Republic of Hungary

Since the constitutional amendments of 1989, Hungary is a parliamentary republic and an independent, democratic constitutional state. Parliament after the free elections of 1990, the Parliament in the previous election periods, hundreds of new laws, changes in legislation enacted and legislative decisions are made ​​to the institutions and legal framework embody the democratic rule of law and market economy. For a constitutional amendment and the more important decisions, it requires a two thirds majority. The Hungarian Parliament is in session continuously -. There are two regular sessions, the Spring and Autumn Period , the control activities of the Parliament has the form of questions, interpellations and parliamentary committees. The independent monitoring bodies of the Parliament: The State Audit Office and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights (Ombudsman). The Court was established in 1990, gives the Ombudsmen since 1995. The President, the Prime Minister, members of the Constitutional Court, the Ombudsmen, the President of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General are elected by the Parliament. The President The President of the Republic of Hungary by Parliament by secret ballot and by a two thirds majority elected for five years. The candidate must be a Hungarian citizen entitled to vote at the age of 35 years to be. The president signed and promulgated the law, he may adjourn and dissolve Parliament, and he writes from the parliamentary elections. Should the President not agree with a law passed by Parliament does not, he can make before the law was signed by a single veto. The President also has a broad right of initiative. He asked parties to form a government and on his suggestion, the Prime Minister is elected by parliament. He also appoints ministers, state secretaries, generals, professional judges. In some cases, the President may exercise the right of pardon (with the countersignature of the Prime Minister). . The President of the Republic is the supreme commander of the armed forces and has its own powers in foreign affairs , the Government The Government shall exercise the executive power from - that is, it governs and directs the administration at the highest level - with the prime minister holds a dominant role. The Prime Minister is elected by Parliament for the parliamentary majority principle, while accepting the Government's program. The government formation is completed by the appointment of ministers and their oath. The establishment of the ministries is the responsibility of Parliament - the list of ministries is incorporated into a bill. The ministries are headed by ministers, members of the government. The Officers of the ministries are political secretaries and administrative secretaries. capital of the Republic of Hungary is Budapest (1.8 million inhabitants). Population According to the census of 1999 in Hungary, 98.5 percent of the population (10,222,529 people) Hungarian as their mother tongue , so the country can be regarded as a monolingual state. Live since the Peace Treaty of Trianon, more than 3 million Hungarians in neighboring countries, mostly in Transylvania, which belonged to Romania. Together with the other, living in other parts of the world, Hungary is the total number of people living outside the borders of Hungary, estimated at 5 million. According to census data, the proportion of minorities in Hungary is relatively low. The estimates of the organizations of national minorities show higher numbers than the census. This can be explained, among other things, that these organizations consider the descent. According to these estimates in Hungary 200-220000 German (37 511) live 100-110000 Slovaks (12 745), 80-90000 Croats (17 577), 25,000 Romanians (8730), 5,000 Serbs (2,953), 5,000 Slovenes (2627). It also gives Poland (10,000), Greece (3000), Armenians (1500), Bulgarians (about 3,000), Ruthenians (6000), Ukrainians (2,000). The population share of Roma who have no native language is estimated at 400-600000 (142 683). Note: In parentheses are the census data on the use of the mother tongue of the Jahr1990. The processing of new data from the 2001 census is expected to be completed at the end of this year. The Constitution is full equality of all nationalities and a free use of the language allowed. On 7 July 1993 adopted a law on the rights of ethnic minorities. To secure the enforcement of these rights in 1990 the Office for National and Ethnic Minorities was set up. Geography Hungary lies in Central Europe in the Carpathian Basin surrounded by the Alps and the Dinaric Alps. The land area is 93 036 square kilometers, covering about 1 percent of the continent. The total length of the border is 2216.8 km. Of this 655.1 km border with Slovakia, 136.6 kilometers of Ukraine, 448 kilometers of Romania, 621.1 kilometers of the Yugoslav successor states (165.8 kilometers with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia | 355.3 km Croatia | 100 km: Slovenia) and 356 miles of Austria. Nearly three-quarters of the land area is a low plain, one fifth is covered by hills (not higher than 400 meters) and less than five percent are low mountain ranges (between 400 and 1000 meters). The highest peak in the country is the peak Kékes (1014 m) in the Matra. The deepest areas are located south of Szeged in Theißtal in Gyálarét (78 m). The Hungarian Plain and the little Lowland areas are flat. The hills of Zala and Somogy and Tolna in the ridge of Transdanubia is a hilly landscape. The mountains of Sopron and Koszeg, the Mecsek, the Transdanubia and the Northern mountains are mountains. Air Hungary is located in the temperate zone at the intersection of continental, oceanic and subtropical Mediterranean climate regions. The weather - especially in the lowlands - because of the relative confinement of the Carpathian basin tends to be dry - and sometimes capricious. The average annual temperature is 9.7 ° C across the country - Budapest 11.2 ° C. The warmest month is July with a normal temperature of 20.0 ° C, the coldest month is January with a normal temperature of -2.1 ° C. On the hottest summer days, the temperature as 33 ° C to 38 ° C reached in colder winters, temperatures of -25.0 ° C -30.0 ° C to occur. On average, the rainfall 470-550 mm in the central parts of the plains and 700 to 800 mm in the central mountainous regions. There are relatively few snowy days. The annual number of sunshine hours varies in 1700-2200. Most of the sunshine is recorded in the regions between the Danube and Tisza, the fewest in the foothills of the Alps and the northern highlands. The annual average wind speed is 2.4 m / sec. Hungary - Economic Hungary since 1997 has catapulted up to one of the first places of the transition states. As recently as 1994 it was internationally acknowledged as a problem debtor country. 1995/96, Hungary introduced a radical austerity package with extremely harsh conditions of the population (including dismantling of the welfare system, drastic cuts in real wages, devaluation of national currency forint), but could pay back to its debt from its own resources. The Hungarian economy is in 2001, further on the stable growth path to which it is pivoted to the crisis in the years 1995 and 1996. It is expected in 2001 in the fifth year, a growth rate of 4.5 percent or more. The principle market-based reforms in all three governments since 1990 was the decisive precondition for the successful and largely completed the transformation of the Hungarian economy. He has offered to foreign investors since the collapse of a reliable framework. Privatisation is largely completed. About 80 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) is now generated in the private sector. Among the Central European transition countries, Hungary has the highest FDI per capita. The central problem of the Hungarian economy, the past two years, lying at 10 percent inflation rate. New is the active role of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) in fighting inflation, are you with the expansion of the range for the exchange rate of the forint since mid-May 2001 monetary instruments at its disposal. The lower growth of industrial production, due to declining exports to the European Union, and the appreciation of the forint since the beginning of May 2001 to 8 percent are the main causes for the comparison with the year 2000 (5.2 percent) expected to be slightly weaker economic growth. The growth is increasingly supported by domestic consumption. Unemployment fell in the first half of 2001 was back on and - according to ILO criteria - in the 2nd Quarter of 2002 was 5.6 percent. German investments have German business is heavily involved with an investment of 10 billion euro (EUR) Date of change in Hungary, they have made ​​about one-third of all foreign investment in Hungary. Showpiece is the Audi plant in Gyor in western Hungary, in the far invested about EUR 1 billion. In addition to other major German investors (including Telekom, RWE, EON, alliance) but are medium sized (mechanical engineering) company the focus of German investments