Diplomacy & Trade 2018 April

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SPRING IS HERE FESTIVAL SEASON IN BUDAPEST THE BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL IS IN ITS 38TH YEAR. WE LOOK AT HOW IT HAS BECOME ONE OF CENTRAL EUROPE’S MOST IMPORTANT AND HIGHLY PRESTIGIOUS EVENT SERIES. SEE ARTICLE

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At the end of March, the audience in the Palace of Arts – Müpa in 18003 witnessed a world premiere as the world-renowned 18009Argentine Budapest tenor, conductor, and composer, José Cura presented his three most important oratorio pieces (Ecce homo, Magnificat 9 771558 980700 and Modus) at the 25th anniversary of the Salva Vita Foundation that provides services for the employment of people with disabilities. see article on page 25 18004

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Peter Freed PUBLISHER

AND DON’T FORGET

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Major renovations at Kempinski Hotel page 18-19 Corvinus Budapest

05 ON THE RECORD 06-07 COMPANY BRIEFS 08-17 DUTCH FOCUS

Interview with Ambassador René van Hell; Dutcham; HEINEKEN; Circular economy; Leeuwarden, EU Cultural Capital; KLM; Affidea; DBH Group; Irota EcoLodge 18-21 BUSINESS Interview with Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest General Manager Stefan Interthal; Italian Design Day; Veritas Winebar 22 ANALYSIS El Clásico: Spain vs. Catalonia 23 SOCIETY

Catalonia’s controversial independence movement

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25-26 CULTURE

The musical world of José Cura; Budapest Spring Festival 27 CINEMA Interview with French actress Léa Drucker 28-29 WHAT’S ON Concerts, festivals, events and exhibitions in and out of Budapest 30 WINE & GASTRONOMY VinCE Budapest 2018; Csaba Koch’s winning series; Sushi Sei 31 HOSPITALITY Hotel controlled by guests’ smartphones; MICE award for Corinthia Hotel Budapest

24 WITTYLEAKS by the Ambassador of Norway

PUBLISHER: Peter Freed EDITOR: Sándor Laczkó COPY EDITOR: Joyce Freed PHOTO EDITOR: Dávid Harangozó SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR: Tamás Varga DISTRIBUTION MANAGER: Tibor Ocsenás ADMINISTRATION: Judit Ludányi ASSISTANT: Ágnes Rapaport CONTRIBUTORS: Sándor Laczkó, Tamás Magyarics, Réka A. Francisck, Olav Berstad PHOTO CONTRIBUTORS: Noémi Bruzák/MTI (Cover), Pixabay.com, Shutterstock.com, Generalitat de Catalunya, DUIHK/Székelyhidi, Máté Czabán, Hungarian

RUSSIAN FOCUS - COMING SOON

Football Federation, HIPA, Péter Jekken/peterpress.com, Dutcham, Serge Koutchinsky, Ruben van Vliet/www.rubenvanvliet.nl, Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest, Olav Berstad, Dario Acosta, Armin Bardel, József Wágner Csapó, Szilvia Csibi, Live Nation, Borys Mikhailov, Natsprom (Oleg Tistol&Mykola Matsenko), Titanic Film Festival, Judit Horváth, Hungarian Publishers' and Booksellers' Association, Réka Bogdán, Andrés Jiménez, Regina Szodorai, VinCE Budapest Wine Show, Gábor Gyula Tóth/Heavenmanphotography, Designfood Antonio Photography, KViHotel, Attila Őzse/www.ozseattila.com, richard@ richardpowers.co.uk, Mihály Nagy, Lukas Holzmeier, Mariëtte Harms, Eveline Eijkhout, László Hajdú/www.fotohajdu.hu, Zsófia Pályi, BCSDH, MTI Photos: Noémi Bruzák, Zoltán Balogh, Szilárd Koszticsák, János Vajda, Zsolt Szigetváry, Lajos Soós, Zoltán Máthé, Zsolt Czeglédi, Csaba Krizsán

In the May issue of Diplomacy & Trade, the country in focus will be the Russian Federation where one of the most important holidays is Victory Day, on May 9. Relations with the Eurasian country date back to Soviet times and they are now “based on pragmatic and concrete aspirations and the respect of interests on both sides,” according to the Russian Ambassador to Hungary, Vladimir Sergeev, with whom there will be an extensive interview on political, economic and cultural relations. Trade volume between Hungary and Russia is on the increase, while investments are still modest given the possibilities. Sberbank and Rosatom have been in Hungary for many years and Aeroflot will add a 4th daily flight to its Moscow-Budapest route this July.

Copyright 2004-2017 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.

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DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, COURTESY PICTURE, GENERALITAT DE CATALUNYA, SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

One might say it is not every year that a world-class operatic tenor appears in Hungary but, in fact, that is the case. Argentine José Cura – who is considered the ‘4th tenor’ after Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras – has performed here once a year on average since 2000.

Diplomacy&Trade was glad to talk to the Maestro prior to a Budapest world premiere of his oratorios.

Our Focus country this April is the Netherlands, one of the major distribution and logistic centers in Europe and an important trading and investment partner for Hungary. The special section includes an extensive interview with Ambassador René van Hell that covers economic ties, cultural and civilian cooperation. We also talk to a former Dutch minister for the environment, the head of the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in Budapest and present a special compilation on Leeuwarden, the current European Capital of Culture.

This month, we have an extensive business section presenting an interview with the General Manager of Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest who is conducting major hotel renovations; the Italian Ambassador to Hungary speaking about the recent Italian Design Day where he was the ‘master of ceremony’; a sommelier champion who decided to open a wine bar in Budapest and an Italian-British economist who included Hungary in her road show.

As we go press, the former President of Catalonia awaits a German court’s decision on whether he will be extradited to Spain where he is wanted for ‘sedition’. Our international analyst looks at the autonomous region’s independence efforts.

Our culture pages present events of the Budapest Spring Festival and an interview with French actress Léa Drucker, while the WittyLeaks column is authored by the Ambassador of Norway, Olav Berstad, who details how many things he is burning in Hungary.

As we say goodbye to the long winter, we are all ready to enjoy Hungary’s beautiful spring and terrace culture. Our wine and gastronomy pages and program guides offer assistance in where to go and what to do.

Léa Drucker on her role in the new French movie on a custody battle

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NOÉMI BRUZÁK/MTI, DUIHK/SZÉKELYHIDI, MÁTÉ CZABÁN, HUNGARIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION, ZOLTÁN BALOGH/MTI

170TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARCH REVOLUTION

of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers from Gödöllő for the campaign project urging young people to become agricultural machinists.The awards were presented by the Patron of the Prize, Hungarian Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga, DUIHK President Dale A. Martin and the Vice President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tamás Bihall. Minister Varga said that his government wants to make the relationship between the vocal education training (VET) system and businesses closer than before. Dale A. Martin emphasized, in his speech, the importance of VET for the labor market. "Education is clearly one of the most important ways to tackle the skills shortage. It is not just about vocational training, but also about in-company training and higher education," he said.

In 1848, following several similar uprisings throughout Europe, people gathered in large numbers in Pest to demonstrate against Habsburg rule in Hungary and demanded independence for the country.

Later, these events escalated into a war of independence against the Austrian monarchy that had to ask for Russian help to crush the Hungarian movement. In recognition of this fight for independence, March 15 has been declared a national holiday in Hungary celebrated with rallies and speeches. As usual, this year’s celebrations started with the hoisting of the national flag in front of the Parliament building in the presence of President János Áder and Parliamentary speaker László Kövér, as well as several ministers, representatives of state and military organizations, the diplomatic corps, citizens and tourists. However, the rallies and speeches were largely dominated by issues political parties wanted to emphasize, due to the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that Hungarians need the very same seriousness and resolve that the forebears possessed 170 years ago as the nation confronts an international anti-democratic elite. He claimed that “in this election, there are national and democratic forces on the one side and international, anti-democratic forces on the other,” the latter supported by forces like the “Soros empire, that work against Hungary’s national interests” and support international migration, according to the PM. Gergely Karácsony, candidate for the post of prime minister by the leftist opposition stressed that those who want change in the country are a majority and after the election on April 8, they will build a Hungary where those in power serve the citizens of the country instead of fear, hatred and corruption. The leader of the rightist opposition Jobbik party, Gábor Vona said his party will concentrate on real democracy, having a wellfunctioning healthcare and social system, modern education, a just pension system, an EU-wide wage union and halting the emigration of Hungarians.

VODAFONE AND HUAWEI SUPPORT THE TRAINING OF ENGINEERS Hungarian State Secretary for education, László Palkovics, along with Vodafone Hungary and Huawei Technologies Hungary, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Óbuda University in Budapest. The memorandum expresses their intention to further promote the Institute of Communication Engineering at the University’s Kandó Kálmán Faculty of Electrical Engineering and support the practical education of students studying there.

Earlier this year, Vodafone Hungary and Huawei Technologies Hungary opened up a competition for students studying at the Institute of Communication Engineering of Óbuda University, under the heading ‘SmartCity opportunities on 5G mobile infrastructure’.

The results of the competition were announced at the professional day ‘Travel with us to the future’, which focused on the intertwining of 5th generation mobile networks and digital smart cities. The Technology Director at Vodafone Hungary, Amrita Gangotra explained that “the development of digital knowledge is a key objective, as future networks will be built by future generations. It’s in our shared interest to elevate the education of professionals to the highest possible standard in Hungary.” The creation of a 4G Lab at the University – along with dual training support – allows for a practice-oriented approach to further develop the essential skills required for future network engineers.

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HUNGARIAN BANKER BACK ON FORBES BILLIONAIRE LIST Forbes magazine has published its latest World’s Billionaires list that contains the world’s 2,208 wealthiest people, whose combined fortune is worth USD 9.1 thousand billion. This hard-toimagine sum is 18% more than it was a year before. Compared to last year, there are 259 new names on the list from 35 countries around the globe. One of them is Sándor Csányi, Hungary's first USD billionaire, whose company is one of the largest financialservices firms in Central and Eastern Europe. This year his fortune is estimated, by Forbes, to be USD 1.1 billion. An article in Forbes points out that Csányi’s OTP Bank acquired four banks in the Balkan region in 2017. He owns Bonafarm Group, now the largest vertically integrated agricultural and food conglomerate in Hungary. He is also a major shareholder the Hungary-based multinational oil and gas company, MOL Group. He is a member of the European Board of Directors for MasterCard, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of MOL Group as well as Co-Chairman of the Hungarian National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers (VOSZ). Forbes notes that Csányi’s Gránit Development sold the Arena Centar Zagreb [in 2016], the biggest shopping center in the capital of Croatia. It should also be noted that Sándor Csányi is the President of the Hungarian Soccer Federation and he has just been elected as one of the Vice Presidents of the international federation FIFA.

The German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DUIHK) has, for the fifth time, handed out its vocational training awards for outstanding projects in Hungary, in a festive ceremony this March. From among 39 applications, the jury selected two companies and one vocational school as winners in the three prize categories.

In the INNOVATION category, the award went to Penta Unió Co. Ltd. in Pécs for a mobile application in the vocational education of accountants; in the COOPERATION category, the winner was MuzixGroup Commercial Ltd., Budapest for the project ‘Awakening student interest in robotics’; while in the MOTIVATION category, the awardee was the Lukács Sándor Mechatronical and Mechanical Engineering Vocational School in Győr for the project ‘Challenging Learning’. The jury also awarded two special prizes: Elek Farkas (Rotekom) from Borsodnádasd for the project ‘Virtual Water Cycle’ and the Hungarian Association

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2018 HUNGARIAN FILM AWARDS ‘On Body and Soul’ won five prizes at the award ceremony of the 4th Hungarian Film Week held in the Budapest theater, Vígszínház. A romantic drama placed in a slaughterhouse, directed by Ildikó Enyedi, was named as Best Feature Film (produced by Mónika Mécs, András Muhi and Ernő Mesterházy) and recognized for Best Direction (Ildikó Enyedi), Best Screenplay (Ildikó Enyedi), Best Actress (Alexandra Borbély) and Best Supporting Actress (Réka Tenki – see pictured). The movie won the main prize of the Berlin Film Festival in 2017 and was shortlisted, in the best foreign language motion picture category, at the 2018 Oscars.

Award recipients, in all 23 categories, were chosen by the members of the Hungarian Film Academy who voted by secret ballot. Winners in other main categories included Péter Rudolf as Best Actor in the movie ‘1945’; István Znamenák as Best Supporting Actor in the movie ‘The Citizen’; Marcell Rév as Best Cinematographer for the movie ‘Jupiter’s Moon’, while the Best Editor award went to Zoltán Kovács for the movie ‘The Whiskey Bandit’.

The Best Documentary Film was ‘A Woman Captured’, directed by Bernadett Tuza-Ritter. Moviegoers also had their say: the Audience Award went to ‘Kincsem – Bet on Revenge’, directed by Gábor Herendi.

The contenders for the Hungarian Film Awards were picked at the Hungarian Film Week, held this year between February 8-11. The 2018 film week showed 131 films, all premiered in 2017, in five categories.

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­company briefs MVM TO BUILD HUNGARY'S LARGEST SOLAR POWER PLANT

of the country’s sole nuclear power plant. MEKH noted that solar power plants operate, on average, for 1,050-1,200 hours per year in Hungary, generate enough power for 250 households per half megawatt of capacity. In 2015, commercial power generation capacity, using renewable resources, stood at only 837 MW, according to MEKH. At the beginning of 2017, Hungary introduced a new system of feed-in tariffs for power generators that use renewable resources. Under this system, cost-based prices are paid for power generated using renewable resources, providing an incentive for investments in green energy.

Canadian-owned Linamar Hungary Co. Ltd. will create two hundred new jobs in provincial Hungary, at three locations, with an investment of HUF 8.64 billion (EUR 27.5 million), 119 in Orosháza, 71 in Békéscsaba and ten in Gyöngyös. This expansion mainly effects the lifting machinery production and the extension of automotive capacities. New technology and processes are to be established in Hungary, in addition to the increase in the production volume.

The Linamar Group operations include the fields of the manufacturing of automotive and mobile industrial equipment and of light, heavy and other vehicles. The principal activity of the Hungarian subsidiary is the production of accessories for road vehicles and vehicle engines in three divisions: products of the PPM division include high-precision axels of electric generators, accessories of feed systems, bracket-hangers of vehicles and power engines, compressor accessories, and wind farm accessories; the Oros division manufactures and distributes agricultural machinery and harvester adapters, among others; the LPD division specializes in precision metal works and the installation of sub-assemblies (vacuum pump manufacturing and installation, differential installation, pre-installation of turbocharger housing etc.).

The current expansion concerns the lifting machinery production and the extension of automotive capacities, affecting three premises: a total of 200 new jobs is to be created in Orosháza, Békéscsaba and Gyöngyös as a result of the expansion. The machinery production division of the Orosháza premises will be increased to include the manufacturing of basket lifters and self-propelled stages, the production of which require a wide range of production means and investment into a new manufacturing hall, to include: metal sheet working machinery, CNC laser cutting and flame cutting machinery, abrasive blasting and welding equipment, crane-ways, painting equipment, a complete new powder painting line, an automated powder painting cabin and the related chemical preconditioning line shall be purchased.

THYSSENKRUPP OPENS NEW FACTORY IN HUNGARY A new factory was opened by the automotive component and raw material supplier thyssenkrupp Component Technology with an investment exceeding EUR 100 million this March in Jászfényszaru, in eastern Hungary. The unit produces overhead camshafts and electro-mechanical power steering (developed in the company's competence center in Budapest) for the international auto industry.

Realized with the cooperation of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), the investment creates almost 450 new jobs.

The thyssenkrupp group has three subsidiaries and two branches in Hungary. Since 1999, they have been engaged in R&D activities in the Competence Centre in Budapest, to develop electric steering systems which use electric assistance instead of the traditional hydraulic system which continuously consumes energy.

As a result of such developments, highly qualified Hungarian engineers have become well-known and recognized in global automotive industry. thyssenkrupp also contributed to the increase of the production volume of the automotive industry in this country in 2017. It exceeded HUF eight billion by year, which is a 2.4% growth compared to 2016. Similarly, the revenue from the export of the automotive industry grew by 2.1%. It is also important to note that a total of 175,765 persons were employed by the automotive industry in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The firm’s steering business unit will be launched in the second half of this year, to manufacture electromechanical power steering (C-EPS type) for the international auto industry. These ‘smart’ steering systems use electromotive assistance instead of traditional hydraulic systems that constantly require energy, meaning that they only use energy when they actually turn the steering wheel, saving up to 0.3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers, depending on the type of car.

