ON THE RECORD

letter from the publisher

In the previous issue of Diplomacy&Trade, our international analyst termed the US policy conducted by President Biden as ‘cautious encouragement’ with an eye to the mid-term U.S. congressional elections in November. Now, taking a closer look at the recent polling data, it seems that the race is tightening. Both Democrats and Republicans are cautiously optimistic and our analyst puts his money on the Republicans gaining a slight majority in the House of Representatives while the Democrats retain the Senate. Our diplomacy page focuses on women in this profession. Former ambassador Katalin Bogyay founded the Circle of Women Ambassadors at the United Nations so that special issues especially important to women would be given attention on the UN agenda as well as the ‘Women4Diplomacy’ movement when she was President of the UN Association. She also lectures regularly, propagating her view that the understanding and use of soft power diplomacy as prevention is important for young diplomats to understand. One of the main tasks of embassies worldwide is presenting the values of their respective country to the people in the country they are accredited to. The Swiss Embassy in Budapest is quite active in this field, showcasing concrete examples of the close relations between Switzerland and Hungary. They have recently completed the first stage of the ‘Switzerland in your city’ project in the Eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen, focusing on business issues. The WittyLeaks section is authored by the Croatian Ambassador, a great soccer fan, who wishes to recreate the atmosphere of four years ago when he organized – with the participation of several diplomats – ‘jamborees’ of watching World Cup matches at his Embassy. He hopes for “a fair competition, the pleasant socializing of diplomats and ‘civilians’ from various continents and backgrounds will be the most important result.” The wine pages reflect on this year's Budapest Wine Festival where people had the opportunity to taste unique American wines along with regional Hungarian wines. Also, we highlight the Tokaj Wine Business Institute offering of a joint program with its partner business school in Burgundy for Central European professionals.

The war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, out of control inflation, continuing COVID waves, social unrest and countless other issues keeps many of us up and searching for solutions. These are difficult times that call for leadership. Don’t stand by, stand up!

Peter Freed

PUBLISHER

AND DON’T FORGET monthly in print - daily on the web www.dteurope.com

PUBLISHER: Peter Freed PHOTO EDITOR: Dávid Harangozó COPY EDITOR: Héléna Niddam

SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR: Tamás Varga ADMINISTRATION: Blanka Szalontai CONTRIBUTORS: Sándor Laczkó, Adrienn Bakonyi-Kiss, Tamás Magyarics, Mladen Andrlić PHOTO CONTRIBUTORS: depositphotos.com (cover), TRILITE (cover), LAFARGE, Budapest Airport/Róbert Baranyi, Schneider Electric, depositphotos.com, molgroup.info, motor-classic.com, TRILITE, Embassy of Croatia, David Marques, Live Nation, Amber Bracken, The Art of the Brick, Gergely Ripka, Szabolcs Vadnai, MTI Photos: Tibor Illyés, Tamás Vasvári, Dániel Kiss

Copyright 2004-2022 DUAX Kft., all rights reserved | ISSN 1589-8075 This magazine is produced by DUAX Kft. The opinions published in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DUAX Kft.

COPIES ARE AVAILABLE AT SELECTED RELAY AND INMEDIO OUTLETS IN MAJOR HUNGARIAN CITIES. NEWSSTAND PRICE: HUF 1,710 or EUR 6 - Subscriptions are available for an annual fee of EUR 72 in Hungary, or EUR 90 to all other destinations. SEND REQUESTS AND INQUIRIES TO DUAX KFT. H-1034 Budapest, Bécsi út 60. TELEPHONE [+36-70] 320-3051 | FAX [+36-1] 350-5660 E-MAIL editor@dteurope.com | ADVERTISING tvarga@budapestweek.com Croatian Embassy ready to ‘present’ another soccer World Cup

page 12

Event guide to the Hungarian capital page 13

Where finest wines and gastronomy meet

page 14

contents

02-03 ON THE RECORD 04-05 COMPANY BRIEFS 06 ANALYSIS Midterm election in the United States 08 DIPLOMACY Diplomacy needs more women 10 BUSINESS Swiss Days in Debrecen 12 WITTYLEAKS by the Ambassador of Croatia 13 WHAT’S ON Concerts, festivals, events and exhibitions in and out of Budapest 14-15 WINE

