Camoes DayPortugal - J u n 1 0

Luís Vaz de Camões sometimes rendered in Englishas Camoens (1524 – 10 June 1580) is consideredPortugal's and the Portuguese language's greatestpoet. His mastery of verse has been compared to thatof Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. Hewrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry anddrama but is best remembered for his epic work OsLusíadas (The Lusiads). His recollection of poetry TheParnasum of Luís de Camõeswas lost in his lifetime.The influence of his masterpiece "Os Lusíadas" in Por-tuguese is so profound that it is called the "languageof Camões".

LifeMany details concerning the life of Camões remain un-known, but he is thought to have been born around1524. Luís Vaz de Camões was the only child ofSimão Vaz de Camões and wife Ana de Sá deMacedo. His birthplace is unknown. Lisbon, Coimbraor Alenquer are frequently presented as his birthplace,although the latter is based on a disputable interpre-tation of one of his poems. Constância is also consid-ered a possibility as his place of birth: a statue can befound in the town.Camões belongs to a family originating from the north-ern Portuguese region of Chaves near Galicia. At anearly age, his father Simão Vaz left his family to dis-cover personal riches in India, only to die in Goa in thefollowing years. His mother later re-married.Camões lived a semi-privileged life and was educatedby Dominicans and Jesuits. For a period, due to hisfamilial relations he attended the University of Coim-bra, although records do not show him registered (heparticipated in courses in the Humanities). His uncle,Bento de Camões, is credited with this education,owing to his position as Prior at the Monastery ofSanta Cruz and Chancellor at the University of Coim-bra. He frequently had access to exclusive literature,including classical Greek, Roman and Latin works,read Latin, Italian and wrote in Spanish.Camões, as his love of poetry can attest, was a ro-mantic and idealist. It was rumored that he fell in lovewith Catherine of Ataíde, lady-in-waiting to the Queen,and also the Princess Maria, sister of John III of Por-tugal. It is also likely that an indiscreet allusion to theking in his play El-Rei Seleuco, as well as these otherincidents may have played a part in his exile from Lis-bon in 1548. He traveled to the Ribatejo where hestayed in the company of friends who sheltered andfed him. He stayed in the province for about sixmonths.He enlisted in the overseas militia, and traveled toCeuta in the fall of 1549. During a battle with theMoors, he lost the sight in his right eye. He eventuallyreturned to Lisbon in 1551, a changed man, living a bohemian lifestyle. In 1552, during the religious festival of CorpusChristi, in the Largo do Rossio, he injured Gonçalo Borges, a member of the Royal Stables. Camões was imprisoned.His mother pleaded for his release, visiting royal ministers and the Borges family for a pardon. Released, Camõeswas ordered to pay 4,000 réis and serve three-years in the militia in the Orient.He departed in 1553 for Goa on board the São Bento, commanded by Fernão Alves Cabral. The ship arrived sixmonths later. In Goa, Camões was imprisoned for debt. He found Goa "a stepmother to all honest men" but hestudied local customs and mastered the local geography and history. On his first expedition, he joined a battle alongthe Malabar Coast. The battle was followed by skirmishes along the trading routes between Egypt and India. Thefleet eventually returned to Goa by November 1554. During his time ashore, he continued his writing publicly, aswell as writing correspondence for the uneducated men of the fleet.At the end of his obligatory service, he was given the position of chief warrant officer in Macau. He was charged withmanaging the properties of missing and deceased soldiers in the Orient. During this time he worked on his epicpoem Os Lusíadas ("The Lusiads") in a grotto. He was later accused of misappropriations and traveled to Goa torespond to the accusations of the tribunal. During his return journey, near the Mekong River along the Cambodiancoast, he was shipwrecked, saving his manuscript but losing his Chinese lover. His shipwreck survival in the MekongDelta was enhanced by the legendary detail that he succeeded in swimming ashore while holding aloft the manuscriptof his still-unfinished epic.In 1570 Camões finally made it back to Lisbon, where two years later he published Os Lusíadas. In recompense forhis poem or perhaps for services in the Far East, he was granted a small royal pension by the young and ill-fatedSebastian of Portugal (ruled 1557–1578).In 1578 he heard of the appalling defeat of the Battle of Ksar El Kebir, where King Sebastian was killed and the Por-tuguese army destroyed. The Castilian troops were approaching Lisbon when Camões wrote to the Captain Generalof Lamego: "All will see that so dear to me was my country that I was content to die not only in it but with it". Camõesdied in Lisbon in 1580, at the age of 56. The day of his death, 10 June, is Portugal's national day. He is buried nearVasco da Gama in the Jerónimos Monastery in the Belém district of Lisbon.