The main profile of the camshaft business unit involves the manufacture of overhead camshafts. These components are highly innovative and cost-efficient, since less raw material is used in their production, and they have lower power consumption and lower energy demands for their production, due to their reduced weight.

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BAKERY SECTOR PRODUCER ZALACO TRIPLES CAPACITY A significant player in Hungarian food industry, the Western Hungarian company of Zalaco expands with a greenfield investment in Zalaegerszeg. With plants in Ajka and Sopron, too, this company is an important representative of the domestic bakery sector as it produces several hundred types of products, more than 100 million product items altogether every year, for the Hungarian and regional markets. As a result of this investment, 150 new jobs are to be created in the county town of Zala. Founded a decade ago, Zalaco's principal activity is the manufacturing

(HIPA), this significant extension in Zala is justified due to limited production and storage capacities since the company distributes its products through its own retail network and reseller food chains (e.g., Lidl) as well. As a result of the greenfield project of EUR 13 billion, Zalaco builds a 150-sqm storage hall, and a 2,500-sqm new production floor. It means that the company triples its production capacity in Zalaegerszeg, extending its capacities for the manufacturing of pastry, bread and frozen pastry, in order to reliably satisfy the increased demand in the long-term.

HIPA says the whole food industry in Hungary is developing and strengthening dynamically which is well illustrated by the fact that the production value has continued to grow in recent years to exceed HUF 3,000 billion in 2017 which is a 6% increase compared to 2016.

of bread and fresh bakery products. Their product range is unique in Hungary as they distribute almost 400 bakery and confectionery products. In Zalaco's plant, seven million kg bread is baked and 50 million croissants and rolls and 40 million pastry products are produced every year. Additionally, a significant quantity of cakes and confectionery products are produced as well. The company established its first production complex in Zalaegerszeg in 2014. In the following year, the company opened its Ajka and Sopron plants.

According to the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency A P R I L

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LINAMAR DEVELOPS PRODUCTION AT ITS HUNGARIAN PREMISES

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The town of Felsőzsolca, in northeastern Hungary, has accepted the proposal of stateowned Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM), to build the largest solar power plant in the country, with installed capacity of 20 MW. MVM is planning to set up 74,000 solar panels stretching over 45 hectares of land. As the Hungarian news agency MTI quoted the regional daily Észak-Magyarország, the future plant, for which MVM has budgeted almost HUF 3.1 billion (some EUR 10 million), will supply electricity to over 11,000 households.

According to the Hungarian energy regulator (MEKH), commercial solar power capacity in Hungary is set to rise to 2,100 MW by the end of 2018, exceeding the capacity

­company briefs KIA SUPPLIERS’ DAY ATTENDED BY 12 HUNGARIAN COMPANIES

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HIPA, ZOLTÁN MÁTHÉ/MTI, ZSOLT CZEGLÉDI/MTI, CSABA KRIZSÁN/MTI

The Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) organized a suppliers' day for KIA with the participation of 12 Hungarian companies. The purchasers of the Korean giant's Slovakian plant were able to get acquainted with major suppliers of the Hungarian vehicle industry during the one-day event that provided an opportunity for several Hungarian companies to become part of the suppliers' chain of the Hyundai-KIA Group in the future.

Vehicle manufacturing goes back several decades in Hungary and in recent years, it has developed into a flagship industry of the national economy, which is well demonstrated by the investments managed by HIPA: out of the 96 positive investor decisions made in 2017, 36 were linked to this branch of the industry. The advanced supplier infrastructure, the proximity of the would-be suppliers and the high quality of the products and services offered by them play an important role in the investors' positive decisions.

In addition to fully serving the needs of large foreign investors, a toppriority aim of HIPA is to increase the role of Hungarian SMEs engaged in supply and channel them into the value chain of foreign companies so that they can gain as large a role in increasing the Hungarian value portion as possible. All this has special importance, given that the large companies of the vehicle industry require more and more from their suppliers, to undertake a larger part in the development processes. In order to promote and facilitate this, HIPA provides supplier trainings, professional advice and an intermediary assistance free of charge for Hungarian companies.

According to HIPA, KIA's Suppliers' Day was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that Hungarian supplier companies produce components and spare parts at a high quality standard that stand their ground, in an ever sharpening international competition and even in the most dynamically developing environment.

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS TO BUILD NEW OFFICE IN DEBRECEN

ARCONIC EXPANDS IN SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR Arconic Wheel and Transportation Products, producer of Alcoa Wheels and a key global actor that serves the commercial transportation and city bus market with a range of fully forged aluminum wheels, announced another expansion in Hungary to double the capacities of its Székesfehérvár plant, which is the European center of the wheel product division. This new greenfield investment is aimed at the high quality and high added-value manufacturing of wheels of heavy duty vehicles.

Arconic's predecessor, Alcoa divided its activities in 2016 and assigned the portfolio characterized by a higher added value and innovation (air transport, automotive industry, military industry, transportation, industrial solutions, building industry, energetics) to Arconic, while Alcoa kept the traditional aluminum industry portfolio and energy division (alumina, bauxite, cast products).

Arconic and Alcoa both have subsidiaries in Hungary. The European center of the wheel product division of Arconic, which is affected by this investment in Székesfehérvár, is part of Arconic-Köfém Ltd. As a result of this greenfield investment of EUR 107 million, which is supported by a development tax advantage, Arconic will build a new manufacturing hall of 17,000 square meters on a plot of more than 53,000 square meters in the Székesfehérvár industrial park. The installation of new production lines will increase the capacities of the Székesfehérvár wheel plant. Manufacturing is projected to start at the end of 2019 with 200 new jobs.

According to the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), the project aims to double the production capacities of the Arconic Wheels business, due to a growth in demand from European and global markets. Forecasts predict that global sales of commercial vehicle wheels manufactured by the Arconic group are expected to grow by 71% by 2022, since the regulatory framework still provides a favorable environment for the aluminum market. Revenues from capacity expansion may exceed USD 100 million annually by 2023. The first stage of the investment project started in 2014 when the production of titanium-covered screws was located to Nemesvámos, W Hungary.

US-based National Instruments (NI) will expand its presence in Debrecen. The building of the new office block is necessary due to staff numbers growing, as a result of simultaneous investments announced in October 2016. Building ‘D’ will provide 250 employees with a high-quality workplace when it opens at the end of 2019. In the next two years, the corporation plans developments worth more than HUF 6.1 billion, half of which is building-related investments.

The corporation offers, prepares and tests hardware and software solutions and full portfolios to its clients in several areas, from healthcare through particle physics to the energy sector. Additionally, they supply to the automotive industry, the military, the aircraft industry, the industrial machinery sector and companies using wireless solutions.

With offices in more than 50 countries globally, the corporation is part of the NASDAQ index. Its price revenue was USD 1.29 billion, and the number of employees was close to 7,500 throughout the world in 2017.

The first overseas production base of NI was opened in Debrecen, mainly for high added value manufacturing of electronic products. As a result of developments implemented over the past fifteen years, a significant part of the full hardware production of the corporation is located in Debrecen and the overwhelming majority of its high added value products are exported. The price revenue of the Hungarian subsidiary, which employs almost 1,500 persons, exceeded USD 600 million in 2017.

A new production plant will also be built creating 60 new jobs mainly for engineers. Worth HUF 2.2 billion, the investment allows for the expansion of the regional service center creating 150 new positions of high added value. Employees will work in high added value positions in engineering and IT R&D areas; almost 95% of whom have higher education qualifications and are proficient in English and other foreign languages.

BATTERY PLANT CONSTRUCTION BEGINS IN KOMÁROM South Korea’s third largest company SK Innovation will build a plant to manufacture batteries, for use in electric cars, in the industrial park in Komárom, with an investment worth HUF 97.5 billion. According to the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, who spoke at the ceremony launching the construction works, the factory will create 410 jobs in the first phase of operation. The Hungarian government will pay HUF 8.17 billion towards the project, over 8% of the costs, as a non-repayable grant.

The Hungarian news agency MTI quotes Yoon Ye-sun, chief of SK Innovation’s Battery and Information/Electronics Division, as saying that the plant, construction of which was announced in November 2017, will operate on a floor space of 430,000 square meters. SK Battery Hungary will produce state-of-the-art lithiumion batteries for fully electric, plug-in and hybrid vehicles, on two production lines. They will start mass production in 2020 when the capacity of the batteries manufactured will be around 7.5GWh, able to serve 250,000 cars. They will launch the second phase of construction, subject to their order portfolio, with the same capacity as the first. The company already has a battery plant using effectively the same technology in the city of Seosan in South Korea.

The company is seeking to break into the European market with this project in Komárom. At the ceremony, organized to mark the launch of the construction, the representatives of BMW, Daimler-Benz, Ferrari, Hyundai and Renault were greeted specifically. With the appearance of SK Innovation, three South Korean companies will be making batteries for electric cars in Central and Eastern Europe. LG Chem will open a plant in Poland in 2018; this is an investment worth more than HUF 400 million. And, Samsung SDI recently opened its plant in Göd which was built from an investment of HUF 100 billion and employs 600 people. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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MAKING THE BEST USE OF DUTCHHUNGARIAN COOPERATION INTERVIEW WITH RENÉ VAN HELL, DUTCH AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY

Bilateral business ties The Ambassador considers economic relations between the Netherlands and Hungary “really healthy,” pointing out that “trade between the two countries is increasing, which is a great development.” (see BOX) He says that “there is leeway for improvement in that we export more to Hungary than Hungary exports to us, so, I think it would really be healthy if Hungary could increase its exports to the Netherlands. A lot of countries are interested in export promotion but the Netherlands is also interested in import promotion because if there are countries able to export something to you, it probably means that they are doing something better than companies in your own country. I believe the sectors where there is real chance for improvement are life sciences and healthcare. The good news is that Hungary is getting richer and when people are

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the Netherlands was a country with a lot of cartels and the central government weighed very heavily on the economy. Then started a reform of deregulation and a reform in the government to make the business climate more SME-friendly and this began to help the country grow again much faster. Now, we are in the top chart of the EU because we created leeway for entrepreneurship. I think it will be interesting to see how that will develop here in Hungary. So, during my tenure, I hope that I will also be able to play a part in a very positive entrepreneurship agenda. It requires that entrepreneurs can enter a transparent market and that government behavior is predictable. A changing mindset is needed so that many more Hungarians realize – as did people in the Netherlands – they can take

their agricultural experience. I see a lot of ambition in research institutes, universities and foundations to further improve productivity of Hungarian agriculture and I believe both the Netherlands and Hungary can be instrumental in helping other countries, as well.”

Parallels As an economist by trade, Ambassador van Hell finds it important to mention a slight parallel between the economic history of the Netherlands and Hungary. “Although, on a much smaller scale than what Hungary has gone through since 1989, the Netherlands also experienced quite an economic transition in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Before that, people did not have much entrepreneurial spirit since A P R I L

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René van Hell presented his credentials to Hungarian President János Áder in October, 2017. He tells Diplomacy&Trade that “first and foremost what makes relations between the Netherlands and Hungary so unique is that we are sovereign nations and part of the European Union. So, my main task from the Dutch cabinet is to make the most use of our cooperation in the European Union. As far as economy is concerned, I believe it is kind of remarkable if you look at the exports from Holland to Hungary: the figure is just as large as that of our exports to Brazil, which is a much bigger country – that says a lot about the proximity of the Netherlands and Hungary. My basic focus is to make the best out of the fact that we are both part of the EU and take into account that Hungary has only been a member of the EU since 2004 while the Netherlands has been a member since the beginning (1951).

getting richer they want better health, they want better healthcare – so, that is a growth market. In Holland, we have achieved quite a bit in pushing down the mortality rate, especially with regard to heart and vascular diseases, which are a significant cause of death in Hungary.” The other area he mentions as “obvious candidates” for improvement in bilateral cooperation are water management and agriculture. “Hungary is in the Carpathian basin and Holland is in a sort of basin, as well, what we call a delta. As for doing things together in agriculture, I don’t have to remind the readers that the world's population is growing, and according to studies of demography, there might be an extra 2.5 billion people in Africa in the decades to come - it is, of course, an incredible challenge. One of the things that both Hungary and the Netherlands want is that those people stay in their homeland and have a good existence in their own country. If they have that, they would have every reason to stay in Africa but it is vital that they have food and other necessities. We believe that both the Netherlands and Hungary can work on that together and pass on

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dutch focus responsible business conduct and due diligence within their organization, do business that is respectful of human rights and of the environment.

There is research that shows that companies who are really doing this are also the ones who are financially sustainable. We have a ‘CSR passport’ that we always distribute and it sort of highlights what we think is important. You are not supposed to use CSR as a simple marketing tool because you will fall flat on your face, at the end of the day.”

Cultural ties

care of their own fate and become entrepreneurs themselves by setting up their own business.

Or when employed, behave more like an entrepreneur and risk taker. It is because, at the end of the day, if the wish is to build a knowledge-based economy in Hungary, this behavior is key.”

Dutch presence The Ambassador points out that there are about 800-900 companies in Hungary with headquarters in the Netherlands and, “according to my experience, 95% of the people who work at these firms are Hungarians. For instance, Philips Lighting has a large production facility in the town of Tamási, hundreds of people work there and not one of them is Dutch, all of them Hungarian.

If you go to Topdesk here in Budapest, it is one of the exceptions because a few Dutch people actually work there. Having said that, I still think that because of the quality of life in Hungary, the relatively nice weather here and the skilled labor force, we are still seeing possibilities for people moving to Hungary and strengthening the bilateral

TRADE FACTS

• In 2017, exports from the Netherlands to Hungary amounted to EUR 3,462,506; • exports from Hungary to the Netherlands were EUR 2,348,987, resulting in a trade balance of EUR 1,113,519 (source: 1/3 CBS.Netherlands/statline).

• Included in the above figures, as examples, are exports to Hungary of food (valued at EUR 326,748); machines and vehicles (EUR 1,593,847); chemical products (EUR 682,620), while an example for Dutch imports from Hungary is food (worth EUR 140,490).

• The (cumulative) Dutch FDI stock in Hungary is EUR 12.8 billion.

economic relations. In agriculture, if you look at husbandry and horticulture, those are the sectors where we can work together more.

Basically, all well-known Dutch multinationals have invested in Hungary and they are still here with the exception of ABN Amro Bank. I find it really interesting – and it is also important for our economy – that a lot of Dutch SMEs have invested here. Dutch SMEs are mostly family-owned, like PCE-Pellet Consumables Europe in Székesfehérvár, Agrifirm in Kaba and Leolux in Szolnok.

Responsible business conduct Dutch companies are very active in their social responsibility (CSR) programs. René van Hell stresses that, “indeed, CSR is important for Dutch people because we produce a lot of things and thus, we have quite a large footprint on the environment that we want to reduce. We are committed to the Paris agreement, committed to our climate change goals and we realized that as a very rich country, we use a lot of resources and we want other countries to be just as rich and help them in their efforts to be rich. We are aware that what we consume is not sustainable enough and that is why the whole idea of circular economy is so important for us. We wish to contribute to easing the burden on the global environment.”

He adds that Dutch companies that do international business must adhere to the OECD guidelines for multinational companies. “We call that responsible business conduct. We have seen, unfortunately, in the past, that what some companies called a corporate social responsibility program was just a matter of greenwashing and/or a simple marketing tool. What we encourage companies to do is show

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FACTS COMPARED AREA country comparison to the world POPULATION country comparison to the world POPULATION GROWTH RATE country comparison to the world BIRTH RATE country comparison to the world LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH country comparison to the world NET MIGRATION RATE country comparison to the world GDP - PER CAPITA (PPP) country comparison to the world UNEMPLOYMENT RATE country comparison to the world TELEPHONES - MOBILE/CELLULAR country comparison to the world AIRPORTS country comparison to the world

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The Ambassador highlights that healthy cultural relations between the Netherlands and Hungary date back to times before the end of communism in Hungary, in the late 1980s. “There are a lot of things to be enjoyed here in Hungary. You have beautiful traditions in music, you have great music schools and the country also has great heritage in literature and architecture. What we see now, in the Schengen zone without borders of the European Union, is that people are really using this opportunity. The Royal Dutch Embassy has a cultural newsletter, which shows how many things are going on here in Hungary with the participation of Dutch people: orchestras, architects, artists.

Just an example: the other day, I participated in the opening of the Budapest architecture film days, which is based on an idea that we had in Rotterdam. Also, there’s a ship on the Danube in Budapest, the A38, with a lot of the Dutch Hungarian cultural exchange.”