Budapest Wine Festival 2022; Wine professionals of the future in Tokaj

CZECH FOCUS – COMING SOON

Diplomacy&Trade is preparing a special Focus section on Czech-Hungarian relations on the occasion of the Czech Republic holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2022. The priority areas of the Czech Presidency (managing the refugee crisis and Ukraine’s postwar recovery; energy security; strengthening Europe’s defense capabilities and cyberspace security; strategic resilience of the European economy and resilience of democratic institutions), the extensive political, economic and cultural ties will be the subject of our interview with the Czech Ambassador to Hungary, Tibor Bial. Focus topics will also include tools provided by Czech economic diplomacy to their firms in Hungary.

We welcome inquires for advertising in this issue.

PLEASE CALL TAMÁS VARGA FOR FURTHER INFORMATION +36 209 350 250 - tvarga@budapestweek.com

on the record

FOOD AND PETROL PRICE CAP PERIODS EXTENDED

The Hungarian government decided to extend the gasoline and food price freeze, the Minister heading the Prime Minister's Office, Gergely announced in the middle of September. According to the minister, the war and the sanctions in response had led to a brutal rise in energy prices, which in turn had caused a general rise in prices, inflation and an increase in the price of goods, especially food. As a result, the price of petrol and diesel has also spiraled out of control and interest rates have risen sharply in recent months. The reason given for maintaining the price freezes is the exceptional situation: there will still be basic foodstuffs available at pre-crisis prices. In his opinion, it is the biggest family support program in Europe. At the same time, analysts warn that the maintenance of the price caps continues to distort prices and results in inflation as shops increase the prices of other food items to make up for their losses that result from having to sell goods at a price that is lower than the price they have to pay for these items to producers or wholesalers.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSES TO CUT FUNDS TO HUNGARY

The European Commission, the quasi-government of the European Union, calls for an estimated EUR 7.5 billion in EU funding to be withheld from Hungary over corruption and rule of law concerns that the Hungarian government failed to dispel. Referring to EC President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union address earlier in the month, EC Commissioner Johannes Hahn, in charge of Budget and Administration, said on September 18 that the Commission will also protect the EU budget through the conditionality mechanism. "In exactly this spirit, the Commission is proposing measures to the Council for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary," the Commissioner pointed out. He added that this case started when the Commission notified Hungary in April earlier this year about its concerns relating to breaches of the principles of the rule of law that create a risk, and it is important because it is about the scope, for the EU budget. These concerns include systematic irregularities and deficiencies and weaknesses in public procurement; insufficiencies in addressing conflict of interest and concerns regarding public interest trusts; weaknesses in the effective pursuit of investigations and prosecutions in cases involving Union funds; and shortcomings in the anti-corruption framework. Over the summer, Hungary committed to 17 remedial measures to address the risks to the EU budget. "To consider these remedial measures to be ‘adequate', the Commission needs to be able to conclude that they will put an end to the identified risks for the EU budget and EU financial interest," Johannes Hahn stressed. He highlighted that "Therefore, the Commission's assessment is that a risk for the budget at this stage remains. Therefore, we cannot conclude that the EU budget is sufficiently protected. The Commission proposes a suspension of 65% of the commitments for three operational programs under cohesion policy, amounting to an estimated EUR 7.5 billion – which is over a third of Hungary's Cohesion envelope, and the prohibition to enter into legal commitments with the so-called public interest trusts. The measures take into account the remedial measures Hungary submitted." The Commission will now monitor the situation. "Hungary has committed to fully inform the Commission about the implementation of the remedial measures by 19 November, as also outlined in the timeline published in our proposal," the Commissioner said. In the meantime, the Hungarian government submitted a group of measures to parliament that they hope will open the ‘money taps’ in Brussels.

