From hungary-report-owner Mon Jan 29 07:36:00 1996 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id HAA01495; Mon, 29 Jan 1996 07:36:00 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id HAA01486; Mon, 29 Jan 1996 07:35:43 -0800 Received: from jbrown@isys.hu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-report@hungary.yak.net (1484) Received: from kingzog.isys.hu (KingZog.iSYS.hu [194.24.160.4]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id HAA01479 for ; Mon, 29 Jan 1996 07:34:47 -0800 Received: from [194.24.161.32] (hrep.dial.isys.hu [194.24.161.32]) by kingzog.isys.hu (8.7.Beta.11/8.7.Beta.11) with SMTP id QAA07385 for ; Mon, 29 Jan 1996 16:34:23 +0100 (MET) Date: Mon, 29 Jan 1996 16:34:23 +0100 (MET) X-Sender: jbrown@mail.isys.hu Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: hungary-report@hungary.yak.net From: jbrown@isys.hu (Jennifer Brown) Subject: Hungary Report 1.35 Sender: owner-hungary-report@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: hungary-report@hungary.yak.net ======================== The Hungary Report Direct from Budapest, every week Also available on the World Wide Web (http://www.isys.hu/hrep/) No. 1.35, January 29, 1996 ======================== SPONSORED BY: iSYS Hungary Kft., providing full Internet solutions for companies and individuals in Hungary. For further information, send e-mail to , view our World Wide Web home page(http://www.isys.hu) or call (+36-1) 266-6090. ========= CONTENTS BRIEFS Austerity plan part II in the works Hungary and Romania to trade freely Hungarian troops leave for Croatia this week American may be jailed for causing fatal accident Debrecen refugees return to Bosnia Group lobbies for cleaner air Internet providers upset over Matav's Internet plans Alitalia may acquire more of Hungarian airlines Bokros declared a winner NUMBERS CRUNCHED Hungarian emigres living in the United States Hungary's tourism ranking Guest workers abroad National birth rate in 1995 Businesses using the Internet FEATURE STORY Foreign 'stars' rise in the Magyar movie business PARLIAMENT WATCH Horn puts more steam in the PR machine CORRESPONDENCE Letter from Venezuela The Hungary Report is also supported in part by: MTI-ECONEWS, a daily English-language financial news service. For on-line (fee-based) subscription information, contact the Internet address: . (It's not automated -- write a nice note. ====== BRIEFS By Jennifer C Brown Copyright (c) 1995 ------------ GENERAL NEWS Austerity plan part II in the works Minister of Finance Lajos Bokros, who initiated the unpopular austerity plan last year, plans to introduce a package to cut social spending in March, writes the Budapest Sun. The last austerity measures designed to reduce consumption were considered to be a heavy dose of shock therapy for the average citizen. According to the Sun, real wages dropped by 11% last year while inflation stood at 30%. The new package will involve more cooperation between the industries effected, according to economic director at GJW Consulting Kft Karoly Fekete. The ultimate goal of the reforms, he said, is to signal to investors that Hungary is serious about economic reform. The Sun writes that Prime Minister Gyula Horn may have a difficult time supporting Bokros since he is under attack from the Socialist Party's left wing. --------------------- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Hungary and Romania soon to trade freely Hungary and Romania could be trading freely by Jan. 1, 1997, reports the Budapest Business Journal. Romania has free trade agreements with the European Union and the Czech and Slovak Republics, but not Hungary. A free trade agreement would help Hungarian products become more competitive with goods from Western European countries. Hungarian agricultural exporters have to pay 12 times as much in duties on consumable goods compared to their Western European competitors. Hungary's exports to Romania increased 84% in the first 11 months of the year over the previous year to total US$ 315 million. Hungary imported US$ 18 million from Romania last year, an increase of 12% from the year before. Last year, agricultural products made up 30% of Hungary's exports to Romania. ----------- SHORT TAKES THE MAJORITY OF IFOR'S HUNGARIAN TECHNICAL CONTINGENT WILL be deployed to Okucani, Croatia on Jan. 31, announced Defense Minister Gyorgy Keleti last week. He also said the Hungarian troops will be under the protection of several American officers. According to Vilaggazdasag, the maintenance of the Hungarian unit in Croatia will cost HUF 2.5 billion (US$ 18.5 million) to be financed from a HUF 10 billion (US$ 74 million) budget reserve. Soldiers will earn a stipend of US$ 950 to US$ 1,300 a month in addition to their regular and supplemental earnings. ONE 29-YEAR OLD HUNGARIAN MAN DIED AND THREE OTHERS WERE seriously injured when a American working in Kaposvar allegedly caused an car accident in downtown Kaposvar, according