Chaco PeaceParaguay - J u n 1 2

The Chaco War (1932–1935) was fought between Bolivia andParaguay over control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region(known as Chaco Boreal) of South America, which was incorrectlythought to be rich in oil. It is also referred to as La Guerra de la Sed(Spanish for "War of Thirst") in literary circles for being fought in thesemi-arid Chaco. The war was the bloodiest military conflict foughtin South America during the 20th century. The war pitted two ofSouth America's poorest countries, both having previously lost ter-ritories to neighbors in wars during the 19th century. During the warboth countries faced difficulties in obtaining arms and other suppliessince their landlocked situation made their foreign trade and armspurchases dependent on the willingness of neighboring countriesto let them pass by. In particular Bolivia faced external trade prob-lems coupled with poor internal communications. While Bolivia hadincome from lucrative mining and a better equipped and larger army than Paraguay, a series of factors turned the tidein favour of Paraguay which came by the end of the war to control most of the disputed zone, and was finally alsogranted two-thirds of the disputed territories in the peace treaties.

Portugal DayPortugal - Jun 10

Portugal Day, or sometimes called Camões Day, is cele-brated by Portuguese communities the world over to com-memorate the unity of the Portuguese who have settled inall parts of the Earth.

HistoryMacau was the first European colony in Asia, having beenoccupied by Portuguese settlers who came to that part ofthe world in the 16th century. Macau has played a signifi-cant role in Portuguese history, a history which includes thearrival of the renowned Portuguese poet Luís de Camõesin 1556. It is said that he wrote his epic poem, “Os Lucidas”,in Camões garden in Macau, and the poem included strongthemes of Portuguese pride and history.Camões was an explorer and wrote the poem during histravels. He had gone to great lengths to save his poem, in-cluding an attempt to keep the writing above water afterbeing shipwrecked. He is celebrated as a national hero, and his poem was treated as one of the best of Portugueseliterature.June 10 has been celebrated as Portugal’s national day since independence from Spain in 1640. This date—theday Camões died—was chosen because official birth records didn’t exist for the Portuguese poet. In 1944, a changecame about with reference to the day as The Day of the Portuguese race, using Camões as a symbol of the Por-tuguese race.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIESCelebrations of the Portuguese culture and people aren’t limited to Portugal alone. With Portuguese folk scatteredaround the globe, different customs have appeared. In Newark, New Jersey in the United States, for example, thePortugal Day Festival draws in thousands of people, requiring months of planning in advance. Festivities in Macauare still vivid despite the area being handed over to China by Portugal in 1999. Celebrations in Brazil, Canada, andother parts of the world remind people of the Portuguese people and their culture.

Russia DayR u s s i a - J u n 1 2

Russia Day (Russian: День России, Den' Rossii) isthe national holiday of the Russian Federation, cele-brated on June 12. It has been celebrated every yearsince 1992. The First Congress of People's Deputiesof the Russian Federation adopted the Declaration ofState Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet FederativeSocialist Republic on June 12, 1990.

HistoryThe idea of the declaration was born in the Demo-cratic Russia movement, in which proponents of evo-lutionary market reform and strong statehood basedon Russia's national interests started opposing theCommunist monopoly on power. In addition, by thelate 1980s, society had begun to doubt the Politburo'sability to carry out meaningful socio-economic re-forms.The creation of the post of the President of the Russian Federation and the adoption of the new Russian Constitutionto reflect the new political reality, along with the national flag, anthem and emblem of the Russian Federation, weremajor landmarks in the consolidation of Russian statehood. The country's new name- the Russian Federation (Rus-sia)- was adopted on December 25, 1991. The day when the declaration was adopted- June 12 - was proclaimedas national holiday by Supreme Soviet of Russia in 1992, and again proclaimed Russia's national holiday by theRussian President's decree of June 2, 1994. Under the presidential decree of June 16, 1998, it was called the Dayof Russia. In 2002, the new Labor Code gave official seal to this title.The Russians' attitude towards this holiday is ambivalent. Many see adoption of Declaration of state sovereignty asa negative historic event which accelerated dissolution of the Soviet Union.