COMPLEX WARFARE EXERCISE IN HUNGARY

'Brave Warrior 2022', a large-scale multinational exercise, involving thousands of allied troops in the execution of joint tasks, took place in the second half of September in Hungary. It was a multinational (Hungarian, Croatian, Slovakian, Italian and American) complex combat exercise that took place at the Central Training and Firing Range of the Hungarian Defense Forces in Hajmáskér, W Hungary between September 15 and 30. This is the largest multinational warfare exercise of the Hungarian Defense Forces this year and the eighth time Hungary hosting it. More than 1,200 soldiers were taking part in the exercises: 17 units of the Hungarian Defense Forces with almost 600 participants, the largest number of participants being the Italian mountain troops and a US airborne rifle squadron. Croatian forces were participating in the exercise with various combat support and combat insurance forces, and a company of Slovak forces also joined in the framework of Visegrád (V4) cooperation. In addition, a total of half a hundred technical vehicles took part in the exercises: from the Hungarian side, the Leopard 2 A4HU tank, the BTR-80 armored transport vehicle and the Gidrán armored support vehicle, the BlVIP-1 armored combat vehicle of the Slovak Army and the Centauro armored combat vehicle of the Italian Army. Air support was provided by two pairs of Mi-24 helicopters, one Mi-17 helicopter and, during the different phases of the exercise, a total of five H-145 M helicopters and a pair of Gripen JAS-39 aircraft.

INNOVATION IN THE EU: HUNGARY IN THE 'EMERGING' GROUP

The European Commission has published the 2022 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard. According to the document, Hungary continues to be in the lowest, 'Emerging Innovators' category along with Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The document states that compared to 2021, innovation performance in 2022 has improved for 19 Member States, and declined for eight. Compared to the EU average, global competitors such as Australia, Canada, Republic of Korea, and the United States continue having a performance advantage over the EU. Nevertheless, the EU has closed its performance gap with these nations and has surpassed Japan since 2021. Based on their scores, EU members states fall into four performance groups: Innovation leaders (performance is above 125% of the EU average), Strong innovators (between 100% and 125% of the EU average), Moderate innovators (between 70% and 100% of the EU average) and Emerging innovators (below 70% of the EU average). Sweden continues to be the best performer in the EU. Other Innovation Leaders are Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland. In Hungary's country profile, the Commission report says that the Hungarian performance is at 69.8% of the EU average; performance is increasing (7.1%-points) at a rate lower than that of the EU (9.9%-points); the country’s performance gap to the EU is becoming larger.

UPCOMING NATIONAL DAYS October 1 Cyprus 1 China 1 Nigeria 3 Germany 3 Korea 3 Iraq 10 Taiwan 10 Cuba National day Independence day Independence day Independence day National day National day National day National day

November 12 Spain 18 Azerbaijan 23 Hungary 24 Zambia

National day Independence day National day Independence day 26 Austria National day 28 Czech Republic Independence day 29 Turkey National day 11 Poland Independence day

11 Angola 15 Belgium 18 Latvia Independence day National day Independence day

18 Morocco National day

19 Oman 22 Lebanon 28 Albania National day Independence day Independence day

NYUGATI, A ‘TREASURE OF EUROPEAN FILM CULTURE’

Budapest Nyugati [‘Western’] Railway Station has been selected as part the ‘Treasures of European Film Culture’, the European Film Academy has announced. Treasures of European Film Culture is a growing list of places of a symbolic nature for European cinema, places of historical value that need to be maintained and protected not just now but also for generations to come, the Academy stresses. On the occasion of this year’s 35th European Film Awards, 22 places have been added to the list, to make it to a total of 35. One of the new additions, the Hungarian capital’s Nyugati railway station was the starting point where the first Hungarian steam train departed on July 15, 1846 to Vác, 35 kilometers to the north. Budapest Nyugati railway station was opened to the public in 1877. The architectural design is the work of Austrian architect August W. de Serres, while the structure of the hall was designed by Theofil Seyrig, working for Gustav Eiffel’s engineering firm, together with Hungarian engineer Viktor Bernárdt.