Speaking of his experience of the half year of his term in Hungary, Ambassador van Hell notes that “the weather is somewhat better and the wine is much better here in Hungary than in Holland. After six months of being here, I have noticed that there is so much to discover in Budapest. I really love the Music Academy and the Palace of Arts. I must say that my life as ambassador here is somewhat easier than I thought because – and I really like this – Hungarians oftentimes go to the trouble to provide translation for conferences and literary performances. As for the countryside, I have been to Irota, in north Eastern Hungary, where Dutch people have set up their business, a lodge for tourists. But I have also been to Debrecen, Nyírbátor, Pécs, Veszprém and many other places. My first vacation outside Hungary will be in Transylvania, a historically Hungarian region in Romania where I would like to visit ethnic Hungarians who live there.”

HUNGARY

THE NETHERLANDS

93,028 sq km 111 9,850,845 (July 2017 est.)

92 -0.25% (2017 est.)

214 9 births/1,000 population 205 76.1 years 91 1.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population 54 $28,900 (2017 est.)

69 4.4% (2017 est.)

59 11,779,908 78 41 (2013) 104

41,543 sq km 135 17,084,719 (July 2017 est.)

66 0.39% (2017 est.)

164 10.9 births/1,000 population (2017 est.)

182 81.4 years 25 1.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.)

49 USD 53,600 (2017 est.)

22 5.1% (2017 est.)

70 21,941,981 55 29 (2013) 120

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MEMBER-TO-MEMBER APPROACH DUTCH-HUNGARIAN CHAMBER BELIEVES IN QUALITY CONTACTS

releases, announcements, etc. via its online marketing channels.”

A bi-directional chamber

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Dedicated workshops In addition to networking, the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in Budapest also organizes dedicated workshops.

As to what topics these cover and which ones are the most popular with Dutcham members, the President highlights that “we always draft the annual events

calendar in a way that, besides the regular business subjects (HR, taxation, legislative changes, etc.), we also elaborate on actual hot topics – like Digital Business Transformation and GDPR, to name the most recent ones. Because we have numerous companies from different sectors, we have a great amount of know-how; we organize

Improving interactions In Budapest, companies and individuals have a lot of options if they wish to join a bilateral chamber.

When asked about the attractiveness of the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in the eyes of its members, Lóránt Kibédi Varga says that “at Dutcham, we believe in the quality and not quantity of the contacts. We are not the largest chamber, but we invest the most in improving interactions. This is what our members also tell us via our annual surveys. The Dutcham also contributes to this information flow by sharing members’ news, press

CHARITY AND CSR According to its 2017 annual report, Dutcham has been supporting St. Miklós Primary School, EGYMI, College and Children's Home in Budapest for more than 10 years now. The institution educates children with special educational needs (learning disabilities and integrated trainable mentally handicapped and autistic) in school grades 1-8, the children above this age attend 3rd party institutions for secondary studies. They put a special emphasis on music and performing arts as part of the education program.

“Our charity action in 2017 broke records with the in-kind and financial donations. As a result, we were able to provide the school with furniture, PCs, books, toys and clothes. We wish to highlight CBRE, Business Lease and Tebodin for their active contribution. Moreover, Dutcham and CBRE together supported the foundation of the school with 500,000 HUF. The management’s and the staff’s motivation, care and commitment to these children always makes a deep impression on us,” the report says.

As regards the objectives of the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in Budapest, it will continue to support initiatives in the field of charity as well as organize community events. “Our general goal is to find niche areas where our long-term contribution really makes an impact and shows our dedication towards the project. In line with this aim we plan to continue supporting Szent Miklós Primary School and Children’s Home in Budapest in 2018 and hope to get your contribution as well.” They also wish to eliminate the waste generated at their events and find a partner with whom they can officially distribute the leftover food for those in need.

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Lóránt Kibédi Varga (pictured on the right with Dutch Ambassador René van Hell on the left) has been the President of Dutcham for more than two years. Speaking about his objectives as President, he tells Diplomacy&Trade that “I worked on the board of the organization for almost ten years before I was elected chairman, so, I already had a deep understanding of the needs of our members. Bearing this in mind, my goal was to refresh and strengthen what we had been good at before.” He adds that since Dutcham’s establishment, Hungary has welcomed a multitude of expats who changed the corporate climate and the role of Dutcham as an organization. The main role has shifted towards advocating for and facilitating local business.

“Considering these changes, Dutcham has developed and successfully implemented a ‘member-tomember’ approach. This new and innovative facilitation of networking improves the member experience.”

these business events to exchange knowledge and accommodate others in the given subject.”

photos by PÉTER

Established in 2002, the Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in Budapest (Dutcham) is a self-financed business association, in active co-operation with the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Budapest and the Embassy of Hungary in The Hague. Dutcham‘s goal is to create a hub for knowledge sharing and networking via the active organization of events to network, share best practices and acquire information on recent changes in legislation. In addition to informal networking activities, the chamber organizes on-topic seminars in legal, financial, tax, HR/leadership, real estate and logistics.

The Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce in Budapest does not only help Dutch companies in Hungary, but also Hungarian companies in the Netherlands.

Speaking about this approach that is not typical of other chambers, the Dutcham President says “the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Budapest supports our goals in great way, as they also see the importance of the business hub we have established throughout the years. We create synergies through our services and to create a true value for Dutch companies doing business in Hungary. As an example, our joint presence at the Dutch Business Day events at multiple countryside locations also reflects this partnership.” The Dutcham also works closely with the Hungarian Embassy in The Hague, as according to the President “we feel the importance of providing full service, in this sense, to our members and business partners.

We often have requests from companies on various matters and we usually facilitate the communication towards our member companies or one of the embassies. For instance, Hungarian companies turn to us in case they have a financial dispute with a Dutch venture. In such cases, we are able to suggest lawyers who speak Dutch or connect them with the Hungarian Embassy in The Hague, who helps to resolve the issue.”

As regards the future of Dutcham, Lóránt Kibédi Varga stresses that their plan is to secure the smooth operation of the chamber long term by engaging current members and attracting new companies who wish to ‘Keep in touch with the Dutch’.

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HEINEKEN CALLS FOR RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT

HEINEKEN Hungária has invested EUR six million (close to HUF two billion) to increase the capacities of its Sopron brewery.

Diplomacy&Trade talks to the Managing Director of the company, José Matthijsse about this investment and the importance of brewing traditions, that of responsible alcohol consumption and reducing the carbon footprint in beer production.

“HEINEKEN Hungária’s EUR six million investment is one of the biggest we have ever made in the Sopron Brewery. We had some packaging capacity there that had not been used recently. Last year, our portfolio changed towards one that is much better suited to the Sopron facility than the other one we have in Hungary (in Martfű). So, we decided to turn our Martfű site into a logistics and distribution facility and absorb its capacity in the Sopron facilities,” the Managing Director points out. She adds that, at the same time, they decided to modernize the Sopron brewery as well as give it a lot more flexibility because “we see a change in consumer demand coming up: a lot more varieties of beer are in demand which is why we are also doing some structural work in Sopron. We are talking about extra fermentation capacity; tearing down some old buildings to create logistics space. We are also cleaning up a little bit in terms of work safety and food safety – new regulations have come into force with which we want to be fully up-to-date. For instance, we had a social building, including changing rooms, etc. for our staff but it was not

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right at the entrance of our facilities so the whole restructuring of the building gives us the opportunity to change those kinds of layouts, as well. All this makes Sopron a strategic brewery in the region. We see an increased demand in Soproni beer. The town is quite nicely located for exports to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy as well as to Slovenia and Croatia – it is a logical location.”

Attention, knowledge and experience The Sopron Brewery is 123 years old.

José Matthijsse stresses that a long history is very important in brewing.

“It is because brewing remains a really traditional occupation, brewing is an art – exercised with natural ingredients. One important element is, of course, the local water quality but it is also the hops that we use that vary from year to year, from harvest to harvest. There is, of course, live yeast used, which is basically a living organism and as such, it might behave differently every time we have a new brew. However, we want to keep a constant quality, especially considering the fact that the Sopron brewery is also brewing HEINEKEN beer, which has the same quality all over the world.

That means that the brewer, with all the knowledge he has and all the experience that he has accumulated over many years, has to produce – every time he has new raw materials – the same standard quality of a good lager or any other beer of the typical brand. It is a production process, like making cheese or baking bread, that requires full attention, knowledge and experience. It is nice to have that experience in the Sopron Brewery and we see, throughout the world, that breweries with long lasting experience and history and tradition create better beers than breweries without that.

The history of the Sopron Brewery is a good match with that of HEINEKEN,

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which itself is 125 years old, so, it is more or less from the same era.”

Enjoying beer, not abusing it HEINEKEN is a big supporter of festivals, like VOLT and Balaton Sound in Hungary, and of international sports events like the football Champions League and the Formula One car race, to promote moderate drinking of alcohol – or drinking 0% alcohol products. As José Matthijsse explains, “in our industry, we find it important that people enjoy our beers but enjoying beer is different from abusing beer. Enjoying the drink responsibly is up to every consumer but we try to remind them of this, once in a while.

So much so, that in 2017, 10% of all marketing budget of HEINEKEN has gone to fund responsible consumption campaigns. I believe it is positively received by our consumers. They understand it and we do it purposefully, with our biggest brand, which is also the name of our company known worldwide. Responsible consumption is in the interests of all. If you go to a festival to have a great time it is perhaps not so fantastic to have a hangover the next day because you drank too much alcohol. It is now 2 0 1 8

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BREWING EXPERIENCE AND INNOVATION

a trend that people lead busy lives and they do not always want to drink alcohol – that is where non-alcoholic beer plays a role. That is why we launched HEINEKEN 0.0 last year and we are very happy with the results, so far. It definitely serves a need and it definitely fits certain occasions. It is a fantastic beer, so, it is really something that we can be proud of. We see the same trend with radlers and the Natur Zitrone products. There still is a good market for products with 2% alcohol content but the 0% products are growing much faster.

Again, that shows that there are people who are consciously consuming less alcohol. There is also less sugar in two of the three varieties of Natur Zitrone, so, it also serves health conscious customers.

Fresh minds provide fresh ideas In its latest campaign, HEINEKEN asks youngsters for ideas how it could further reduce its carbon footprint. “Ten years ago, we started reducing the carbon footprint in our breweries, reducing the amount of water and of thermal energy used.

We have achieved fantastic results in this field. In Hungary, where we are close to achieving our 2020 goals, we look forward to more opportunities especially in this field. Our environment is under pressure and many people are aware that human beings have an impact on the environment. Now, we have reached out to young students to see what they think we should be doing better, obviously with the aim of putting the best ideas into practice. Indeed, young minds have more inspiring ideas than those who have been looking at this problem for years. So, we are tapping into that inspiration and the bright Hungarian brains to see if our products could make a less burdening footprint on the environment,” the Managing Director concludes.

HARANGOZÓ, LÁSZLÓ HAJDÚ/WWW.FOTOHAJDU.HU

Apart from experience, HEINEKEN also focuses on innovation, which has led to their beers becoming a benchmark of quality in many other countries.

The Managing Director highlights that innovation is the name of the game as consumers are exploring whatever is available in the world and they demand evermore variety and specialties. “We like that actually, we embrace that innovation. I think our technology and marketing people also like that because they enjoy finding out what consumers are looking for and trying to match that with a good product. So, we have quite a variety in our product range right now. Last year, we introduced the fantastic beer ‘Soproni IPA’ under the line extension of ‘Óvatos Duhaj’ (Cautious Gambler). This has proven to be a top hit for us and this is something we are definitely going to continue in 2018. We also made Soproni Demon part of the ‘Óvatos Duhaj’ family and, because it goes very well with Soproni IPA, they now have the same design. Demon was already a successful line extension of the classic beer. On the side of the Soproni lager, we have Soproni radlers, as well.

They always come with true Hungarian taste pallets and taste profiles. Soproni elderflower and sour cherry radlers have 100% elderflower and sour cherry sourcing from Hungary. So, these varietals do not only taste Hungarian but they are Hungarian.

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FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE PLANET FORMER DUTCH MINISTER DISCUSSES CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN BUDAPEST The Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Budapest organize a BCSDH Business Breakfast and the Action 2020 Forum on sustainable lifestyle this April. The keynote speaker of the Business Breakfast is Prof. Jacqueline Cramer, former Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment minister who – in addition to several other positions – functions as the Ambassador of Circular Economy for the Metropole region Amsterdam.

In a run-up to the April 25 event, Professor Cramer explains to Diplomacy&Trade why circular economy is such a ‘hot topic’ in her country. “The Netherlands is a small country, very industrialized and densely populated. In the early 1980s, we were faced with enormous soil pollution caused by landfills, which triggered a switch to incineration, recycling and reuse. Due to this history, we are keen to move from a linear to a circular economy.

In the first half of 2016, one of the priorities of the Dutch EU Presidency

was the propagation of circular economy. The professor justifies this by saying that the Netherlands was already active in the circular economy, “we wanted to exchange experiences and knowledge and propagate the fast implementation of circular initiatives.”

Over a year ago, the Royal Dutch Embassy in Budapest had a successful conference on circular economy, and the then Ambassador, Gajus Scheltema stressed that the transition from a linear to a circular economy will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Professor Cramer agrees:

professor points out that she hopes to motivate people to join concrete circular initiatives. “By starting projects it becomes evident that the transition towards a circular economy can be made and that it offers many benefits for the people, the planet and the economy.” As an example, she mentions that the main subject of that Budapest conference, was sustainable agriculture. She highlights that achieving the best results in this field for the circular economy is “by closing the loops of energy, water and resources. That way, the agricultural sector can become sustainable.”

Science can provide significant contributions to the circular economy. Highlighting its importance, Professor Cramer stresses that “science plays a crucial role in the transition towards a circular economy. We cannot rely on existing technology but have to innovate.”

“Indeed, it will be. However, there are and will be some major obstacles like vested interests in the linear economy, lack of coordination to set up joint circular initiatives, legal problems, focus on existing business models or the lack of willingness to change and technical problems.

Nonetheless, these problems can be overcome as I will show on the basis of the experiences in the Metropolitan Area of Amsterdam.”

As to how she hopes to convince people and change their mindset in favor of the circular economy, the

LEEUWARDEN, THE OPEN COMMUNITY

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OF BCSDH, SERGE KOUTCHINSKY, RUBEN VAN VLIET/WWW.RUBENVANVLIET.NL

HISTORIC DUTCH CITY IS EUROPE’S CULTURAL CAPITAL IN 2018 From January 1, 2018, Leeuwarden (in the Netherlands) and Valletta (in Malta) are holding the titles of European Capitals of Culture for one year. In Leeuwarden, celebrations kicked off, in late January, with artistic installations and performances by professional and amateur artists across the city and with museums opening their doors to visitors throughout the Friesland region.

With the concept of ’iepen mienskip’ (open community) at the center of its program, Leeuwarden aims to strengthen and connect communities from across the Friesland region and Europe, with more than 800 projects involving music, theater, landscape art, opera, and sport taking place throughout the year. An exhibition by Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, an opera about Mata Hari, an event with Frisian horsebreeders, and grassroots projects such as European sports for all are just a few of the many projects that contribute to raising awareness and increasing understanding of cultural differences. For example, a children’s festival and workshops are w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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and ropes in order to move the feet forward. The organizers promise this will truly be a memorable spectacle.

Fossil-free Friesland dedicated – as a homage – to Leeuwarden’s 16th century mayor Adje Lambertsz who, according to tradition, once introduced the first freedom festival for children.

tower over office buildings! Over the course of three days, these aweinspiring, fifteen-meter Giants will walk the streets of Leeuwarden. Hundreds

Giants on the streets The most spectacular event is likely to be the march of the Giants of Royal de Luxe: a mega theater for young and old in August (see picture) – ‘colossal, beautiful and extremely impressive’, as the website of the Leeuwarden cultural capital project calls them. The street theater company Royal de Luxe and their iconic Giants will come to Leeuwarden, all the way from France.

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THE CONNECTION WITH VALLETTA… …will be sought out in many Frisian projects in 2018. These include the Poetic Potatoes project – a multilingual poetry collection with poems by Maltese and Frisian poets, and the cooperation of students from D'Drive of the Friesland College and the Maltese MCast who will help with the production of Opera Spanga’s Aida. In 2018, this opera will be performed in Friesland and in the Teatre Rjul in Valletta. Maltese children and children from Leeuwarden will participate together in the film project Look@Me, and the Maltese director and choreographer Ruben Zahra will put together a real children’s opera with pupils from the Atrium in Sneek and schools from Leeuwarden.