King Kamehameha Day, HawaiiU.S. - Jun 11

Kamehameha Day on June 11 is a public holiday of the state of Hawaii inthe United States. It honors Kamehameha the Great, the monarch who firstestablished the unified Kingdom of Hawaiʻi — comprising the Hawaiian Is-lands of Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi,Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui andHawaiʻi. While he was king, Hawaii was a center of the fur and sandalwoodtrade. Pineapples were brought to Hawaii from Spain in 1813 and coffee wasfirst planted in 1818, a year before he died. In 1883 a statue of King Kame-hameha I was dedicated in Honolulu by King David Kalākaua (this was du-plicate, because the original statue was lost at sea). There is anotherduplicate of this statue in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor Center inWashington, D.C.

EstablishmentThe holiday was first established by royal decree of the ruling great grandsonKamehameha V on 1871. The first observance of the holiday happened thefollowing year. Late 19th century celebrations of Kamehameha Day featuredcarnivals and fairs, foot races, horse races and velocipede races. Kame-hameha Day was one of the first holidays proclaimed by the Governor ofHawaiʻi and the Hawaiʻi State Legislature when Hawaiʻi achieved statehoodin 1959.Today, Kamehameha Day is treated with elaborate events harkening backto ancient Hawaiʻi, respecting the cultural traditions that Kamehameha de-fended as his society was slowly shifting towards European trends. The KingKamehameha Hula Competition attracts hula groups from all over the worldto the Neil S. Blaisdell Center for the two day event. Prizes are awarded onthe second night.

Floral paradeA floral parade is held annually at various locationsthroughout the state of Hawaii. On the island of Oahu, theparade runs from ʻIolani Palace in downtown Honolulupast Honolulu Harbor and the Prince Kūhiō Federal Build-ing through Kakaʻako, Ala Moana and Waikīkī, ending atKapiʻolani Park. June 11 is also the anniversary of thededication of Kapiʻolani Park. The floral parade featureslocal marching bands — including the Royal HawaiianBand (the oldest municipal band in the United States) —and artistically designed floats using native flowers andplants. Many local companies enter floats for their em-ployees.A favorite floral parade feature is the traditional royal paʻuriders. They represent a royal court led by a queen onhorseback, followed by princesses representing the eightmajor islands of Hawaiʻi and Molokini. Each princess is attended by paʻu ladies in waiting. Paʻuwomen are dressedin colorful and elegant 19th century riding gowns accented with lei and other floral arrangements.After the parade, the state celebrates a Hoʻolauleʻa, literally Celebration, or block party with food and music. Culturalexhibitions are also scattered throughout Kapiʻolani Park — arts and crafts, games, sports and other events plannedby the Bishop Museum, the premier Hawaiian cultural institution.On the Island of Hawaii, there are two floral parades held. One between the towns of Hawi and Kapaʻau and theother in the town of Hilo. There is also a lei draping ceremony in Kapaau at the statue of King Kamehameha there.

Draping ceremonyThe most important ritual dates back to 1901 after the Territory of Hawaiʻi was established. It is the evening drapingceremony in which the Kamehameha Statue in front of Aliʻiolani Hale and ʻIolani Palace on King Street in downtownHonolulu is draped in long strands oflei. The same is done at the Kamehameha Statue on the former monarch'shome island, the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. Outside of the state, a similar draping ceremony is held at the United StatesCapitol where the Kamehameha Statue there is also draped in lei in the company of federal officials.

CelebrationThe celebration includes a traditional Pa‘u Parade and a Ho‘olaule‘a. The celebration is organized by the KohalaHawaiian Civic Club.

Independence DayPhilippines - Jun 12

The Philippines officially known as the Republic of thePhilippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereigncountry in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. Toits north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West acrossthe South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to thesouthwest lies between the country and the island of Bor-neo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it fromother islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by thePhilippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire andits tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earth-quakes and typhoons but have also endowed the countrywith natural resources and made it one of the richest areasof biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly intothree main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, andMindanao. Its capital city is Manila.With an estimated population of about 98 million people,the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An addi-tional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In pre-historic times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive wavesof Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introducedChinese cultural influences which remain to this day.The Philippines has been part of several empires: the Spanish Empire during the age of Imperialism, the UnitedStates after the Spanish-American War of 1898, and the Japanese Empire during World War II, until the officialPhilippine independence in 1945.The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 marked the beginning of an era of Spanishinterest and eventual colo-nization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobosnamed the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor ofPhilip II of Spain. Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in the Philippines in 1565 and consolidated Spanish rule in theislands, which remained a colony of Spain for more than 300 years.Manila became the Asian hub of the Manila–Acapulco galleon fleet. Christianity was widely adopted. As the 19thcentury gave way to the 20th, there followed in quick succession the Philippine Revolution, which spawned the short-lived First Philippine Republic; the Spanish-American War; and the Philippine–American War. In the aftermath, theUnited States emerged as the dominant power. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States re-tained sovereignty over the islands until the end of World War II when the Philippines gained independence. TheUnited States bequeathed to the Philippines the English language and a stronger affinity for Western culture. Sinceindependence the Philippines has had an often tumultuous experience with democracy, with popular "people power"movements overthrowing a dictatorship in one instance but also underlining the institutional weaknesses of its con-stitutional republic in others.

