid, thesame kind given to countries in Africa.

This would finally put Hungarian foreignpolicy on the world stage.

Hungary would now have a replacement for

the Red Bull Air Show: watching American F-35s do low-altitude fly-overs. Fully armed.

Snowden’s second cousin’s great-great-grand-father was half Hungarian so we wouldn’t bejust giving him asylum but citizenship, too.

All the Americans would have to leaveHungary but we could keep all their money.Couldn’t we?

After the Americans leave we could nation-alise McDonald’s and Burger King. And runthem the same way we ran an airline.

Americans can’t get warships up the Danubeso why not grant Snowden asylum?

Hungary can get cosy with Russia again.Hungary needs to improve its IT capabilities.

So why not start with the programmer EdwardSnowden?

Yes, I know. I have stated 12 reasons for theTop Ten Reasons. Call it Jobbik maths.

Seriously, folks

Or is the joke that finally the US would takeHungary seriously? Giving Snowden asylumwould show the Americans a thing or two,wouldn’t it? Or maybe the joke would be thatJobbik would see using Snowden as abargaining chip for re-instating Hungary’s pre-Trianon borders. The comedy routines onHungary offering Snowden asylum are almostendless. Kind of like Jobbik speeches at rallies.

One thing is certain: those wonderful folks atJobbik & Co. sure know how to crack a joke. Oris it lay an egg?

– Go cult. Be a follower. www.ThreeYearsOnMars.com

Jobbik cracks a yoke

Comedian of the day: Jobbik’s Zsolt Németh

Jobbik no more: Csanád Szegedi has since embraced

his Jewish heritage.

I n

her mind it was

just a matter of time

before God would start

dealing with her wayward

husband. She was afraid

that George would lose all of

his favour from God and that

from here on everything

would become very diffi-

cult for them as he

came under the

discipline of the

Lord.

She

began praying

for George’s salva-

tion. She claimed the

verse from the Book of Acts

where the apostle Paul had

told the jailer at Philippi:

“Believe in the Lord Jesus,

and you will be saved, you

and your household.” She

specifically held on to the

phrase “you and your

household”.

THE BUDAPEST TIMES iulie 2013

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