‘Explore the North’ will also get a touch of Malta, with the unique sound experience of Quintessence.

Leeuwarden and Valletta are also going for a record attempt: in the summer of 2018, both Capitals of Culture want to break the record for making the world’s largest crochet blanket together.

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In such an environment-conscious country as the Netherlands, a European Cultural Capital project is unimaginable without an element of sustainability. The organizers intend to prove that it is possible to live and work in Friesland without fossil fuels.

As they put it, “Friesland has hundreds of energy initiatives. From energy-neutral homes and fossil fuel-free festivals, to energy projects at schools and, of course, the fifty cooperatives that generate energy in their own villages. We shine the spotlight on these initiatives in 2018 and show that even more is possible.

With the largest solar boat race ever, for example. Or a two-week Elfwegentocht where all the Frisians are challenged to travel without using fossil fuels.

And that's just the beginning...”

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TULIP SEASON COMING UP 77% OF THE WORLD’S TULIP BULBS ORIGINATE FROM THE NETHERLANDS

TULIP MANIA

In the early 17th century, tulips were a newish luxury product in a country rapidly expanding its wealth and trade networks. Many more people could afford luxuries – and tulips were seen as beautiful, exotic and redolent of the good taste and learning displayed by well-educated members of the merchant class. Many of those who bought tulips also bought paintings or collected rarities like shells. Prices rose because tulips were hard to cultivate in a way that brought out the popular striped or speckled petals, and they were still rare. However, as the British paper ‘The Independent’ points out, it was not irrational to pay a high price for something that was generally considered valuable, and for which the next person might pay even more. The author of the article is of the view that tulip mania was not a frenzy, either. In fact, for much of the period, trading was relatively calm, located in taverns and neighborhoods rather than on the stock exchange. Trade also became increasingly organized, with companies set up in various towns to grow, buy, and sell, and committees of experts emerged to oversee the trade. Tulip mania reached its peak during the winter of 1636–37, when some bulbs were reportedly changing hands ten times in a day. No deliveries were ever made to fulfil any of these contracts, because in February 1637, tulip bulb contract prices collapsed abruptly and the trade of tulips came to a halt. The collapse began in Haarlem, when, for the first time, buyers apparently refused to show up at a routine bulb auction. This may have been because Haarlem was then at the height of an outbreak of bubonic plague. The existence of the plague may have helped create a culture of fatalistic risk-taking that allowed the speculation to skyrocket in the first place; this outbreak might also have helped to burst the bubble.

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From Inner Asia Although, tulips are closely associated with the Netherlands, it is not a native Dutch flower. Scientists say that Inner Asia is the most important gene center of the plant.

Europeans first saw tulips in Turkey.

Credit for this ‘discovery’ goes back to a 16th century Flemish writer, herbalist and diplomat named Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq who witnessed blooming tulips growing in the gardens of Adrianople and Constantinople while he served as the Austrian ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The Ambassador was an avid collector, acquiring

A Dutch flower Tulips are still associated with the Netherlands, and the cultivated forms of the tulip are often called ‘Dutch tulips’. Tulips and tulip bulbs remain a popular gift, available for purchase even at Schiphol Airport, as a last-minute gift.

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While the single-color breeds are the most common, the multi-colored ones are still available, although, now they are the result from breeding selection for genetic mutation rather than virus. Despite their early ups and down, the popularity of tulips in the Netherlands remains undiminished.

Without soil and generating power As it is pointed out at urbangardensweb.com, tulips can be cultivated without soil, by using hydroponics, a method whereby plants grow in a nutrient-enriched solution that does not require the use of chemicals. Growing the resilient tulip this way uses less heat and fewer resources, making it easier to produce every year and enabling growers to meet an increased demand for the flower. The tulip’s popularity has led the Dutch to build some of the largest greenhouses in the world, as they constantly seek ways of increasing the yield using the least amount of resources while at the same time minimizing the effect on the environment.

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and supplying 10% of the country’s energy needs. Growers use these same advanced greenhouse technologies to cross-breed and experiment with different flower varieties, a practice that sometimes results in new species which they export to the rest of the world.

A total of 77% of all the world’s flower bulbs originate from the Netherlands. By current estimates, nine out of ten tulips are exported from the Netherlands. This massive flower market comprises roughly 10% of the Netherlands’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

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SZMURLO, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, PIXABAY.COM

From mid-March to the end of May, the tulips transform big parts of Holland into a colorful patchwork quilt. If one is traveling to the country this time of the year, the fields are filled with gorgeous color.

A place where you can definitely find tulips – millions of them! – is Keukenhof Park situated in Lisse in the southern part Netherlands. This spring, over seven million bulbs will bloom with a total of 800 tulips – it is the world's largest permanent display of tulips. Besides the spacious 32 hectares of flowers, visitors can enjoy the spectacular flower shows, surprising inspirational gardens, unique art and wonderful events like the Tulip mania exhibition at the Juliana Pavilion. Keukenhof is scheduled to be open until May 13 this year, with the Flower Parade on Saturday, April 21.

valuable manuscripts and apparently all kinds of rarities. He brought several bulbs and seeds of the curious flower back from his journey and gave some of these to a botanist named Carolus Clusius, another key figure of the history of European tulip interest.

Head botanist of the Dutch university in Leiden, Clusius started to experiment with the flower, producing new color variations. Some of these new breeds, such as the ‘Semper Augustus’, were heavily overpriced, and consequently, became outstandingly fashionable: a luxury item people wanted to possess, no matter what – and so the craze began. As the bulbs were usually sold by weight while they were still un-sprouted, color speculation emerged.

photos by CHUCK

It is always difficult to forecast when the tulips will bloom in the Netherlands because every year, it is different. It all depends on the temperature and rain during winter and springtime. According to the website tulipsinholland.com, based on experience gathered in the last ten years, the best time for visiting the tulip fields is the last two weeks of April.

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PRIVATE AND PUBLIC IMAGING AFFIDEA SERVICES SUPPLEMENT SHRINKING STATE HEALTHCARE PROVISIONS

Established in 1991 in Hungary, Affidea is the largest medical service provider in Europe, specializing in advanced diagnostic imaging, outpatient and cancer care services. The Dutch company operates an extensive network of both public and exclusively private centers throughout the continent. Affidea operates 235 Diagnostic and Cancer Treatment Centers in 16 countries across Europe. In Hungary, it has 11 diagnostic imaging (DI) centers with MRI, CT and other machines of the latest technology.

“After the establishment of the company over a quarter of a century ago, the first focus was to deepen the presence in the Hungarian market, which basically meant developing the collaboration with the public system because at that time, the state was not able to invest in the rapidly developing diagnostic imaging sector. We installed the second MRI device in Hungary in the former MÁV (state railways) hospital in Budapest,” Affidea Hungary Country Manager György Leitner explains to Diplomacy&Trade. Then, the company gained a lot of outsourcing contracts.

“Outsourcing in a public private partnership (PPP) type manner was quite customary in that decade. Under this model, we, as a private company, invested in state of the art technology, and in exchange, the state-run hospital would pay for the services we provide with that machine. We did not only own the machine but we also serviced it and employed the best medical professionals to operate it. The need of high quality diagnostic imaging for patients – not only in Hungary but also in other European countries – determined us to expand in CEE, opening new centers and later in the 2000s, we continued our way to build a renowned European network investing in Western Europe. From the present base of 16 markets, we plan to further expand, strengthening our presence in the existing markets and hopefully beyond Europe as well,” he adds.

photos by DÁVID

HARANGOZÓ, MIHÁLY NAGY

Public and private service The Country Manager stresses that, on the Hungarian market, Affidea is the largest diagnostic imaging company.

“We provide a public service in bigger or smaller hospitals as well as a university clinic under contract with the state health care system. In this cooperation, we do not only do simple diagnostic imaging of people, like MRI or ultrasound scanning, but we also do radiological interventions in angio type operations in the brain and in peripheral areas like legs. This is the sophisticated and hi-tech service we provide people under the auspices of the state healthcare system and, in 2011, we also started turning toward private patients. We established our first dedicated, wholly private center in Mammut, one of the commercial centers of Budapest and since then, we have set up four more such DI centers.” w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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a new healthcare center at the Váci Greens office complex in Budapest.

Then, this February, it was announced that Főnix-Med has been purchased

by Affidea. As the Country Manager highlights, they have collaborated with Főnix-Med for more than a decade.

“The idea of cooperation – and later the acquisition of the company – was to put, under one roof, a bigger portion of the outpatient pathway management, to provide service not only in diagnostic imaging but also to have specialist consultations on the spot, so that patients can have services on the same site. , the reason for the acquisition is putting our services together to create a better service for our private patients.

We are not only talking about specialist consultations but also corporate and occupational health services here: so the business model combines specialist consultations coming from Főnix-Med with our strong diagnostic imaging position – these activities are really cross fertilizing each other.”

Caring for employees

The Hungarian market According to György Leitner, the Hungarian private healthcare market is quite peculiar. “One observation here is that healthcare spending in Hungary equals 7-8% of the country’s GDP annually, lagging behind the European average. 35% of this sum is privately spent which means that it is not state or other public money, so, the spending on healthcare from public sources is quite low in this country. In the Western countries, for example, about 10% of the GDP is spent on healthcare, and out of that amount, 80% is publicly spent – a huge difference. It means that the proportion of outpatients paying for healthcare services, out of their own pocket, is quite significant.

I believe it is not a very modern way of spending because if a healthcare issue arises, you have to spend a lot of your own money on scans and other necessary intervention.”

This situation is changing slowly, though, as more and more private health insurance schemes are offered to people. “Unfortunately, only corporate insurance plans are subsidized by the state. If individuals spend money on such insurance, they are not given tax benefits. In an ideal

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world, we should probably have a big chunk of individual insurance covering the private services in a supplementary way. In these private healthcare centers, individuals who can afford – or are forced to pay because they would have to wait too long to have their diagnostic imaging service covered by the state health care system – are our customers. They come and pay for each service they use. A big question is how many people can afford these services. Ten years ago, only the really wealthy people could afford it but

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now many people from lower layers of society are starting to use Private healthcare services. All in all, we can say that about 60% of the Hungarian population has used private healthcare services in the past two years, which is a big chunk, spending almost HUF 1,000 billion, that is, over EUR three billion,” the expert highlights.

Joining forces Last summer, Affidea opened, in conjunction with the occupational healthcare service provider Főnix-Med,

GE, that occupies large office space in Váci Greens, is a good example of a corporate customer for Affidea because it does a lot for the health and the of its employees. According to György Leitner, many larger Hungarian companies follow suit and do a lot in this respect. “We need to differentiate first of all between occupational health and corporate health programs.

Occupational health is a compulsory program for companies above a certain size. They are required by law to have an occupational health care provider that provides a package for a certain fee per employee. In case of companies (like those in the pharma and chemical fields) where employees are exposed to potentially hazardous (toxic or carcinogenic, etc.) materials, obviously, special and more frequent diagnostic services are needed within the occupational health package.

In such cases, the occupational healthcare provider needs to help the employer maintain good health status for the employees. These compulsory occupational health programs come with a relatively small fee and, therefore, they do not include special services. The current job market has many vacancies in Hungary, so it would be an attraction for the would-be employee if the benefit/ incentive package included healthrelated, prevention-related programs.

These can supplement the general public health services. At the same time, it is also good for the employers to maintain a healthy and productive status of their employees.”

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TAILOR-MADE SOLUTIONS

SUCCESSFUL HUNGARIAN BUSINESSMAN “BECAME AN ENTREPRENEUR IN THE NETHERLANDS”

Sweat deals The first ‘capital investment‘ by DBH was a sweat equity deal in 1999, since that was the only way to convince a Dutch company to invest in Hungary. “Since we had no cash power to invest, we invested what we had: our own time and effort. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a successful deal and I exited from the venture with a nice profit after less than two years.

This gave me the appetite to go on and later set up my own venture capital (VC) fund. Our latest VC fund focuses on disruptive technologies in ICT and life science, and our aim is to globalize our early stage investments. We are proud of our investments – among others, Cason Digital, VCC Live, Norma Instruments and HandInScan,“ he adds.

As an example, the entrepreneur recalls that in 2001 Eldim BV from Lomm in East Holland decided to set up its second site in Debrecen for production of spare parts for aero engines and industrial gas turbines. “DBH became an equity partner in the Hungarian joint venture and, after three years, we sold our shares to the mother company, on a nice valuation.

However, the ties were broken and, in 2004, the real estate arm of DBH developed a new production and logistic hall for Eldim. Last year, they asked us to double the production hall capacity due to heavy expansion plans of the firm that changed its name to Oerlikon Eldim, in the meantime. We did manage to complete that project by December

Turning towards the Dutch After returning from the United States, Sándor Erdei left Hungary again in 1993 – this time for the Netherlands to finish an MBA program. Afterwards, he decided to stay there and set up DBH (Development Bridge Head), with the support of Dutch and Hungarian local and regional governments, in March 1994. “At the beginning, the Province of Limburg gave me the most in terms of local acceptance and business network in Maastricht.

DBH was the first ‘bridge head’ for Dutch companies in Limburg to support their expansion to Hungary. It was a bumpy start, however, I made my first contract to conclude a business feasibility study for a Dutch company. Since then, I have managed many foreign direct investment transactions and later on my own investments. I must admit, I became an entrepreneur in the Netherlands.”

Business model DBH Group’s business model is based on three pillars: complete business infrastructure for foreign enterprises operating in the region; corporate business and financial services like accounting, tax and trust services and

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2017 and it very much looks like we will have a long lasting business relation with them for the next 15 years, as well.”

Another development in the area of venture capital deals was that DBH was one of the winners in Hungary of the European Union’s JEREMIE program in 2009 to allocate VC funding to startups. Today, we are working on a new VC fund which might secure our technology investment activities for the next 10 years.

International expansion We very much like to globalize companies via our corporate business services through setting up Dutch presence with our Amsterdam trust office or in the CEE region where we are present with our own offices. In addition, Sándor Erdei notes, the Group has partnership offices in New York City and in Dubai, in order to support road to market strategies of local and international companies.

We also globalize companies via the business infrastructure, serviced office arm of DBH. I always want to put this one as well into an international context. In this effort, we are teaming up with business partners through the Alliance Business Center Network (ABCN). So, I do my own investments in Europe, especially in this region, and via this partnership, I am able to offer serviced offices in North American and even the Asian market, if need arises, from my clients.

Our VC investments have offices in 10 different countries and clients in more than 40 different countries globally, thus this network can be also utilized to our partners.”

Still with the Dutch DBH Group is a Strategic Partner Member of Dutcham. “We are a Dutchestablished business and Dutch people, Dutch businesses have been and still are important in my life. Although, I still have an office in the Netherlands and I visit there every month, I don’t live there anymore. I am very active in other business circles, as well: for many years, I chaired a committee in the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary for many years, and chaired other committees in various other organizations but still, the Dutch are very important, very special to me. If somebody talks about the Netherlands or Dutch businesses negatively, then, I am sure a Dutch guy comes out of me in defense of the country and of the people.

I behave like a Dutch then. The Dutch are very important to us but we are also open to other international businesses,” Dr. Sándor Erdei concludes.

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The ‘push’ for Sándor Erdei, then an engineering student, to become involved in the business world came when he spent a year at Rutgers University, in New Jersey, in 1989. He tells Diplomacy&Trade that “learning business administration and marketing was quite a novelty for a young Hungarian at the time of the change of the political regime in Hungary. We had no business courses at the university in the second half of the 1980s, at all, so, it was quite a change to study these at an American university. There, I also met a successful Canadian businessman of Hungarian origin who had made a fortune in real estate business. That one year changed my professional career. I must admit that there was another big impact on my life during that one-year study.

I translated newspaper articles into Hungarian language, at the request of Károly Nagy, a Hungarian professor at Rutgers University, for András Sütő (an ethnic Hungarian writer from Romania) who was on medical treatment in the US for injuries received in ethnic clashes after the fall of the Ceausescu regime in Romania. This is how I supported the democratic change in our region.”

helping Hungarian and international companies expand abroad and our own venture capital fund. Sándor Erdei highlights that “the DBH business model has developed as the market requested. First, we purely acted as investment and business consultants.

