The news of Josef Scheyer’s fall was for the Hungarian ruling party throughout Europe; The government, using its emergency mandate, banned local governments from raising taxes; An average Hungarian lived on 134,000 forints a month before the crisis. This is a weekly economic summary of hvg.hu.

When Josef Schaeer resigned from his MEP last week citing mental strain, many of us wondered what the reason might be, but that he had to run away from a party in violation of a backpacking ban that police said was a drug. would have guessed.

Assumptions have been made as to whether its fall was not a deliberate pressure on the Hungarian government, but there are too many questionnaires to provide a meaningful answer. All of this may even hasten Fidesz’s withdrawal from the European People’s Party, and speculation that Fidesz will leave the People’s Party alone there has not been confirmed and they will not wait until it is voted on.

The European Court of Justice should reject Hungary’s action against the European Parliament, advises attorney general Michal Bobek. The essence of the lawsuit is that the government disputes whether the report on Sargentini was actually passed by a two-thirds majority and on that basis does not consider it justified that proceedings could be instituted against Hungary for a serious violation of the rule of law.

In any case, the Hungarian government has started and is launching a number of major legal battles before the European Court of Justice. But, as we have shown, they are all political in nature and in all of them, without exception, the government has failed or is losing.

One of the biggest surprises in EU affairs on Sunday was caused by Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin when he spoke on Thursday about withdrawing from blocking the EU budget under certain conditions. However, the government has not yet made a decision on this, and Govin, as the leader of one of the smaller coalition parties, opposed the veto from the very beginning, so the issue of the veto can still be resolved for the Polish internal political balance.

We have a terrible week when we look at the situation with the coronavirus epidemic. There have never been as many deaths as there are now, and the number of active cases is growing. The government promises more epidemiological announcements next Monday.

Meanwhile, only one decision has become known: using its emergency mandate, the government has banned municipalities already on the brink of financial capacity from raising taxes or introducing new ones. Gergi Gemezi, president of the Association of Hungarian Local Governments, told us that this affects approximately 2,500 local governments and it should come as no surprise that the government did not consult with local self-government associations before the decision. Although Lajos Kosa said that the government does not support the abolition of the business tax, because the companies’ revenues will decrease during the crisis, it will not solve all the problems of the cities.

In any case, Andras Talai said the government would protect people from tax increases in local governments, but the secretary of state also added that it was incomprehensible why they wanted to raise taxes at all. Mayor Peter Niedermiller of Erzebetvaros went the furthest from critics: he argued that the decree was unconstitutional, so it would enforce taxes already decided by the county and await a decision by the Castle and the Constitutional Court.

Picture of the week: construction of the Orban family property in Hatvanpushta.

Compared to a year earlier, the performance of the Hungarian economy fell by 4.6 percent in the third quarter of this year, according to the Central Statistical Office. Our economy jumped at a good pace before the second wave of the epidemic, which is an increase of 11.4 percent compared to the second quarter. Detailed figures show that factory operations resumed after the spring shock, but transport and storage have declined, and the shortage of foreign tourists is felt not only in tourism but also in trade.

CSOs also reported this week that turnover in Hungarian stores was declining, falling 1.9 percent worse than the most pessimistic expectation. Apparently, in October, people only took food and drink and medicine, everything else almost only when they finally had to. However, the situation in the industry can give some reason for confidence. By October, it had not only returned to pre-crisis levels, but also surpassed it, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year. According to the first data, there was an increase in the production of vehicles and the production of computers, electronics and optical products, which could help the entire Hungarian economy.

Although there were rumors that the Portuguese and Spanish governments wanted to try a Hungarian agricultural business opportunity in Angola, according to our sources, there was no serious agricultural business there. We know that, in fact, there were political reasons why Victor Orban’s trip to Angola was postponed, except thanks to one of the southern countries, but the German lobby. It was not difficult for them: from the fact that Hungary fulfilled its promise for the Marrakech Declaration of Africa in 2018, otherwise the openly anti-immigrant Hungarian government can be positioned as xenophobic and racist

Indeed, an agreement could have been reached with an Angolan electricity supplier. Ende wanted to buy transformers and other accessories from CG Hungary, but that did not happen. This also highlights the failure of the Hungarian government to open up to the south, at least in Africa. On that basis, no agreement has been reached so far that could be taken seriously from an economic point of view or that would justify the success of the south-opening strategy.

The average Hungarian lived on 134 thousand forints per month in 2019, according to the publication of the Standards of Living in the Households of CSOs. Divided into a dozen incomes, we can see that the poorest households lived on HUF 41,000 per month, while the richest households lived on HUF 312,000 per month.

In 2019, with a decline of 118,000 people, 1,695,000 people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, 17.7 percent of the total population. The figures also show that the per capita income of single people and childless couples was higher than that of households with children. Large families are still lagging behind in terms of per capita income.

The Lilafured trout farm supplies 70 percent of the Hungarian trout production – the farm’s manager, Gergi Hoysi, told us about the type of work behind it. “It’s a bit of work,” he said, increasing its annual production from one and a half to sixty tonnes since it began operating there in 1982.

This is because trout need oxygen-rich, cold water, and although the temperature is close to the source water, the oxygen supply to the water must be increased in different ways.

Gergi Hoysi also said that dry years are becoming more frequent, and in the high average the amount of precipitation is decreasing more and more. Although for now there is no need to be afraid of warming the spring water, for example, during a heat wave, feeding must be stopped, which also slows down the growth of fish – even for months.



The number of power-independent newsrooms is steadily declining, and those that still exist are trying to survive in the rising wind. At HVG, we persevere, we do not give in to pressure and we bring domestic and international news every day.

So please, readers, stand by us, support us, join our membership and renew!

And we promise to continue to do our best for you in all circumstances!