EtymologyThe name Philippines is derived from that of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos duringhis expedition in 1542 named the islands of Leyte and Samar Felipinas after the then Prince of Asturias. Eventuallythe name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before it became common-place, other names such as Islas del Poniente (Islands of the West) and Magellan's name for the islands San Lázarowere also used by the Spanish to refer to the islands.The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of the country's history. During thePhilippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the PhilippineRepublic. From the period of theSpanish-American War and the Philippine–American War until the Commonwealthperiod, American colonial authorities referred to the country as the Philippine Islands, a translation of the Spanishname. During the American period the name Philippines began to appear and it has since become the country'scommon name. Since independence the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines.

HistoryThe metatarsal of Callao Man is reported to have been reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years agothereby replacing the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 24,000 years ago as the oldest human remainsfound in the archipelago. Negritos were among the archipelago's earliest inhabitants but their appearance in thePhilippines has not been reliably dated. There are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos.F. Landa Jocano theorizes that the ancestors of the Filipinos evolved locally. Wilhelm Solheim's Island Origin Theorypostulates that the peopling of the archipelago transpired via trade networks originating in the antediluvian Sundalandarea around 48000 to 5000 BCE rather than by wide-scale migration. The Austronesian Expansion Theory statesthat Malayo-Polynesians coming from Taiwan began migrating to the Philippines around 4000 BCE, displacing earlierarrivals. Whatever the case, by 1000 BCE the inhabitants of the archipelago had developed into four kinds of socialgroups: hunter-gathering tribes, warrior societies, petty plutocracies, and maritime-centered harbor principalities.Trade between the maritime-oriented peoples and other Asian countries during the subsequent period brought in-fluences from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. During this time there was no unifying political state encompassingthe entire Philippine Archipelago. Instead, the islands were divided among competing thalassocracies ruled by var-ious datus, rajahs, or sultans. These thalassocracies were composed of autonomous barangays which were inde-pendent to or allied with larger nations. Among them were the kingdoms of Maynila, Namayan, and Tondo, theconfederation of Madyaas, the state of Ma-i, the rajahnates of Butuan and Cebu, and the sultanates of Maguindanaoand Sulu. Some of these societies were part of the Malayan empires of Srivijaya,Majapahit, and Brunei. Islam wasbrought to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia. By the 15th century, Islam wasestablished in the Sulu Archipelago and by 1565 had reached Mindanao, the Visayas, and Luzon.In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines and claimed the islands for Spain. Col-onization began when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico in 1565 and formed the firstEuropean settlements in Cebu. In 1571, after dealing with the local royal families in the wake of the Tondo Conspiracyand defeating the Chinese pirate warlord Limahong, the Spanish established Manila as the capital of the SpanishEast Indies.Spanish rule contributed significantly to bringing political unity to the archipelago. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippineswas governed as a territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and then was administered directly from Madrid afterthe Mexican War of Independence. The Manila galleons linking Manila to Acapulco traveled once or twice a yearbetween the 16th and 19th centuries. Trade introduced foods such as corn, tomatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, andpineapples from the Americas. Roman Catholic missionaries converted most of the lowland inhabitants to Christianityand founded schools, a university, and hospitals. While a Spanish decree introduced free public schooling in 1863,efforts in mass public education mainly came to fruition during the American period.During its rule, the Spanish fought off various indigenous revolts and several external colonial challenges from Chi-nese pirates, the Dutch, and the Portuguese. In an extension of the fighting of the Seven Years' War, British forcesunder the command of Brigadier General William Draper and Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish briefly occupied Manila.They found local allies like Diego and Gabriela Silang who took the opportunity to lead a revolt, but Spanish rulewas eventually restored following the1763 Treaty of Paris.In the 19th century, Philippine ports were opened to world trade and shifts were occurring within Philippine society.Many Spaniards born in the Philippines (criollos) and those of mixed ancestry (mestizos) became wealthy. The influxof Spanish and Latino settlers secularized churches and opened up government positions