on the record

government would immediately scrap the HUF 480 per liter price, the Minister heading the Prime Minister's Office, Gergely Gulyás announced at an extraordinary press briefing.

Mol CEO Zsolt Hernádi said at the press briefing that “the last few days have seen an unprecedented crisis in the country, such queues in front of wells were last seen in this country in the 1970s and 1980s. In the past few days, there have been panic attacks, empty petrol stations, in one word: chaos,” he said. There was no petrol at the pumps, there was a total drain at many gas stations – press reports suggested that every fourth station was out of fuel.

Language Exam No Longer Required For Higher Education Degree

UPCOMING NATIONAL DAYS

February 6 New Zealand National Day

15 Serbia National Day

16 Lithuania National Day

23 Japan National Day

24 Estonia National Day

25 Kuwait National Day

28 Egypt Independence Day

March 1 Bosnia&Hercegovina National Day

3 Bulgaria National Day

6 Ghana Independence Day

15 Hungary National Day

17 Ireland Independence Day

20 Tunisia Independence Day

21 Namibia Independence Day

25 Greece National Day

He also reported that annual drought damage averaged around HUF 400 billion, major flood damage averaged around 50 billion forints a year, and inland flood damage averaged between 20-30 billion forints a year. He added that in 2021, ‘another leg’ of the protection was built, namely drought damage management, which had to be applied in 2022, as additional pumping had to be ordered in many places to meet water needs.

The director of the Central Tisza Region Water Management Directorate (Kötivizig), Attila Lovas, stressed that "about 48 kilometers of sections are being upgraded, some of which will improve the strength and load-bearing capacity of the flood protection embankment.”

Judit Polg R Inducted Into The World Chess Hall Of Fame

The governing majority of Hungarian Parliament adopted a law on the reform of higher education requirements that, among other things, abolished the language exam requirement for issuing university degrees. According to the new regulation, universities will be able to decide for themselves what language skills they expect their students to have, and the state will also entrust the organization of the related training to the institutions. This means that the foreign language requirements may vary from university to university. Universities will now also have to ensure that they "provide the necessary foreign language teaching and appropriate assessment of foreign language skills for the exercise of the qualification." The new rules will be introduced in a progressive system, but students who have not obtained a diploma due to the lack of a language exam will also be exempted from this requirement.

Increasing Flood Safety In The Tisza Valley

A project for the development of water infrastructure in the Tisza Valley has started with HUF 5.6 billion nonrefundable funding from the European Union and the Hungarian state; the project, expected to be completed by the end of November 2023, will contribute to increasing flood safety in the region.

Hungarian Government Scraps Capped Fuel Prices

Following long lines at Hungarian gas stations due to the shortage of supply of capped priced fuel in the past few days, the Hungarian government announced late evening on December 6 that the capped prices introduced in November 2021 are scrapped as of 23.00 hours local time.

The Hungarian oil and gas company Mol, the only company supplying Hungarian gas stations since the introduction of the capped prices as the artificially subdued prices would result in financial loss for foreign companies, informed the government that it cannot supply the country with fuel any more. Thus, the

István Láng, Director-General of the National Water Management Directorate (OVF), said at the announcement that records had been broken in flood levels and drought in the last twenty to twenty-five years. It is estimated that the drought damage in 2022 to the national economy was between HUF 1,300 billion and 1,600 billion, “but water needs have been met,” he noted.

Hungary’s Judit Polgár, the best female chess player of all time, has been inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place during the 6th Annual Strategy Across the Board Gala hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club and the World Chess Hall of Fame this past December in Saint Louis, Missouri in the United States.

According to the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF), Judit Polgár is universally recognized as the strongest female player of all time. She was first rated in the top 100 players in the world at age 12 and three years later, broke Bobby Fischer’s record as the youngest grandmaster.

She is the only woman to have ever reached the candidates stage of the world championship cycle, to have been ranked in the top ten players in the world, and to have been rated over 2,700 Élő points, reaching a peak of 2,735 in 2005. During her career, she defeated 11 current or former world champions in rapid or classical chess. Judit Polgár was a member of the 2014 silver medal winning Hungarian Olympiad team and won seven other medals in Olympiads.

ARTPORT –A CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION

Budapest Airport, the managing company of the Hungarian capital’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport, in partnership with the Kovács Gábor Art Foundation (KOGART), invites travelers from Budapest on a fascinating artistic adventure in Pier B of the airport. The eight works of art featured in the exhibition will transport visitors into the world of fine art, creating a unique and inimitable atmosphere within the walls of the pier. The eight-painting exhibition consists of five individual works and one three-part work, each of which can be interpreted individually. The exhibition includes paintings in abstract style, the multifaceted use of the forest motif and impressionist paintings.