Once we helped Dutch companies to get settled in Hungary, they requested we give them local support. Thus, we developed a complex corporate business service package including accounting and tax advice. Today, we also help companies enter the Netherlands via our Dutch trust and accounting service in Amsterdam and we also take Hungarian technologies to the Dutch market via our Eindhoven office.

At our partners’ request, we began to provide flexible office and industrial park solutions. In 1999, we made our fist office investment in Budapest, which was followed by new logistics, manufacturing projects in Debrecen in eastern Hungary, where I am from originally. In 2006 we started to invest in a serviced office concept.”

photo by DÁVID

Dr. Sándor Erdei – as a seasoned professional of venture capital and foreign direct investment as well as a respected entrepreneur in the CEE region – has managed many successful capital investment transactions as a consultant and an investor in the past twenty years. He is the founder of DBH Group and CEO of the Group since its establishment in 1994.

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SUSTAINABLE LUXURY

COUNTRYSIDE LODGE BALANCES COMFORT AND ECOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

photos by LUKAS

HOLZMEIER, MARIËTTE HARMS, EVELINE EIJKHOUT

Over a decade ago, two Dutchmen, Jeroen van Drunen and Lennard de Klerk, moved to Hungary and came up with the idea of creating a luxurious, eco-friendly holiday resort in Irota, a village in the northeastern part of the country.

“We first discovered the area in 2007 when we were helping a friend renovate his countryside cottage. Somewhere in the back of our heads was this romantic idea of renovating a dilapidated mansion in the middle of nowhere and starting a small, eco-friendly holiday resort. We fell in love with the Cserehát region with its beautiful hills, and our first online search led us to exactly the house we envisaged, in exactly the village we hoped for: a beautiful, tiny village in a valley, at the end of the road, Irota,” Jeroen van Drunen recalls to Diplomacy&Trade.

Sustainable hospitality The EcoLodge the two Dutchmen created aims to set an example for the home-based hospitality industry by showing that luxury and a sustainable lifestyle can complement each other perfectly. As Lennard de Klerk explains, “we are convinced that luxury and a sustainable way of life go well together. With Irota EcoLodge, w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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we are proud to be the first in the sustainable hospitality industry in Hungary and, so far, the only climateneutral holiday accommodation in this country – and probably in the wider region, as well. When we designed the Lodges, we applied the latest available environmental technologies. For example, we have the first commercially-operated natural swimming pool in Hungary, which does not use chlorine, but natural reed to purify the water.

The bearing structures are made of wood, which is a reusable material.

Between the wooden structures, 15cm thick cellulose has been blown in as insulation material, which is made of used newspapers. Rain water is collected to flush the toilets and to supply the washing machine. This way, we save up to 60% of our tap water.

Rainwater is also used to replenish evaporated water in the swimming pool. And, of course, we have solar panels and collectors to generate electricity and hot water with the sun.”

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Unspoiled nature Irota is a small cul-de-sac village, populated by around a hundred people. However, there is a lot to see and experience in the village and the broader environment. Jeroen highlights that “first of all, there is unspoiled nature. Hours of walking without running into other tourists, how awesome is that? Additionally, we are close to the Tokaj wine region and the spectacular cave complex in Aggtelek National Park. Miskolc, with its Diósgyőr castle, beautiful Lillafüred and the cave baths of Miskolctapolca are not far, either. For those who want to venture over the border into Slovakia, we recommend a visit to the attractive city of Košice (Kassa in Hungarian). And there is much more.

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We are always happy to suggest some hidden gems.” In summary, Lennard says they recommend this lodge as a holiday destination for those who are interested in enjoying nature without giving up on luxury. “For them, Irota EcoLodge is the ideal destination.

We allow people to bring their pets.

Also, each house is suitable for the physically challenged and includes a wheelchair-accessible bathroom.”

Corporate clients The lodge is suitable for corporate purposes, as well, like team-building, incentive programs or conferences for high-end decision makers. As Jeroen puts it, “we offer something different from the standard business retreat.

Our corporate guests will be far away from the daily hustle and bustle, but with all modern conveniences at their disposal. If they want to prepare their meals together, our well-equipped kitchen will offer everything they need. If they don’t, the best cook in the village will bring her tasty dishes to them. We can invite a sommelier from Tokaj with his wines for a tasting, provide them with mountain bikes for a wonderful outdoor experience and organize trips in the area including transportation – everything tailormade, so their wish is our command.”

Returning guests Construction of the premises of the Irota EcoLodge was finished in 2016. “Feedback from our guests is very positive, so far. In particular, Hungarians marvel over the fact that such a beautiful place exists in a relatively disadvantaged corner of the country. And we have many returning guests, some of them having been with us two or three times already. Our average rating on booking.com is 9.8 (classified as ‘exceptional’) which is quite illustrative,” Lennard points out.

Regarding plans to expand the business, Jeroen stresses that they are not so much thinking about expanding, but rather about improving. “The small-scale character of our resort is one of its main attractions, so, we don’t want to tamper with that. Since we do not see this venture as a quick money maker, but as a business model for the future, we hope to improve our efforts along these lines. Our next steps will include an electric car which we will be able to feed with our home-generated solar energy. Also, we want to expand the production of organic food we have recently started. This will hopefully give our village an extra boost, as well.”

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business

General Manager of Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest, STEPHAN INTERTHAL talks about how to succeed in an industry driven by competition and increasingly high customer expectations.

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good, functions well, clicks and ticks right. I believe that, in our hotel, guests can feel the good vibe, great spirit and energy immediately upon their arrival.”

According to Interthal, it is also crucial to adapt to the changing needs and expectations of guests. “As we speak, the latest room and suite renovations are about to finish on Floors 5-7 – closing the first phase of the hotel’s rooms renovation program that started in November 2017,” he notes, explaining that the renovation lifespan for a hotel is considered to be 10-15 years, in general. “In order to keep the hotel fresh, a comprehensive reimagining and renovation is under way, following the reconstruction of the first floor’s event area, the former ballroom and the associated halls last April - a EUR 2.1 million project, during which the latest technical and interior design solutions were used to create

a truly innovative and state-of-the-art event venue named ‘Ten Rooms.

Uncompromising in inspiration and lavish in design Within a few days, 25 Premium Grand Deluxe Rooms and 14 Suites will be re-modelled top to bottom, based on the plans of British designer Alex Kravetz who won the hotel’s architecture and design competition. “Featuring a soft color palette of elegant gold, reserved platina and muted grey as well as warm dark brown wood, the redesigned spaces represent more than just rooms: they reflect the aesthetics of the contemporary and design-savvy sensibility of the modern traveler, who expects a sensory experience and a place of comfort within the hotel.

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seating area, abundant natural light, and a light-enhanced separation of functions within the room. Shades will be upgraded with blackout blinds, while smart IT and TV sets guarantee better connectivity to guests’ devices,” Interthal notes. “This sensitive restoration will enable us to continue to meet our guests’ high expectations, which have changed dramatically over the past few

ART COLLECTION

As of 1992, the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus contributes significantly to Budapest’s modern-art scene by buying works, building a unique own branded collection that today comprises of a total of 1000 pieces of statues, reliefs and paintings. Many of these artworks are placed in the hallways and guestrooms, except for a 40-piece collection that has been and will be exhibited in different venues outside of the hotel, including the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin.

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years. For instance, nobody needs us to present a wide range of movies any longer. Today’s travelers (and I don’t mean the millennial generation only) rather watch the content stored on their own devices, or stream content wirelessly. Also, they are likely to access their emails and social media networks on the TV screen.” The GM reveals that the EUR 8.5 million project was, in fact, a mix of full renovations of the Grand Deluxe Rooms and Suites, where everything was stripped down to its bones, and soft refreshments that involved the re-decoration of 125 Premium Superior and Deluxe Rooms, from carpets to curtains, to create a refined atmosphere featuring comforting pastel colors. “Our aim was to transform these rooms and corridors to bright and light, not modern but contemporary spaces that are elegant, timeless and sustainable for the coming

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“We have been uncompromising about our core mission, since opening 26 years ago, to provide the highest and most personalized services,” states Interthal, highlighting that hospitality is first and foremost, a ‘people’s business’ and that he believes this is the most important thing that one has to understand when joining his hotel. “We are human beings and everything depends on how we treat other human beings, simple as that. At Kempinski, each and every one of us are personally responsible for creating rich and meaningful experiences for all of our guests. Content guests turn into loyal guests, and to see guests return is the best positive feedback for a hotel.

Naturally, the staff has to be well-treated and feel comfortable in their positions, in order to be able to comfort guests.

Eventually the result is a hotel that feels

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ORCHESTRATING MAJOR RENOVATIONS IN THE HEART OF BUDAPEST

business STEPHAN INTERTHAL is a graduate of Cornell University and the recipient of a European Business MBA from Reims Management School in 2000.

A true hotelier with management experience at Kempinski’s finest properties, including Kempinski Vier Jahreszeiten Munich and the legendary Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin, Interthal offers a wealth of experience from nearly four decades in the hospitality industry. He says he is a “passionate guy,” who knew, as early as the age of 16, that he would one day become a hotel director. Beautifully accomplished his mission, he says he wakes up every morning with a smile on his face and he loves going to work.

“I guess if that smile would fade away I would quit working in this business instantly,” he notes, adding he hopes he will be one day remembered as “a good leader who challenged but also respected his people.”

photos by KEMPINSKI

HOTEL CORVINUS BUDAPEST, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

1997 and 2004, during which time he orchestrated ambitious renovation works to overhaul all of the rooms and suites, the spa and the restaurant.

“Centrally located in a purpose-built, boldly contemporary edifice, this hotel had huge potential back then, but it turned 10-years-old without any facelifts. We felt it was a little offsided in the market, with many new competition opening, so we chose to upgrade the product. Excellent owners we have, who accepted our argument that the renovation was necessary to stay alive and remain competitive in the future,” Interthal recalls the era before and around the time Hungary joined the EU. He says he has always followed the progress in Hungary, even while away in Moscow, and earlier at the Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa in China, as “from a silent, secondary post-communist country it developed to a lively, competitive actor on the scene of tourism destinations,

ready to compete with Brussels, Munich, Vienna and Prague.” The GM continues, “Budapest has become my second home and I very much enjoy life here. It is wonderful to see the capital blooming, I especially adore the smartly restored, not too commercial, beautiful buildings which preserve the glory of the past centuries. As a teaser, our website says: Some of us were born in Budapest. Some of us adopted Budapest as a temporary home. All of us became Budapesters.

One way or another, we all keep making little or not so little discoveries about this ever changing city every day because, like any city, it is in constant motion, just like our own lives. Enhanced by the natural charm of the Danube River and Buda Hills, Budapest’s monarchical, modern and urban vibe adds irresistible energy to meetings and conferences. Complete with a culinary curiosity, buoyant art scene and electrifying diversions,

10 years, offering a contemporary organic design that connects with Budapest’s energy, as well as thoughtful amenities that indulge guests' affection for the finer accoutrements of life.”

The ‘Restorer’ Vehemently talking about smart solutions, including door locks that are not mechanical anymore, it is clear that Interthal is able to immerse himself in renovation projects. In fact, he has conducted several major renovations during his 40-year-long career in the hospitality business.

Before his current appointment, he was in charge of Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow for one and a half years, overseeing the final stages of an EUR 20-million renovation project. Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest isn’t new to him either, as he held the GM position here between w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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According to ALEX KRAVETZ, who started his career as a designer at the Opera & Ballet Theatre and later at the Royal Shakespeare Company, stage life is often compared to the life of hotels where the guests become actors in their fantasy world of dream destinations and Grand Hotels. “Every design has a narrative and a connection to the location and culture. I have a deep understanding of the luxury market and take an innovative approach to timeless elegance and chic dramatic interior architecture, incorporating the latest technology to satisfy the contemporary lifestyle of today.” (His detailed proposal for Budapest’s Kempinski was competing with another London designer’s work, until both designers were asked – in quite an unorthodox manner – to build mock-up rooms, plus the corridors.)

it will host events to remember.”

Happy to experience that tourism is growing, and that there is a shift towards 'quality over quantity' tourism strategies, Interthal intends to stay at the helm of Budapest’s Kempinski hotel to make sure it will continue to reinvent international luxury in its outfitting, as well as in its service.

The DNA of the hotel Interthal notes that Kempinski Hotel Corvinus has a good mix of experienced staff and newcomers, that is to say young talents. “Someone once said that hotels will never undergo any crisis in terms of not having guests, but there can be a crisis of not having enough staff. It is a huge challenge in the industry to attract young people to come aboard. Our yearly turnover is around 25-30 per cent, which is a healthy fluctuation, which tends to be generated from the youngest employees coming and leaving. We pride ourselves on being a cradle that nurtures young talents, promotes them and welcomes them back when they are ready. At the same time, we have several employees who have stayed with us for some two decades – people who carry the DNA of the hotel, such as our head concierge Tamás Takács, who knows every nook and cranny of this city and being ‘an institution’, he was recently named Best Hotel Concierge by Traveler.com.au (‘The world's best hotels and resorts of 2017’ list). The hotel today has some 300 employees, 349 rooms, five restaurants and bars comprised as 'Gastronomic Quarter Downtown Budapest', and we enjoy a market leading position. I think we are definitely among the top service providers in Budapest, proud of our most recent accolades such as the title of ‘Hungary’s Leading Hotel by World Travel Awards,’ which we won for the fourth time in addition to the award by the Forbes Travel Guide.

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business

SPREADING THE VALUE OF DESIGN

ITALIAN DESIGN DAY ORGANIZED IN BUDAPEST FOR THE SECOND TIME

Creative richness with soul The Ambassador pointed out that the first edition in 2017 had a very positive outcome. “There was great interest by Hungarian professionals and the public in general, and this year it has grown even further. Last year, a collaboration started with the Budapest Design Week and the Kitchen Show where some well-known Italian companies exhibited. The creative richness of Italian design has its roots in the history of a country that has undergone many foreign dominations

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OTHER COMPANY PRESENTATIONS – AS VIEWED BY THE AMBASSADOR

Designer Denis Santachiara introduced us to the new frontiers of design: digital fabrication, personalized objects at the request of the customer, the possibility to choose different materials, the absence of transport that combines with the need to preserve the environment in which we live.

The creation of SICIS inspired harmony, design, style and passion. Mosaic has an ancient tradition in Italy and SICIS has helped to enhance the relationship between mosaic and architecture, using the mosaic as a furnishing accessory. But we have also been able to admire the creation of jewels made skillfully by master craftsmen using the micro mosaic technique.

Salvini of the Damiani Group, whose products are distributed in Hungary by Moni's, with its astonishing jewels, showed the audience step by step the manual processing and the dedication of the artisans who make each creation a unique, true piece of art, in which precious stones are set.

The goldsmith school has an ancient tradition in Italy and Salvini has been able to combine past and present. Our audience got passionate by the presentation of Benetti Yachts. A true world icon in the yacht industry; a brand that speaks of true Italian luxury. These giants of the sea are true masterpieces of naval engineering, and their interiors encase the most eclectic and exclusive design wonders – a triumph of modern opulence to the maximum of its expression, a real unique mark.

Benetti, with its designers, is able to respond to all the requests of every single customer, so that each of its yachts is never equal to another one. Inspiration, genius, advanced technology, creativity are unique blends of ability that make the Italian style inimitable all over the world.”

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Experiencing the Italian dream Other examples are Maserati and Alfa Romeo. Ambassador Rustico stressed that the automotive industry has an all-Italian echo in every country in the world. Top brands such as Maserati and Alfa Romeo are a pure concentrate of high technology, engineering and design.

“The result of a selected team of designers and engineers creates the Italian masterpieces on four wheels. Design plays an important role in the evolution of new cars models. Think, for instance, of the passage from the two-door model to the four-door models introduced by Maserati first. It was a new innovation of design that can be considered a milestone of the automotive industry. These excellent products allow you to experience a real Italian dream. Power, strength, bravery and elegance are just a few adjectives that describe these cars: all of this and more is a Maserati.

And look at the amazing heritage of Alfa Romeo – an icon, which blends sporty performances with comfort, safety and environment with an amazing design.”

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HARANGOZÓ

The masterminder and ‘master of ceremony’ of the event in the Budapest Music Center of the Hungarian capital this March was the Italian Ambassador to Hungary, Massimo Rustico who explained to Diplomacy&Trade that the driving force behind this type of event is the promotion of the ‘Italian Design’, a world-renowned brand in itself. “Whichever the sector, design is almost always a fundamental content of the final product. The Italian design has gained enormous recognition worldwide and is the ‘trademark’ of quality, technology, craftsmanship and beauty. Design is a powerful tool in the promotion of the Italian brands and through this tool, the Italian Government wishes to consolidate the market share that Italy has on the global market,” he said.