traditionally held bySpaniards born in the Iberian Peninsula (peninsulares). The ideals of revolution also began to spread through theislands. Criollo dissatisfaction resulted in the revolt in Cavite El Viejo in 1872 that was a precursor to the PhilippineRevolution.Revolutionary sentiments were stoked in 1872 after three priests—Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, andJacinto Zamora(collectively known as Gomburza)—were accused of sedition by colonial authorities and executed. This would inspirea propaganda movement in Spain, organized by Marcelo H. del Pilar, José Rizal, and Mariano Ponce, lobbying forpolitical reforms in the Philippines. Rizal was eventually executed on December 30, 1896, on charges of rebellion.As attempts at reform were meeting with resistance, Andrés Bonifacio in 1892 established the secret society calledtheKatipunan, a society along the lines of the freemasons, which sought independence from Spain through armedrevolt. Bonifacio and the Katipunan started the Philippine Revolution in 1896. A faction of the Katipunan, the Magdaloof Cavite province, eventually came to challenge Bonifacio's position as the leader of the revolution and EmilioAguinaldo took over. In 1898, the Spanish-American War began in Cuba and reached the Philippines. Aguinaldodeclared Philippine independence from Spain in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898 and the First Philippine Republicwas established the following year. Meanwhile, the islands were ceded by Spain to the United States for US$20 mil-lion in the 1898 Treaty of Paris. As it became increasingly clear the United States would not recognize the FirstPhilippine Republic, the Philippine–American War broke out. It ended with American control over the islands whichwere then administered as an insular area.In 1935, the Philippines was granted Commonwealth status. Plans for independence over the next decade were in-terrupted by World War II when the Japanese Empire invaded and established a puppet government. Many atrocitiesand war crimes were committed during the war such as the Bataan Death March and the Manila massacre that cul-minated during the Battle of Manila. Allied troops defeated the Japanese in 1945. By the end of the war it is estimatedover a million Filipinos had died.On July 4, 1946, the Philippines attained its independence. Immediately after World War II, the Philippines faced anumber of challenges. The country had to be rebuilt from the ravages of war. It also had to come to terms with Japan-ese collaborators. Meanwhile, disgruntled remnants of the Hukbalahap communist rebel army that had previouslyfought against and resisted the Japanese continued to roam the rural regions. This threat to the government wasdealt with by Secretary of National Defense and later President Ramon Magsaysay, but sporadic cases of communistinsurgency continued to flare up long afterward. In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos was elected president. Nearing the endof his second term and constitutionally barred from seeking a third, he declared martial law on September 21, 1972.By using political divisions, the tension of the Cold War, and the specter of communist rebellion and Islamic insur-gency as justifications, he governed by decree.On August 21, 1983, Marcos' chief rival opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. ignored warnings and returnedfrom exile in the United States. He was assassinated as he was taken off the plane at the Manila International Airport(now called the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his memory). With political pressure building, Marcos eventuallycalled for snap presidential elections in 1986. Corazon Aquino, Benigno's widow, was persuaded to become thepresidential candidate and standard bearer of the opposition. The elections were widely considered rigged whenMarcos was proclaimed the winner. This led to the People Power Revolution, instigated when two long-time Marcosallies—Armed Forces of the Philippines Vice Chief-of-Staff Fidel V. Ramos and Secretary of National Defense JuanPonce Enrile—resigned and barricaded themselves in Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame. Exhorted by the CardinalArchbishop of Manila Jaime Sin, people gathered in support of the rebel leaders and protested on Epifanio de losSantos Avenue (EDSA). In the face of mass protests and military defections, Marcos and his allies fled to Hawaiiand into exile. Corazon Aquino was recognized as president.The return of democracy and government reforms after the events of 1986 were hampered by national debt, gov-ernment corruption, coup attempts, a persistent communist insurgency, and Islamic separatists. The economy im-proved during the administration of Fidel V. Ramos, who was elected president in 1992. However, the economicimprovements were negated with the onset of the East Asian financial crisis in 1997. In 2001, amid charges of cor-ruption and a stalled impeachment process, Ramos' successor Joseph Estradawas ousted from the presidency bythe 2001 EDSA Revolution and replaced by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Her administration that lasted 9 years wastied with graft and corruption and numerous political scandals. As a result of the May 2010 elections, Benigno"Noynoy" Aquino III was elected president.