to police reports. Paul Anthony Camarce, 31, could face five years in a Hungarian prison if he is found responsible for the crime. The fatal accident comes after a series of accidents between U.S. military trucks and civilian vehicles. Brown & Root, the Houston-based engineering and construction firm that employed Camarce, has tried to improve safety by limiting access to vehicles, writes the Budapest Sun. BOSNIAN REFUGEES SHELTERED IN THE EASTERN HUNGARIAN CITY OF Debrecen will be leaving the refugee camp soon. Those who still have homes to go to will leave before the end of January. The second group whose homes have been destroyed or occupied but can find other shelter will leave shortly afterwards. The last group to leave will be those immigrating to Western Europe. A NEW CAMPAIGN FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO MASS TRANSIT HAS BEEN launched by a New York-based environmental organization called the Clean Air Group. The group hopes to collect 110,000 signatures for a petition that calls for more incentives for people to use public transportation. But statistics say Hungarians love driving their cars more than they love commuting. Between 1988 and 1994, nitrogen oxide levels have doubled in Budapest. The number of commuters have dropped from 86% of the population in 1985 to 65% of the population in 1994. LOCAL INTERNET PROVIDERS ARE REACTING TO HUNGARIAN telecommunications company Matav's plans to launch an Internet service. Email and Internet providers CompuServe, Magnet, iSYS and EUnet are taking their complaint to the national Office of Competition. They say Matav can use its position as a massive telecommunications provider with countrywide contacts and subsidized prices to shut other providers out of the market. While Matav denies it wants to kill the competition, its planned email package will go for HUF 900 a month ($6.50). The lowest price for email services is HUF 1,700 a month ($12.31). The Journal reports that the Competition Office will likely fine Matav. ITALIAN AIRLINE COMPANY ALITALIA MAY INCREASE ITS 30% stake in Hungarian airlines company Matav, reports the Budapest Business Journal. The State Privatization and Holding Company owns 64% of the company and is expected to sell another 10% to 35% soon. The Journal reports that if the foreign company acquires over a majority of the company, other national carriers could renegotiate Malev's flight schedule. ------------------ NUMBERS CRUNCHED * Number of Hungarian emigres living in the United States (Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad, 1992-1993 statistics): 1.7 million * Hungary's ranking among top 10 tourism destinations in Europe (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu International): fourth * Hungarians working as guest workers abroad (Hungarian trade mission in Cologne): 40,000 * Hungary's birth rate in the first ten months of 1995, down 3,000 from the year before (Central Statistics Office): 112,000 * Number of businesses in Hungary using the Internet, up from 500 a year ago (Budapest Business Journal): 5,000 -------------- EXCHANGE RATE January 24, 1995 (National Bank of Hungary) US dollar - $ 143.16 (buying), $ 145.20 (selling) Deutschemark - DM 97.10 (buying), DM 98.10 (selling) --------------- WACKY AS USUAL Bokros declared a winner The International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions may want to pat Finance Minister Lajos Bokros on the back for his austerity measures. Here in Hungary, the Independent Lawyers Forum decided to send him a prize for promoting unconstitutional laws. It was an empty package labeled "fragile" and "decaying". He received the prize after a unanimous vote by the board of the Independent Lawyers Forum. Some elements of Bokros's austerity package were earlier rejected by the Constitutional Court early this year. This was the first year the Forum has ever awarded such a prize. ============= FEATURE STORY Foreign 'stars' rise in the Magyar movie business by John Nadler Copyright (c) 1996 During the early years of Hollywood when Magyar-born emigres such a Paramount president Adolf Zukor, London Studios' founder Alexander Korda, and Warner Bros. director Michael Curtiz reigned supreme in the US film industry, a famous joke went: "You don't have to be Hungarian to get a job in the movies, but it doesn't hurt.' Now 60 years later, the reverse is true in the old country. You don't have to be an American to make it in the Hungarian cinema, but it can certainly help. Hungary has been more than helpful to the careers of a small circle of Americans who have found furious and unexpected success in Budapest's small but energetic movie industry. New York-actress Kathleen Gati, who apprenticed on the off-off Broadway stage, saw her career surge ahead when she won a role on the soap opera 'All My Children'. At the time Gati hoped her next step would be primetime TV, feature films, or Broadway. Little did she realize her career