Italian artisans into true pieces of art.

Paolo Castelli is capable of managing all aspects of the production process, from the initial concept to its complete realization, in strict adherence to the demands of both prestigious architects and sophisticated clients, in order to ensure quality and trust. The strength of Castelli derives from the attention he dedicates to human relationships and, particularly, the devotion he shows for the local artisans who constitute a pillar of the company and largely contribute to the creation of an undisputed brand of Italian excellence.”

photos by DÁVID

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has placed design at the very core of its promotional strategy Vivere all’Italiana, which seeks to promote Italy’s cultural and production system through an integrated action combining culture, economy, Italian language and scientif ic research. To serve this purpose, the Italian Design Day was organized for the second time in a hundred cities worldwide in 2018.

and has also been the crossroads of different populations, which has allowed us to develop an attitude of cultural openness and the flourishing of ideas. Spreading the value of design is an exercise that requires time and perseverance. For this reason, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has decided that the Italian Design Day will take place every year.

Ambassador Rustico stressed that the creations of artists, designers and engineers are able to channel the modern expressions of art, giving life to a product of the highest quality, as a result of constantly increasing investments in research and unceasing innovation.

“These exceedingly talented people produce collections appreciated all over the world that are not only objects but clear elements of our Italian identity. A design product must convey an emotion, it must have a soul. A product that does not transmit an emotion can also be beautiful, but it is not a design product. If design fails to stimulate all the senses, it is a partial design."

Ensuring quality and trust One of the biggest names to present at the event was Paolo Castelli whose family business of design furniture has grown into an enterprise that is contracted by the best Italian hotels.

According to the Ambassador, Paolo Castelli is a perfect example of true Italian entrepreneurship. “His company is one of the world leaders in contracts and fitting since it has been able to interpret the needs of the market. Castelli offers a series of interconnected services that put the customer’s needs at the center of its creations. The added value of this business undoubtedly resides in the high quality of the materials used, which are transformed by passionate

business ABOUT MÁTYÁS SZIK Previously head sommelier at Kollázs in the Four Seasons Gresham Palace, and before that at Budapest’s Prime Steak & Wine, Szik gained his qualification at the most prominent national training center, Borkollégium. He believes being a sommelier is a complex task, a real collage of knowledge and scope.

“On the other hand, it isn’t black magic.

To ‘feel’, know and recognize the wine in your glass involves a little psychology: the use of free association. The more wine one tastes (and I don’t mean drinking) the easier it becomes, with time,” he says. Szik often provides consultation to a number of restaurants, holds private tasting events and trains and teaches both individuals and corporate groups, guiding them through the art of wine pairing and wine tasting.

‘IN WINE THERE IS TRUTH’ – IN VINO VERITAS Veritas is one of the largest and most important wine merchants of Hungary, a HUF 3.3 billion venture that employs some 80 people within their wholesale, retail and bar businesses. Well-established in the gastronomy sector, they currently distribute to 2,200 places, and feature around 500 Hungarian labels and a wide and growing international selection.

Besides a huge store in the outskirts of Budapest, their downtown shop next to the Veritas Winebar attracts hundreds of visitors every week.

VERITAS WINEBAR

photos by DÁVID

HARANGOZÓ

A THOUGHTFUL AND LENGTHY WINE LIST AND A HIGHLY REGARDED SOMMELIER CHAMPION

Just back from Düsseldorf’s PROWEIN, one of the largest wine shows in Europe for professionals from viticulture, production, trade and gastronomy, Mátyás Szik is busy as a bee.

A relatively newcomer on the board of Veritas, one of the oldest wine traders in Hungary, Szik became co-owner of the venture’s retail store and wine bar, Veritas Winebar, which opened last September in Dohány Street, downtown Budapest. “With such a huge knowledge Veritas has developed on wine and with the impressive list of contacts it has gathered during the past two decades, opening a wine bar seemed very w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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natural and a logical step to make,” explains Szik, who, as of 2016, is Hungary's Sommelier Champion for Life, as he won the Hungarian Sommelier Championship three times in a row in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He is the youngest person to win this title, and, as he highlights, there are more titles to win “out there.” Szik is full of energy, commitment, a thirst of knowledge - a good constellation when one wants to compete, and surely, he will compete in a bigger arena next time. As for the wine bar, he also thinks big. “Along with the Pátzay couple, the owners behind Veritas, we are introducing a franchise of wine bars in the

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next three years, opening on the shore of Lake Balaton, and in Debrecen. It’s not a far-fetched dream; we already have a few offers on the table.”

When ask why this specific wine bar is so popular within the circle of wine enthusiasts, and he is ready to answer, with a wide smile on his face, “Because this one is the best.” He continues, “We have a very impressive wine list featuring 380 different labels, out of which 80 are also available by the glass. Today, 60% of our wines are from Hungary and 40% from abroad, which will change to a 50-50 ratio soon. I do appreciate Hungarian wines, of course but my impression is that Hungarians do not tend to drink wines from other countries and the reason isn’t always nationalistic but simply a lack of knowledge. So, we intend to educate our guests on international trends and the global wine scene, slowly but surely and not vehemently but steadily.” According to the sommelier, due to the ultimate location within the Jewish Quarter, their clientele

includes tourists and Hungarians alike.

“Without exaggeration, I can say this is the most beautiful and sophisticated wine bar in area, and our aim is to deliberately channel that, although we are surrounded by ruin pubs, we aren’t one.” Designed by Viktor Csap, whose characteristic humor is recognizable in every corner of the two-level bar, the interior is very chic and eclectic, featuring witty elements such as a massive red statue of a horse, elegant additions such as the emerald-color central bar and industrial-style exposed bricks. The atmosphere is relaxed, the service is casual, friendly but very professional, satisfying wine connoisseurs and ‘beginners’ alike. “We offer a selection of snacks and tapas to accompany the wines, such as olives, cheese, mangalitza ham and sausages, sourced from the best farms we could find. In addition to small plates, we serve more substantial, gorgeous mains for those who decide to stay for dinner. The menu is quite short but changes regularly, except for a few all-time favorites our regulars.”

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analysis

EL CLÁSICO

CATALONIA’S CONTROVERSIAL INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT

A divided Catalonia The Catalan independence movement has acquired a new momentum recently. A referendum was organized, on October 1st, 2017, on the independence of Catalonia.

Some 90% of the voters supported an independent Catalonia. However, the problem was that the turnout was only about 43% of those eligible to vote. The President of the Generalitat (or government) of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont declared the independence of the autonomous community a few weeks later, but left it suspended. In response, Article 155 of the Spanish constitution was

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Germany where prosecutors propose to put him in extradition detention.)

A long story The constitutional dispute between Madrid and Barcelona goes back to several years. The Catalonians claim that they have a distinct identity from the rest of the different nationalities constituting Spain (the Basques, the Andalusians, etc.). Moreover, a large number of Catalonians believe that they contribute more to the common treasury than they receive back in various forms of social services.

In fact, numbers are challenged on both sides: the central government claims that their indirect transfers at least equal the direct payment by the Catalonians into the federal budget.

The dispute between the unionists and the separatists in Spain is not new. It has been predominantly the Basque separatist movement, and especially the violent actions of the separatist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) that have gotten into the headlines in the past few decades, while the independence movement of the Catalans was somewhat in the background.

ETA has acquired a sort of notoriety due to its rather unsavory foreign connections with some shadowy organizations. The Catalan secessionist movement does not have this kind of bad reputation, but the international implications are potentially as serious as a potential success of the A P R I L

Basque separatism. First, the loss of one of the richest provinces would have serious implications for the international standing of Spain, first and foremost in the European Union. Second, the European Union would be a loser in this process, as much as Spain. The EU is struggling with the Brexit talks, and no matter how much stronger Brussels is in its negotiating position vis-á-vis London, the EU will nevertheless lose some of its pouvoir with the loss of one of its strongest members. In addition, a successful Catalan separatist movement would pose a dangerous precedent inside the EU, as well. This is not all. A United Kingdom getting closer to the United States together with a weakened Spain would be a strategic nightmare for the European Union; if, moreover, the Catalans might join the Anglo-Saxon sphere through a sort of free trade agreement, the attraction and the cohesion of the EU might come into question. In a broader sense, two other power centers which are interested in seeing a weaker EU, that is, Russia and China might also take advantage of an independent Catalonia. Moscow’s strategy is aimed at splitting the Atlantic community as well as the EU, while China may find it easier to establish beach heads for its New Silk Road in the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona.

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declaring the dispute an intra-Spanish question, has a vested interest in the victory of the Spanish unionists.

Uncertainty The cards are stacked in favor of the unionists in this dispute in general. They are standing on a firmer constitutional basis than the secessionists. The population of Catalonia is deeply divided about the wisdom of creating and independent Catalonia. The economic consequences are likely to be harmful for the Catalans.

Another question is membership in the EU. Catalonia would almost certainly be compelled to start the accession talks from scratch, and negotiating the thirtysomething chapters would take precious time. The people in Catalonia are not only divided as to the economic consequences, but the political divide is equally deep among them. The pro-separatist parties range from center-right to center-left formations, and their social and economic policies cannot be reconciled that easily.

Although, currently Barcelona is enjoying a comfortable lead over Real Madrid in La Liga, and the bookies do not take any bets on the former’s winning the Spanish soccer league, the good money seems to be on Madrid in the political tug-of-war with Barcelona.

Tamás Magyarics is a foreign policy analyst

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DE CATALUNYA

(Real) Madrid and Barcelona – these two soccer club giants have dominated La Liga (the Spanish first division) for decades. Their rivalry on the pitch is one of the major factors why the Spanish league has become an export item: their games are watched by hundreds of millions of fans around the world. However, the Real Madrid - Barcelona games may as well become a collateral victim of a much more serious struggle between the capital of Spain and that of one of its autonomous communities: Catalonia.

triggered by the central government: the independence vote was dismissed and direct rule was introduced in Catalonia. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called a snap election on December 21, 2017, in which the three independence parties gained a small majority of the seats in the Catalonian legislation. They were able to get only 47.5% of the votes, and the single largest party in the new parliament became the unionist Ciudadanos (‘Citizens’) party, gaining 37 of the 135 seats in the legislation. In effect, it meant that the population in Catalonia split: roughly half of them preferred staying in the federation, while the others wanted an independent Catalonia. As for the various parts of Catalonia, close to two-thirds of the voters in Lleida and Girona voted for independence, Tarragona was almost divided equally (49.5% for independence), while in Barcelona the unionists won 56% of the votes. Moreover, the members of the Catalan government were either arrested or they fled abroad (accused of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds after the declaration of independence, a move declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court); thus, e.g., Carles Puigdemont fled to Brussels in order to avoid prison for defying Spanish federal law. (As we go to press, he is being detained in

photo by GENERALITAT

BY TAMÁS MAGYARICS

society National Day of Bulgaria

▶ On the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Ambassador to Hungary, Ulyana Bogdanska hosted a reception for fellow diplomats and other guests at her residence in the Buda Hills.

St. Patrick’s Day reception

▶ The Ambassador of Ireland, Pat Kelly welcomed members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Budapest in the building of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to celebrate the Irish national holiday of Saint Patrick’s Day (or the Feast of Saint Patrick). A separate reception was held by the Ambassador for non-diplomatic guests, including Irish expats living in Hungary.

Israeli exhibition

▶ The Israeli Ambassador to Hungary, Yossi Amrani invited guests to the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest for an exclusive guided tour by Israeli photographer, Rafael Y. Herman, of his exhibition that examines the limits of surreality and timeless reality. The tour was followed by a reception.

Kosovo National Day

HARANGOZÓ, COURTESY PICTURES, LAJOS SOÓS/MTI

▶ The Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo, Luljeta Vuniqi, welcomed guests for a reception in the Hotel Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge Budapest to celebrate the day her country declared its independence ten years ago. Invited guests had the opportunity to view an exhibition of paintings by Kosovar artists as well as of photographs of the country.

José Cura reception

▶ The Argentine Ambassador to Hungary, Maximiliano Gregorio-Cernadas and his wife, Cecilia held a reception in honor of the world-renowned Argentine tenor, conductor and composer, José Cura at the Ambassador’s residence in Budapest. Maestro Cura was in the Hungarian capital for a concert of his oratorios at the end of March.

New Ambassadors

photos by DÁVID

▶ Four new ambassadors accredited to Hungary were received by Hungarian President János Áder this March at the Sándor Palace in the Buda Castle as they presented their credentials to the President of the Republic (pictured from left to right): Víctor Veltzé Michel from the Plurinational State of Bolivia; Ana Piedad Jaramillo Restrepo from the Republic of Columbia; Dieudonné Kere from Burkina Faso and Boubacar Boureima from the Republic of Niger. w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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witty leaks WITTY

LE A K S

IN THIS SERIES, DIPLOMATS SHARE PERSONAL ACCOUNTS OF THEIR EXPERIENCES ON “EXCURSIONS” into Hungarian culture, art, gastronomy & scenery.

A BURNING LIFE

to Budapest. All parts of Hungary have marvelous bicycling, running and walking opportunities.

Biking along the Tisza River Last year, I committed myself to bicycling all along the Tisza River, from its source in Ukraine, to where it flows into the Danube in Serbia. Not in one go, of course. It’s more than a thousand kilometers. It meant close encounters with a lot of Hungary and its people. I started with a test section last summer, from the first bridge below Csongrád to the railway station in Szeged. 67 kilometers in nice summer heat, but with a strong wind from the right. In spite of the wind, it was highly enjoyable, bicycling on top of the embankment along the river. However, most of the time the Tisza was hidden from sight by large trees and other thick vegetation, as I bicycled an average speed of 21 km/h. But only 886 kcal burned, according to my fitness GPS watch, the equivalent of about 1.1 kg (that is, three nice portions) of csirkepaprikás (paprika chicken) or 1.2 liters of dry red wine.

Not so much to talk about, after more than three hours on the bicycle.

I promise to further develop my friendship with the Tisza. The river will help me ‘burn’ many of the goodies which life in Hungary constantly provides!

NORWEGIAN CUSTOM PUT INTO PRACTICE IN HUNGARY

BY THE NORWEGIAN AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY, OLAV BERSTAD

In Budapest, I have an annual ritual in January, namely dismantling and burning the Christmas tree. Here it is, documented by a few photographs. The process is easy to understand. But there is a secret. I do a mixed fuel process. It may sound very scientific. The fuel in this case is the core or hard part of the Christmas spruce, dry branches and needles, and old, discarded (sometimes classified, I must secretly confess) documents and dossiers from the embassy archive. You have to be careful in order for this mixture to burn safely and properly. For instance, dry needles tend to burn almost explosively. You need to understand the specific combustion qualities of the ingredients, but also understand and ‘know’ the stove or fireplace, especially when it comes to the draught of the chimney and how the smoke will behave. Yes, there is science involved, but also common sense. The first time I lit the fireplace in Budapest, heavy smoke poured out. But luckily, the fire alarm did not go off. The second time, less smoke poured out, but this time, the fire alarm went off!! Within minutes, the local fire

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network of bicycle paths and varied terrain.

I particularly love the area around Normafa and János-hegy. Margit-sziget is a jewel in all seasons and for all age groups.

This level of excellence is not restricted

Burning calories My other burning ritual is getting rid of excess calories! Hungarian food and drink is a very potent bio-fuel combination. I enjoy the richness of the Hungarian cuisine, and the wine. I can understand why Hungarians are so proud of it. And look at the Christmas markets! It is an impressive orgy of colors, culture, food, flames – a real Hungaricum atmosphere. You can see both Hungarians and foreigners enjoying themselves tremendously.

However, here there is a part of Hungarian tradition and culture I don’t really understand. The ‘cult’ around pálinka seems very strange. I don’t want to offend anybody, and, of course, I have tasted some elegant pálinka. But most of the time it tastes like bad Norwegian moonshine with some unidentified fruity aftertaste. A shot or two will definitely heat you up, but pálinka in general (diplomatically speaking) lacks the ‘finesse’ of, for instance, the Norwegian aquavit produced from the blessed potato…. At least that’s my opinion.

But back to the theme of this article: heavy food, excellent wine and pálinka are part of life here. And this makes burning off excess fat and fusel very important, both for physical and mental health reasons. I have taken up jogging and bicycling in a more active way than ever before – and discovered a lot of wonders in and around Budapest.

