Hungary History: 20th and 21st Centuries Part II

With Poland, however, there were tensions due to differences on the exploitation of the Danube waters and the existing conflict between the ethnic minorities of the two countries. Similar was the problem with Romania due to the poor protection of the Magyar minority of Transylvania. The closer and closer relationship with the Atlantic Alliance materialized during the Serbian-Bosnian conflict with the granting of bases to the multinational force and the sending of a non-combatant contingent to Croatia. In the 1998 general election, the center-left coalition was defeated by the nationalist right, led by Viktor Orban.

In March 1999 Hungary joined the NATO, while in 2000 Ferenc Mádl was elected president. In December 2002, at the Copenhagen summit, the country started negotiations for accession to the European Union. The national elections for the renewal of Parliament (April 2002) recorded the victory of the social-liberal opposition and the handover from the outgoing premier Orban (Young Democrats) to the socialist leader P. Medgyessy. In 2003, with a popular referendum, Hungary expressed itself in favor of joining the European Union, which officially took place on May 1, 2004. In August 2004, Prime Minister Medgyessy resigned after being disheartened by the liberals, members of the ruling coalition. The socialist party at the head of the government, during the extraordinary congress of the party, designated Ferenc Gyurcsàny as its successor. In June 2005 the Parliament elected the new President of the Republic: Laszlo Solyom, elected with the votes of the center-right opposition.

Legislative elections were held in April 2006 and were won by the center-left coalition led by Prime Minister F. Gyurcsàny. In December 2007, Parliament ratified the new Treaty of the European Union. In March 2009, the prime minister resigned and Gordon Bajnai was appointed in his place. In 2010, the center-right Fidesz coalition, led by former premier V. Orbàn and until now in the opposition, won the elections by winning two thirds of the seats in parliament and defeating the socialist party (MSZP). In August 2010 Pàl Schmitt, a former Olympian, was appointed by Parliament as the new President of the Republic, while in April 2011 the new constitution was approved, heavily criticized by the opposition for its ultra-conservative imprint. A year later Schmitt had to leave due to a scandal and in 2012 Jànos Ader was elected president. In the 2014 legislative elections, the Fidesz government coalition maintained an absolute majority in the National Assembly, whose composition was reduced, starting from this consultation, from 386 to 199.

Politics

Independent republic since November 16, 1918, the date that marked the end of the Austro-Hungarian hegemony, after the Second World War Hungary fell back into the Soviet sphere of influence and was subjected to a communist regime for over forty years. The State, a democratic republic since 1947, returned to a parliamentary regime with the reforms of 1988-89, a moment of definitive detachment from the Soviet bloc, and in particular with the amendments (October 18, 1989) to the Constitution dating back to 1949. free elections that sanctioned the transfer of power to democratic institutions. According to computerminus, the legislative power is held by the National Assembly (unicameral), whose 386 members are elected for four years by universal suffrage. The Assembly also has the task of electing the President of the Republic (whose mandate lasts for five years) and, in agreement with the Head of State, the members of the Council of Ministers, the body which has the executive power.and who reports on their work to the National Assembly. The judicial system adopted refers to the European continental model and the death penalty is not in force. The armed forces are divided between the army and the air force. The draft is compulsory and lasts one year, but an alternative service is provided for conscientious objectors. Education is compulsory between 6 and 14 years of age. Primary school is divided into two four-year cycles, in which general teaching alternates with technical applications. Secondary school also offers students (who total over two million in the country) a general (high school) and a technical-professional course. Higher education takes place in higher education institutions and in the country’s 20 universities.

Country Overview

(Magyar Köztársaság). Central European State (93,030 km²). Capital: Budapest. Administrative division: counties (20). Population: 10,045,401 (2008 estimate). Language: Hungarian. Religion: Catholics 63.1%, Protestants 25.4%, non-religious / atheists 11.5%. Monetary unit: Hungarian forint (100 fillér). Human Development Index: 0.877 (38th place). Borders: Slovakia (N), Ukraine (NE), Romania (E), Serbia and Montenegro (S), Croatia and Slovenia (SW), Austria (W). Member of: Council of Europe, EBRD, NATO, OCDE, UN, OSCE, WTO and EU.

Hungary History - 20th and 21st Centuries 2

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