would take a sharp detour through the Danube bend. In 1991, Gati came to Budapest for four months to do location work on the independent film 'The Diary of the Hurdy-Gurdy Man.' She has been here ever since, and is now recognized as one of Hungary's top film actresses, winning in 1992 the Hungarian equivalent of the best-supporting-actress academy award for her role in the movie 'Goldberg Variations,' directed by famed Magyar filmmaker Ferenc Grunwalsky. Gati also starred in the 1992 Magyar-French co-production 'Parallel Lives,' directed by the noted film maker Andras Jeles, and the comedy 'We Never Die', one of the most commercially successful locally-produced feature films in the history of Hungarian cinema. Gati's ascent in Hungarian cinema has been dizzying. But not inexplicable. Canadian-born Gati is the child of Hungarian emigrants who understands the exotic nuances of Hungarian culture, and speaks the language fluently, and with just enough accent to conjure up a foreign mystique ... similar to the type which has served actresses such as Greta Garbo and the Gabor sisters so well in the US. As Hungary's cinema breaks with the past, Gati's greatest asset is her New York training and subtle on-screen presence which differs from the more melodramatic method that has long been the fashion in Magyar cinema. "What I represent to [Hungarian directors] is the American style," she says. "When I first came here they thought I was an amateur. They thought I was a natural. That's one of the biggest compliments I get: 'You are so believable in your work.'" American actors are so believable partly because there is a mystique which surrounds them, says NYU-trained film maker Gabe von Dettre who has made two feature films and several documentaries since journeying to Budapest in 1991: "There is truth in what they say: 'You cannot be a prophet in your own land... The point is that Hungarians and all eastern European have turned in a snobbish, excited and apologetic way to America." And the effects of this infatuation can be felt throughout Hungarian culture. Hollywood fodder from 'Apollo 13' to 'Pulp Fiction' are hits in Magyar movie houses. US series from 'Dallas' to 'Beverly Hills 90210' lead Hungary's TV ratings. Professionals with American credentials are treated with reverent respect by Magyar colleagues. Von Dettre, a Magyar who defected from Hungary in 1980, admitted that his apprenticeship and education in the US has vastly increased his currency here. "When I came back [to Hungary] people were suddenly interested in me who hadn't been 12 years before," he explained. The same respect -- sometimes deserved, sometimes not -- is given to US directors and actors who travel here to practice their crafts, and are finding opportunities in the Carpathian basin, all but unattainable back home. Since coming to Hungary four years ago, Canadian-born cinematographer Keith Hlady has not only worked behind the camera on films such as the European co-production 'Charlemagne the Great', the HBO made-for-cable movie 'Rasputin', and the British TV series 'Brother Cadfael,' he has worked with and studied the techniques of veteran Magyar director-of-photography Elemer Ragalyi. Ambitious expatriate actors have seized upon opportunities most fowl. The Hungarian voice for Donald Duck belongs to visiting New York stage actor Michael Melhmam who has learned the local tongue well enough to quack it. Melhmam, a veteran New York actor who journeyed to Budapest because of the city's dramatic opportunities, plays featherless characters as well. He acted with Jeremy Irons when David Cronenberg's feature film 'M. Butterfly' was shot in Budapest three years ago, and John Hurt in the independent film 'Living on Borrowed Time'. Melhmam is not the only working actor in Budapest's expat flock. US actress Charlene Dorais has found choice roles in foreign productions shot in Hungary such as the Granada TV series 'Maigret,' and the NBC network movie 'Passport to Murder.' Most of these actors and film makers see Hungary as a detour not a destination in their careers. And given the ascendancy of British actress Emma Thompson -- from third-string actress to Academy Award winner -- the narrow streets of Europe could be as direct a road to Hollywood as the pavement of Sunset Boulevard. * * * John Nadler (jnadler@magnet.hu) is a freelance journalist residing in Budapest who frequently writes for Hollywood Entertainer and other media and entertainment publications. ---------------- Parliament Watch By Tibor Vidos Copyright (c) 1996 Horn puts more steam in the PR machine Being a government minister has not meant really good business in Hungary over the past five years. And thanks to Prime Minister Gyula Horn it is not going to be one for at least another year. The prime minister confirmed at a press conference that a report published by the daily, Nepszabadsag that he has withdrawn a draft resolution that would have raised top government