I admire the city for its well-developed

OF OLAV BERSTAD

Mixed fuel is the secret

brigade arrived, with sirens and all, in full gear and helmets. Very embarrassing for the man of the house, but thrilling for the female part of the family... It was Christmas 2016. Everybody was in a good mood. It ended well, it was only smoke, but I learnt a lesson.

photos by COURTESY

I joined the Norwegian foreign service in 1980. It has been a great journey.

I have served abroad in Ankara, New Orleans, Washington, Moscow, Baku and Kyiv.

And now, in Budapest, since September 2016.

It is a privilege to live in a city and country so filled with interesting people, history and culture. It is also my first assignment in an EU member country, so the work load is softer and the quality of life sweeter than in any of my previous postings.

And Hungary offers exciting opportunities for one of my main passions. Burning! Wood and paper and calories!

Burning wood is part of Norwegian culture, part of our DNA. Firewood – we have a lot of it. We like to light the fireplace, watch wood burn, feel the heat, enjoy the flickering fire, the mysterious playing of the flames.

In 2013, the Norwegian national TV made a non-stop 24 hour transmission entitled ‘National Firewood Evening’. Viewers watched for hours as wood was cut and chopped, stacked, taken to the fireplace, talked about and slowly burned. The gathering of people, the companionship around the fire – it has a definite primordial character to it. Besides, it is very calming for the soul. Sawing and chopping is also good exercise.

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culture

THE MUSICAL WORLD OF JOSÉ CURA THE MAESTRO SHARES INTENSE ARTISTIC LOVE WITH THE HUNGARIAN AUDIENCES

decadence… ‘A healthy brain in a healthy body’, preached the Greeks!

Singing is a very physical activity – less than dancing, but still –, so, the more control you have over your instrument (that is, your voice) and the more fit the ‘continent’ (your body) where your instrument is ‘contained’, the better. That is also an answer to those who ask how much I use my physique during performances.”

A multidisciplinary artist

photos by DÁVID

HARANGOZÓ, ZSÓFIA PÁLYI

At the end of March, the audience in the Palace of Arts – Müpa in Budapest witnessed a world premiere as the world-renowned Argentine tenor, conductor, and composer, José Cura presented his three most important oratorio pieces (Ecce homo, Magnificat and Modus) at the 25th anniversary of the Salva Vita Foundation that provides services for the employment of people with disabilities. Prior to the concert, Cura’s friends, the Argentine Ambassador to Hungary, Maximiliano Gregorio-Cernadas and his wife, Cecilia held a reception in honor of Maestro Cura at the Ambassador’s residence in Budapest. That is where Diplomacy&Trade talked to the Maestro who, has frequently been to Hungary ever since 2000 when he performed at the first local festival in Veszprém, has frequently visited Hungary.

As José Cura explained, one should not be surprised that he has visited Hungary so many times and it would be an underestimation of the country to ask why he performs so often here. “One might forget that Hungary has given to the musical world some of its most incredible geniuses. I enjoy a lot performing here because of the amazing quality of the Hungarian professionals and also because of my relationship of intense artistic love with the Hungarian audiences. On top of that, there is my tight bond with the Salva Vita foundation which adds, to some of my appearances in Budapest, that extra boost of social compromise that should always be present in the making of art.” w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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Roaring audience As to the manifestation of what he termed a ‘relationship of intense artistic love with the Hungarian audiences’, the Maestro recalled that the very first time he sang in Hungary was in the Erkel Theater, in Budapest. “One thing I still remember today, of that night, is that there was no applause after the first opera aria I sang. It was not an applause, it was a roar! And I thought ‘Oh, my god, if that is the reaction after the first aria, what is going to happen during the rest of the concert?’

What actually happened was that the roar just grew after each aria. It was an incredible experience to feel this powerful energy, the intensity.

Later, I discovered, as I was coming here again and again and again, that Hungarians can be either very

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José Cura is best known worldwide for his voice but he is also a conductor, composer, actor, just to name a few of his activities. However, the Maestro does not prioritize. “Each of my disciplines represents an aspect of my ‘whole’. It would be impossible to understand the singer without the conductor’s, the composer’s, the director’s influence, same as it would be impossible to understand the conductor without the singer’s, the composer’s, the director’s influence, etc.”

The opera character that is perhaps the most famous for is the title figure in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello.

When asked about his favorite opera character(s), he replied with another smile: “I used to say that my favorite character is the one I’m performing when you come to see me on stage that day… Meaning, if I don’t love what I’m doing, I prefer not to do it. To be ‘emotionally and artistically sincere’ – it is an uncompromisable thing in my professional work. This ‘intellectual integrity’ has granted me lots of supporters – and also some enemies.

You cannot always win!”

He does not compromise, either, when it comes to performing lighter genres.

“I have always said that there is no pop or classical music – just music, good or bad. It is like I have a Steinway piano – do you think I can only play Beethoven, or Liszt or Brahms on it? No, I can also play Lennon and McCartney on that piano. A professional classical singer is an instrument and, if it is a good instrument with a good head, he can do whichever kind of music. The problem is when you try to sing pop songs as if they were opera arias, and that is ridiculous – the same thing as if you tried to sing an opera aria with a pop song voice. Actually, it is not only ridiculous but it is also dangerous for your voice,” he added.

40 years of experience in music The title of this year’s performance in the Palace of Arts in Budapest was the ‘Musical world of José Cura’. “Given the religious character of this concert, the Easter festivities, the audience has an approach to my spiritual compositions.

Two of them, Magnificat and Ecce Homo, were written in 1988 and 1989 respectively. I was a very young man then and, although both pieces are technically very reach and emotionally very engaged, you can sense the ‘naivety’ of my young age in the music.

Modus, written in 2016, is much more technical. The proof is that I keep on correcting little things in Magnificat and Ecce Homo every time I perform them, but I have not touched a single note of Modus since it was premiered in 2017. At the moment, I am working on my first opera, an ‘opera buffa’, and, if one day I can perform it in Budapest (which would be a dream), you will feel the influence of 40 years of experience in its music and mainly in its dramaturgy,” Maestro José Cura concluded.

shy, sometimes even having a little inferiority complex but when you inspire them, when you really wake up the real Hungarian soul in them, then, they become really super passionate.”

Healthy body, healthy brain The career of José Cura is not ordinary. Knowing his background, one might find it strange how a rugby player and body builder became a singer with an exceptional tenor voice. His answer came accompanied by a smile and a laugh: “It seems to me that you are a little ‘surprised’ by the fact that a ‘tough physical guy’ could become a ‘subtle’ artist…

And you are not the only one.

Nowadays, we tend to associate physicality with cultural roughness, and cultural depth with physical

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culture

BUDAPEST SPRING FESTIVAL HUNGARIAN AND INTERNATIONAL STARS PERFORM AT OVER 40 VENUES IN THE CAPITAL

National Dance Ensemble was also an important creation to remember. Just like Denis Matsuev's Piano Recital.”

Focus on the piano When asked about the greatest stars/ performers worth watching out for this year, the Chairman explains that “it

is not easy to decide who to mention but we are really proud that the opening act of the festival will be a rare performance of Liszt's monumental oratorio, Legend of St. Elizabeth, and this year, the piano, as an instrument, is also a central theme of the festival, involving some of the world's greats, including Martha Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, Daniil Trifonov, Peter Frankl, Gábor Farkas, Yuja Wang and Rudolf Buchbinder. There will also be a celebration of Leonard Bernstein's centenary year with a co-production from Neue Oper Wien of ‘A Quiet Place’.

Apart from musical performances, choreographer Wayne McGregor brings his recently premièred dance piece Autobiography, based on a map of his own genomes. Just to mention a few.”

Audience from all over He adds that they have a fundamentally positive feedback from the audience of the different programs. “We are honored to have an engaged and excited audience, and the number of visitors – from Hungary as well as from abroad – increase year by year. It is safe to say that the Budapest Spring Festival has become a beloved brand for cultural enthusiasts. Thanks to our international

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network, the invited artists create new works especially for the festival, so the audience can feel that Budapest is really the place to be in April, no matter whether they are interested in early music or contemporary dance.”

Regarding the international popularity of the Budapest Spring Festival and its promotion in other countries, Csaba Káel highlights that this Festival is jointly organized

by Müpa Budapest, the Budapest Festival and Tourism Center and the Hungarian Tourism Agency.

“I strongly believe that our long-term collaborations with the international artists and ensembles create new perspectives for the Hungarian artists, as well, and the festival's program selection attracts visitors to Budapest from all over the world. BSF is also part of the EFA (European Festival Association), and we are committed to find new, and efficient ways – study tours, innovative and thoughtful marketing strategies – to make our festival highlights visible all over Europe. The goal is to have more and more ‘brand ambassadors’: enthusiastic artists and satisfied audiences, willing to return.”

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ACOSTA, ARMIN BARDEL, JÓZSEF WÁGNER CSAPÓ, SZILVIA CSIBI

Categories This year, the Festival – running until April 22 – has more than twenty categories of performances. Csaba Káel, who is also the CEO of the Palace of Arts - Müpa in Budapest, stresses that it is a real mission to find the right genres. “The wide variety of programs includes classical music and chamber music concerts, contemporary dance, ballet, opera, poetry, theater and fashion. Budapest Spring Festival offers its spectators the pleasure of exploring new genres as well. We are monitoring the most exciting trends in the art fields, but the combination of preserving our heritage, reflecting on our traditions, holding to our values and also being open to new forms of art makes our festival program really unique.”

He adds that the festival is proud to present new works in co-production with members of the European Concert Hall Organization every year. “In 2017, we were extremely excited to have had the chance to present the latest creation by John Malkovich and Martin Haselböck right after its world premiere at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. But the spectacular folk dance piece, entitled Compromise/150 by the Hungarian

photos by DARIO

This is the 38th year of the Budapest Spring Festival (BSF). Csaba Káel, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Festival points out to Diplomacy&Trade that since it was launched in 1981, “the Budapest Spring Festival has become one of Central Europe’s most important and highly prestigious event series in the field of performing arts that brings the best international and Hungarian artists and productions to Budapest.”

Regarding the festival’s traditions that are time honored and built on year after year, he explains that “diversity of art forms and genres has become a core value of the festival during the past decade, while commitment to quality and innovation has been part of our mission from the start. The Budapest Spring Festival has always been focused around certain themes and anniversaries, and the figure and oeuvre of the iconic Hungarian composer Ferenc Liszt plays an important role in the festival in 2018, as well, just like every other year. Also, Budapest Spring Festival – with its more than 40 venues all over the Hungarian capital – is a real city festival, with the aim to create an extraordinary Budapest-experience through the arts for the visitors.”

cinema Jusqu'à la garde (Custody), the first feature film by French director Xavier Legrand, debuted in Hungarian cinemas in the middle of March 2018, telling the story of a broken marriage and a bitter custody battle with an embattled son at the center. The movie, which won the Audience Award for the best European Film at last year’s San Sebastián International Film Festival, stars French actress Léa Drucker in the role of the wife, Miriam Besson.

SPECTACULAR BUT REALISTIC

photos by COURTESY

PICTURES

FRENCH ACTRESS LÉA DRUCKER ON HER ROLE IN THE MOVIE OF A DEBUTANT DIRECTOR

When asked whether she had seen such custody battles in real life or heard similar stories from people she knows, Léa Drucker told Diplomacy&Trade that, unfortunately, there are many such cases. “When Xavier Legrand asked me to play in the initial, short version of the movie and I started to work on this character, Miriam, I felt like I actually knew her and that I knew what she was going through. Sometimes, this situation is a mix-up of things that you have lived through yourself or you have heard about or just things that you feel around you. So, I understand her very well. I like the film as it not only portrays the wife as a victim but also as a woman who tries to rebuild herself and regain her freedom. It is not spectacular but quite realistic, in the movie, that she tries to rebuild something for herself and for her family.”

As to how she got the role of Miriam, the actress explained that “as I said, when Xavier Legrand wrote a short version of this movie, he already had me in mind for Miriam’s role, as he had seen me in movies and in theater. Then, we met and I liked him very much and I also liked the film he wanted to make. It was a great experience to work with him, it was fantastic.”

Debutant director ‘Custody’ is the first movie directed by Xavier Legrand. When asked what it was like to work with a debuting director, Léa Drucker, who has played in dozens of cinema productions, highlighted that “when I started to work with him, w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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I didn’t know him, I didn’t know his background, I only knew the script, the characters and the story he wanted to tell. I was surprised that it was his first movie as a director, I felt he was someone with a lot of experience. He has a great instinct for cinema and a great confidence in what he is doing – not self-confident but confident about how he wants to tell the story, how he wants to film. He is very secure for us, actors. He is a very strong director and does not seem like a debutant in this profession.”

Working with a powerful kid The role of Julien, the child in the custody battle, I was played by Thomas Gioria who was 12 years old during the shooting. “We were very lucky to work with Thomas. This kid has a strong desire for being an actor, which is necessary for a movie like that. It is his desire – not his parents’ – to be an actor. So, he really understood the situation and during the shooting of the film, he was able to portray intimate feelings, the intimate way of looking at things. He is a very powerful actor, a very strong partner,” the actress says. She adds that, at times, she was troubled by him and – as a woman – also worried how he felt on the set, whether it was too traumatic for him, “but then, I saw he was simply excited about making a great movie. Actors many times have mixed feelings about acting. Sometimes, we suffer when filming a scene but we like to do that because we love doing this, it is a job that we love. Young Thomas had the same feeling. He also had the grasp of

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what the movie was about. The director did a great job preparing him before the shooting and the boy also had a coach on the movie set, a woman who would protect him.”

Favorable reviews Among other recognitions, ‘Custody’ was voted the best ‘International Feature Film’ at last year’s Zurich Film festival. Xavier Legrand won the Luigi De Laurentiis Award and was selected as Best Director (recognized with the Silver Lion award) at the 2017 Venice Film Festival. As Léa Drucker says, “we have had great feedback from movie professionals and also at international festivals. In France, those in the movie profession as well as journalists liked the movie, as did the audience. I was happy to see that people on the street wanted to talk about this film. I’ve received messages on Instagram and twitter from people

who wish to discuss this movie. It is very rare – I’ve never experienced that before.”

Movies and theater interconnected Apart from feature films, Léa Drucker also plays in TV movies and theater. In answer to the question whether these require a different type of acting on her part, she points out that “not at the source, but more at the technical level. In the theater, you have to speak a little louder and be more exuberant.

The basics of the work are the same: building the character, making work what you have previously imagined. There is interconnection: theater prepares me for film, theater makes me stronger while the movie helps my theatrical work to get me deeper and deeper into characters. When you play in the theater, you do your own editing, you are the master of your work, you have more power in theatrical work,” she concludes.

DANGER CAN SURFACE ANYWHERE…

“Custody is built on fear. The fear inspired by a man prepared to do anything to get back together with a woman who wants to leave him to escape his violent behavior. The character of Antoine, played by Denis Ménochet, is a permanent threat for those around him. He makes everyone around him tense; he can only feel his own pain, and he would manipulate anyone, including his children. Women who have suffered domestic violence, like the one played

by Léa Drucker, are always on high alert. They know that danger can surface anywhere, any time, and no one is safe. In France, a woman dies every twoand-a-half days as a result of domestic violence, and although the media talk about it, the topic remains largely taboo. Victims are afraid to come forward, neighbors and family don’t say anything, because they don’t want to interfere with the couple’s relationship. There is heavy secrecy. I didn’t want to tackle it like a current affairs subject. As in [the 2013 short film] ‘Just Before Losing Everything’, I wanted to raise public awareness about this crisis by using the power of cinema, which has always fascinated me; that of Hitchcock, Haneke, or Chabrol, the kind of cinema which involves the spectator by playing with their intelligence and nerves.”

(XAVIER LEGRAND)

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PERMANENT REVOLUTION. UKRAINIAN ART TODAY

UNTIL JUNE 24 The first major presentation of the Ukrainian contemporary art scene in Hungary is a special occasion to look into the vibrant art of a country full of tension, which is still largely in the blind spot of the European cultural area.