officials' salaries by 20% Salaries of ministers, state secretaries and deputy state secretaries are calculated according to a formula determined by law as a multiple of the civil service base salary. Since last year the prime minister has the right to increase or decrease the calculated figure by 20 %. This time he decided not to. As a consequence ministers will earn HUF 227,950 (US$ 1,657) gross per month in 1996, state secretaries HUF 165,000 (US$ 1,195) and deputy state secretaries HUF 140,000 (US$ 1,014) gross per month. The prime minister's income is HUF 331,500 (US$ 2,402). These figures, though significantly exceeding average salaries, are in the medium range of managerial earnings in the business sector. When asked by reporters about the reasons for withdrawing the resolution, the prime minister replied: "To take a step like this seemed unreasonable in the current economic situation of the country. We may reconsider the proposal should the economic situation improve." Sweet words for the man on the street suffering from the austerity measures of the government. It seems that the prime minister has launched his campaign for the Socialist Party's March convention while simultaneously attempting to improve his poor standing in the national pools. This suspicion is enhanced by the fact that the information about the blunted pay was "leaked" to the press almost two weeks after the "decision" was made, and that the prime minister appeared in person to discuss it at the press conference following the Jan. 25 government meeting. That's a gesture I don't remember having witnessed before. To put even more steam into the PR engine, the prime Minster has also announced that the government will reconsider the drug reimbursement policy of the Social Security Fund and plans to re-introduce free-of-charge dental treatment. Universal fees for dental treatment were introduced only a few month ago and were seen as a first step in reorganizing the bankrupt and wasteful social security system. Finance Minister Bokros did not hesitate to ensure the public that all this will not effect approved budget figures. Conclusion: fasten your seatbelts, the campaign is on ! * * * Tibor Vidos is a lobbyist and political consultant in charge of the Budapest office of GJW Government Relations. or A version of this article appeared in the Budapest Business Journal. ============ Correspondence This message comes from Akos Farkas in Caracas, Venezuela: I am interested in Hungary news, also genealogy research, listserv groups held in Hungary. I am 2nd generation of Hungarian Parents raised in Venezuela South America. I would like to communicate with anyone interested on this topics, via E-mail or regular mail directly at the address below. Akos Farkas P.O. Box 2633 Caracas 1010-A Venezuela South America E-mail: akos.farkas@ccxbbs.uunet.ve Any help Appreciated, thanks, Akos... =========== FINAL BLURB The Hungary Report is free to readers. To subscribe, send an email message to the following Internet address: hungary-report-request@hungary.yak.net containing (in the body of the message, not in the headers) the single word subscribe Conversely, to stop receiving Hungary Report, simply send to the same address (in the body of the message) the single word unsubscribe Please note: all mailing lists suffer from frequent "error" addresses. If we have problems with sending to your address more than one week in a row, we will remove you from the list. If you haven't received the report for more than one week, feel free to inquire directly to Steven Carlson (but please wait for at least a week, as we're also just famously late in getting the thing out sometimes : ) * * * Back issues of The Hungary Report are available on the World-Wide Web http://www.isys.hu/hrep/ and via FTP ftp://ftp.isys.hu/pub/hrep/ * * * The entire contents of The Hungary Report are copyrighted by the authors. Permission is granted for not-for-profit, electronic redistribution and storage of the material. If readers redistribute any part of The Hungary Report by itself, PLEASE RESPECT AUTHORS' BY-LINES and copyright notices. Reprinting and resale of the material is strictly prohibited without explicit prior consent by the authors. Please contact the authors directly by email to inquire about resale rights. * * * For information on becoming a corporate sponsor of The Hungary Report, contact Steve Carlson by email. Feedback is welcome. Rick E. Bruner, Creator <74774.2442@compuserve.com> Steven Carlson, Publisher Jennifer C. Brown, Co-editor Tibor Vidos, Parliament Watch Attila Beno, Magyar Net Watch * * * For its briefs, The Hungary Report regularly consults the news sources listed below -- for information about subscriptions, contact them by email: The Budapest Business Journal <100263.213@compuserve.com> & Budapest Sun <100275.456@compuserve.com> Budapest Week <100324.141@compuserve.com> Central Europe Today (free online) ================= END TRANSMISSION