Featuring the works of several generations, “Permanent Revolution” focuses on the question what is contemporary art today, in a coordinate system, where people build barricades on the country’s main square with startling regularity, with beauty and elemental conceptualism that the world’s best artists would envy. www.lumu.hu

25TH TITANIC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

JAMES BLUNT: THE AFTERLOVE TOUR

APRIL 4 - APRIL 13 AT MULTIPLE CINEMAS IN BUDAPEST The Titanic Film Festival is one of the greatest film events in Hungary offering an overall selection of the best contemporary films every spring. In total, 45 films will be presented during the 10-day fest, including Árpád Bogdán’s ‘Genesis’, Chloé Zhao’s ‘The Rider’ and ‘A Ghost Story’ featuring Casey Affleck. The festival’s guest country this year is Iceland. Movies will be screened at seven venues including the Uránia National Film Theater, Toldi Cinema and the University of Theater and Film Arts’ Pop-Up Cinema (Ódry Színpad). The festival presents a grand prize every year, titled ‘Breaking Waves Award,’ to the most outstanding, daring and innovative movie. www.titanicfilmfest.hu

MAY 8 PAPP LÁSZLÓ BUDAPEST SPORTARÉNA Since emerging with his album ‘Back to Bedlam’ in 2004, and the incredible successful single ‘You’re Beautiful’ (which became No.1 in several countries worldwide including the UK and the USA), English singer-songwriter James Blunt has sold over 20 million albums worldwide and 12.8 million singles. He’s also amassed over 625 million views on YouTube and over 680 millions global streams on streaming platforms. He is now on tour with his most recent album, ‘The Afterlove’, that came out in 2017, written and recorded along with a great number of talents including Ed Sheeran, Ryan Tedder, Amy Wadge (Ed Sheeran, Shannon Saunders), Johnny McDaid (Example, Biffy Clyro), Stephan Moccio (Miley Cyrus, The Weeknd) and MoZella (Miley Cyrus, One Direction). www.livenation.hu

SHOWS AT KATONA JÓZSEF THEATER

IN APRIL THE KATONA JÓZSEF THEATER With a superb casts and internationally acclaimed directors, Katona József is one of the major art theaters in Hungary, staging classic Hungarian and international drama, as well as a selection of contemporary plays. Located downtown in vibrant District 5, 'Katona' is a vital part of Budapest’s cultural scene. In the April, they offer a series of programs with English subtitles featuring the following productions.

• APRIL 17 The Reunification of the Two Koreas by Joël Pommerat • APRIL 23 Nora - Christmas with The Helmers (A Doll's House) by Henrik Ibsen • APRIL 24 Marriage by Gogol www.katonajozsefszinhaz.hu

photos by

LIVE NATION, BORYS MIKHAILOV: RED SERIES, PHOTO, 1968-1975 (DETAIL), NATSPROM (OLEG TISTOL&MYKOLA MATSENKO)/TOGETHER FOREVER (ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 2013), TITANIC FILM FESTIVAL, JUDIT HORVÁTH

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INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL 2018 APRIL 19-22 MILLENÁRIS PARK Budapest’s International Book Festival is considered the largest event on the Hungarian book scene, with up to 60,000 visitors. The festival’s 25th edition offers a great number of cultural programs and at least 50,000 books as well as the opportunity to meet noted authors (up to a hundred, from 25 countries).

The festival’s guest of honor this year is German-language author (of both Austrian and German nationality), Daniel Kehlmann, author of ‘Me and Kaminski’ and ‘Measuring the World’. The festival’s guest country this year is Serbia. Visitors are invited to enjoy book presentations, readings and on-stage conversations. Concerts, record and film screenings will make the event a true festival. www.konyvfesztival.com

BUDAPEST100 – SHARE THE SQUARE

ON MAY 5-6, ALL OVER THE CITY In 2018, Budapest100 will be organized on the first weekend of May. The program series, initiated by the Open Society Archives (OSA), an organization committed to the preservation of architecture, is traditionally held on the 99th and 100th day of the year when several dozen 100-year-old buildings in Budapest are opened to the public. “These events give the residents of the buildings the opportunity to get to know each other and the often hidden treasures of their houses,” organizers say. “We organize walking tours from building to building, from district to district. Each building has its own story, and maybe its own historian. Budapest100 offers the opportunity for these hidden attractions to be discovered.” In 2013, a journalist from the Guardian, Laura Benett selected Budapest100 as one of Europe’s best arts events. “It's a brilliantly simple concept – you wonder why more cities don't follow suit.” www.budapest100.hu

THE SYMPTOMS: HEAD FIRST - OR THE CONTRACTIONS OF EXPANDING TIME APRIL 27 at TRAFÓ We don’t remember how we were born, and we won’t be able to tell the story of our death. Giving birth is an equally elemental borderline event, outside real space and time – a rarefied experience. In their brand new production, The Symptoms attempt to recall, unravel and articulate this experience of childbirth, using body parts, words, and images. The four dancers rely on their own personal memories of giving birth, including body functions, traumatic and euphoric at the same time. They try to turn inside out everything that happened to them inside the unconscious realm, beyond the closed eyes and beneath the skin. www.trafo.hu

GAME OF THRONES® LIVE CONCERT EXPERIENCE FEATURING RAMIN DJAWADI

MAY 18 PAPP LÁSZLÓ BUDAPEST SPORTARÉNA This concert will give fans the opportunity to watch as famed composer Ramin Djawadi leads an orchestra and choir performing music from all seven seasons of the iconic, Emmy® Award-winning HBO series ’Game of Thrones’. Live, includes new music and footage from Season 7 as well a new custom stage design and mesmerizing visuals courtesy of state of the art video technology. As rich as the stories, intrigue and world of Game of Thrones®, Ramin's celebrated music for the show has resonated with fans from the very beginning, as the meticulously constructed songs underscored the emotional weight of key moments between beloved characters, lent scale to massive battle sequences and brought to life songs referenced in George R.R. Martin’s books. Ramin's relentlessly popular title track alone has become an instantly recognizable pop culture phenomenon in its own right. “Bringing the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience to audiences was a dream come true, dating back to an idea hatched over three years ago,” said Djawadi. “The scale and spectacle of the production brought the world of Westeros to life in a truly immersed fashion, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to share the experience with fans not only in North America again, but also to cross the narrow sea for the first time and bring the show to Europe.” The tour was produced and promoted exclusively by Live Nation in partnership with HBO Global Licensing. www.livenation.hu

photos by

HUNGARIAN PUBLISHERS' AND BOOKSELLERS' ASSOCIATION, RÉKA BOGDÁN,

ANDRÉS JIMÉNEZ, REGINA SZODORAI w w w . d t e u r o p e . c o m

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wine & gastronomy VINCE BUDAPEST 2018 THE ANNUAL WINE SHOW BRINGS THE ‘BEST WINE IN THE WORLD’ TO BUDAPEST

This year’s VinCE Wine Show will kick off at a brand new venue, on the premises of the Castle Garden (Várkert Bazár). One of the most prestigious wine events in the CEE region, organized by VinCE Magazine will be held at the Castle Garden (Várkert Bazár) this year. The three-day program kicks-off on April 5. The event that traditionally presents the world’s most respected wine celebrities is a paradise for wine lovers and for professionals it is a must. Traditionally, VinCE offers a truly unforgettable experience for wine enthusiasts and professionals alike. Besides displaying an awesome cornucopia of wines, with no less than 160 exhibitors presenting 1,000 different types of wine, the exhibition also offers seated tastings where wine lovers may sip both wine and knowledge. 15 different master classes and interactive workshops will be held on the hottest topics in the wine world, such as biodynamic wine production, volcanic wines, champagne and the rosé evolution. The 2018 edition will feature internationally acclaimed wine writers, wine judges and leading experts such as Peter McCombie, Elizabeth Gabay, Jean-Rene Matignon and Tom Stevenson. www.vincebudapest.hu

AUTHENTIC JAPANESE FLAVORS IN ÓBUDA Take part in an enchanting Asian excursion by visiting Sushi Sei, a restaurant in the heart of Óbuda, not far from Kolosy square, where the gastronomical experience evokes all the senses. The Japanese restaurant, dating back more than 10 years, brings the clear elegance of Japanese culture to life in Budapest with a beautiful, intimate interior where guests are served authentic food in original hand-painted china. The open kitchen presents the widest variety of sushi and sashimi in Budapest that Seiichi Kusumoto, the Japanese chef prepares from the freshest ingredients. Guests are invited to gain insight into this oriental culture’s art of cooking and also to taste the traditional Japanese spirits that are perfect accompaniments to the dishes. Whether you are a true sushi enthusiast or an ardent gastronomy adventurer seeking to be swept up by the unique combination of flavors of other countries, Sushi Sei awaits you with an elegant setting, delicious food and first class service.

WINNING SERIES

THE ATMOSPHERE The two separated rooms of the restaurant and the shady, roofed terrace are preferred spots for business lunches and dinners alike. Sitting outside, guests are just a step away from the buzzing Óbuda Promenade.

Weekends are about families. A children’s corner ensures diverse activities both for toddlers and kids.

Parking spaces are available in the building’s garage.

Csaba Koch’s Hajós-Baja and Villány wines were plied with gold medals at the international PAR wine competition held in Frasdorf, Germany. Koch also scooped up a gold medal in Munus Vinis, one of the world’s largest wine competitions.

“I was surprised, too, when the jury at the PAR wine competition awarded 95 points to my Villány Premium Merlot. Especially given that the wine is not even on the market yet, and I think that it will only really reach its peak after a bit of bottle maturation”, commented Csaba Koch on his red Villány wine’s success. However, this recognition is not without precedent: two years ago, another of his wines, the Csanád Cuvée 2012, was named Best Red Wine with 96 points at the same competition (since then, this wine has also been selected as Hungary’s best red wine by the Circle of Hungarian Wine Writers).

RECOMMENDATION Takko Wasabi - Octopus salad with wasabi Tempura Bento - Bento selection Sashimi Moriawase - Sashimi selection Maccha (Green tea) Cheesecake CONTACT Address: 1036 Budapest, Bécsi út 58.

Tel: +361 240 4065; +3630 435 0567 www.sushisei.hu

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photos by VINCE

His ‘winning series’ include the Villány Premium Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 and Hajós-Baja Frisch Cserszegi Fűszeres 2017 – these were both awarded gold medals this year, the latter gaining 90 points, which is rather unusual in the case of a light, reductive white wine.

Whereas, his first “series” traditional method Brut Chardonnay sparkling wine was awarded a silver medal.

The success experienced at Mundus Vini also augments the number of his accolades. Over the last six days, several hundred experts from 44 countries judged the more than 6,000 wines submitted. Standing out here is not easy. However, Csaba Koch’s Villány Premium Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 picked up a gold medal with ease. “Our wines from the Diósviszló Imre Valley vineyard have been winning prizes for years at both national and international competitions. Perhaps it’s time to elevate this vineyard to among the more familiar Villány star vineyards!” the winemaker commented.

BUDAPEST WINE SHOW, GÁBOR GYULA TÓTH/HEAVENMANPHOTOGRAPHY, DESIGNFOOD ANTONIO PHOTOGRAPHY, DÁVID HARANGOZÓ

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hospitality

HOTEL OF TOMORROW OPENED LAST MONTH IN BUDAPEST FIRST HOTEL IN EUROPE CONTROLLED BY GUEST SMARTPHONES OPENS IN HUNGARY

The 40 rooms of the 4-star KViHotel, controlled by the TMRW Hotels application, uses the most innovative solutions of the 21st century; the TMRW Hotels smartphone application literally puts everything in the hands of the guests, from booking to checkout.

photos by KVIHOTEL,

ATTILA ŐZSE/WWW.OZSEATTILA.COM, RICHARD@RICHARDPOWERS.CO.UK

After two years of IT development and construction work, the first hotel in Europe (4 star) controlled by guest smartphones, has opened in Budapest. Based on the latest travel trends and expectations of the future, the hotel offers travelers of the future an unparalleled hotel experience. KViHotel (Key Vision, derived from “Vision for the Future”) located at 32 Nyár utca, District 7, operates with limited staff by using the TMRW Hotels application; nearly all functions are managed by the guests themselves with their own smartphone. This is a unique solution on the continent, for leisure and business travelers.

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Digital solutions for the entire trip Thanks to the TMRW Hotels mobile application, available for Android and iOS devices, hotel guests have access to practically every hotel service at their fingertips: they can book rooms and can check in without delays, even 48 hours before arrival, by selecting the floor and the room. Via a Bluetooth connection the phone is also the room key, and in the event of a late arrival, guests’ phones can even open the main entrance of the hotel. Using the TMRW application hotel guests are in control of the cooling/heating – among other things – and may set the desired temperature of the room for their arrival time, even from 10,000 km away. Additional cleaning can also be requested and “Please do not disturb” signs can even be virtually displayed. Guests can pay through the application, order a taxi, and monitor the payment process as well. Guests can check out with their phone too; no queuing is necessary and the bill can be settled with the help of the application.

Payment by bank card (and shortly by PayPal) is equally secure and convenient, and the bill is naturally sent online to the email address provided. For all these activities, guests can make use of free broadband WiFi all over the hotel, and help is provided for use of the application in the form of texts and videos.

The TMRW Hotels app means the TMRW virtual customer service is available round the clock, no matter where the customer is: the hotel’s dispatch service is available on any platform (Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, iMessage, etc.)

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but guests can ask for guidance or advice even over the phone. If required by local rules (which can optionally be set by the hotel) the application asks for personal data, a scanned version of passports or other personal ID, and the e-signature of the guest at the time of check-in. This information is stored, in line with the strict data protection rules. The TMRW application really simplifies and optimizes housekeeping tasks: the duty list of the housemaids is organized by the TMRW HK application installed on employee smartphones; the system assigns the housekeeping tasks according to an algorithm prepared in advance. Thus, the smartphone assigning the tasks is also a work tool. The application prepares the list of duties for the maids taking priorities into account, and continuously notifies the staff about changes.

The interior design of KViHotel, which is the first to use the TMRW Hotels application and targets intensive users of digital devices, evokes the latest trends. Anthracite grey and yellow as well as blue and green color combinations dominate in the rooms. Three types of accommodation units ranging from 18 to 36 square meters can be booked: superior, deluxe and junior suite. A unique decor feature of the rooms is the triple-layered glass wall insert, creating a youthful atmosphere with its special illumination.

The three rooms on the ground floor have terraces facing the cortile garden. The wall painting decorating the back yard facade of the hotel is well visible from the terrace; the painting holds another digital trick: by directing a smartphone camera towards it, and viewing it through the LARA AR application, the wall painting comes to life.

Efficient operation and green solutions The developer of the TMRW Hotels application and the investor behind KViHotel belong to the same Group, so all subsequent versions of the TMRW applications will be prepared based on first-hand experience.

The name of the hotel (Key Vision) also reflects the “Vision for the Future” attitude.

Owing to the cost-efficient investment and operation (the hotel employs a maximum of 15 people) the guests of KViHotel can enjoy greater comfort and a unique experience for an average Budapest hotel room rate. Extensive digitalization means the use of paper is practically reduced to zero, so, no in-house printing facilities are necessary.

CORINTHIA HOTEL BUDAPEST SCOOPS MICE AWARD

Top award recognizes Corinthia Hotel Budapest for its excellent facilities and service to the meetings, incentive and conference industries at the annual International Hospitality Awards.

Up against hotels in 21 countries, Corinthia Hotel Budapest was recently named Winner of Best MICE Hotel 2017, in Kiev. “We are delighted to win this award,” said hotel General Manager Jean Pierre Mifsud. “It is recognition of not just the hotel’s extensive facilities but our staff who make each event a huge success for our clients.” The hotel exceeded the criteria for this category, namely for handicapped guestrooms and infrastructure, an event hall for 1,000 or more, at least ten conference/meeting rooms, state-of-the-art equipment, secretarial and translation services, simultaneous interpretation services, restaurants, pool, spa, gym and treatment rooms, express dry cleaning, pillow menu, 24-hour security, multi-lingual website and guest loyalty program. With some 31 rooms, the Corinthia Hotel Budapest has the largest conference facilities of any of Hungary’s leading hotels and the jewel in its crown is the impressive threestory-high Grand Ballroom, with high ceilings, stunning cornices and breathtaking Baroque style. It can seat 500 in theater style, 300 for a grand banquet or welcome 400 for cocktails. The Grand Ballroom is linked by a glass bridge to the Valletta Conference Centre, a showpiece of 21st century architecture which can be partitioned to create 12 syndicate rooms or opened up into expansive event or display space. Most have mobile walls. The Royal Lounge, a unique office space exclusively dedicated to event organizers, complements all of this. The MICE award follows hot on the heels of a clutch of awards in December: three from the 11th World Luxury Hotel Awards (Luxury Historical Hotel 2017 in Eastern Europe; Luxury Hotel 2017 in Hungary; and Luxury Spa Hotel 2017 in Hungary) and Hotel of the Year 2018 for Hungary in the annual Travel and Hospitality Awards.

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