St. Anthony's Day Portugal - Jun 13

Anthony of Padua or Anthony of Lisbon, O.F.M., (born Fernando Mar-tins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a PortugueseCatholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. Though he died inPadua, Italy, he was born to a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal,which is where he was raised. Noted by his contemporaries for hisforceful preaching and expert knowledge of Scripture, he was de-clared a saint almost immediately after his death and proclaimed aDoctor of the Church in 16 January 1946.

Early lifeFernando Martins de Bulhões was born in Lisbon to Vicente Martinsde Bulhões and Teresa Pais Taveira. His father was the brother ofPedro Martins de Bulhões, the ancestor of the Bulhão or Bulhõesfamily. His was a very rich family of the nobility who wanted him tobecome educated, and they arranged for him to be instructed at thelocal cathedral school. Against the wishes of his family, however, heentered the community of Canons Regular at the Abbey of St. Vin-cent on the outskirts of Lisbon. The Canons were famous for theirdedication to scholarly pursuits, and sent the youth to their major cen-ter of studies, the Abbey of the Holy Cross in Coimbra. There theyoung Fernando studied theology and Latin.

Joining the FranciscansAfter his ordination to the priesthood, Fernando was named guestmaster and placed in charge of hospitality for the abbey. It was in thiscapacity, in 1219, that he came into contact with five Franciscan friarswho were on their way to Morocco to preach the Gospelto the Mus-lims there. Fernando was strongly attracted to the simple, evangelicallifestyle of the friars, whose order had been founded only elevenyears prior. In February of the following year, news arrived that thefive Franciscans had been martyred in Morocco, the first to be killedin their new order. Seeing their bodies as they were processed backtoAssisi, Fernando meditated on the heroism of these men; inspiredby their example, and longing for the same gift of martyrdom, he ob-tained permission from church authorities to leave the AugustinianCanons to join the new Franciscan Order. Upon his admission to thelife of the friars, he joined the small hermitage in Olivais, adoptingthe name Anthony (from the name of the chapel lo-cated there, dedicated to Saint Anthony the Great),by which he was to be known.The new Brother Anthony then set out for Morocco,in fulfillment of his new vocation. Illness, however,stopped him on his journey. At this point, he decidedto head to Italy, the center of his new order.On the voyage there, his ship was driven by a stormonto the coast of Sicily and he landed at Messina.From Sicily he made his way toTuscany where hewas assigned to a convent of the order, but he metwith difficulty on account of his sickly appearance. Hewas finally assigned, out of pure compassion, to therural hospice of San Paolo near Forlì, Romagna, achoice made after considering his poor health. Therehe appears to have lived as a hermit and was put towork in the kitchen, while being allowed to spendmuch time in private prayer and study.

St. Anthony in ArtAs the number of Franciscan saints increased the iconography struggled to distinguish Anthony from the others. Be-cause of a legend that he had once preached to the fish, these were sometimes used as his attribute (example). Heis also often seen with a lily stalk (see above). Other conventions referred to St. Anthony's visionary fervor. Thus, oneattribute in use for some time was a flaming heart (example). In 1511, Titian painted three scenes of Miracles from thelife of Saint Anthony: The Miracle of the Jealous Husband, which depicts the murder of a young woman by her husband;A Child Testifying to Its Mother's Innocence; and The Saint Healing the Young Man with a Broken Limb.Another key pattern has him meditating on an open book in which the Christ Child himself appears, as in the El Grecobelow. Over time the child came to be shown considerably larger than the book, and some images even do withoutthe book entirely.

Flag DayU . S . - J u n 1 4

In the United States Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. Itcommemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States,which happened that day by resolution of the Second Conti-nental Congress in 1777. The United States Army also cele-brates the Army Birthday on this date; Congress adopted "theAmerican continental army" after reaching a consensus posi-tion in the Committee of the Whole on June 14, 1775.In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamationthat officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949,National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.Flag Day is not an official federal holiday, though on June 14,1937, Pennsylvania became the first (and only) U.S. state tocelebrate Flag Day as a state holiday, beginning in the townof Rennerdale. Title 36 of the United States Code, Subtitle I,Part A, CHAPTER 1, § 110 is the official statute on Flag Day;however, it is at the President's discretion to officially proclaimthe observance.One of the longest-running Flag Day parades is held annuallyin Quincy, Massachusetts, which began in 1952, celebratingits 59th year in 2010. The 59th Annual Appleton Wisconsin2009 Flag Day Parade featured the U.S. Navy. The largestFlag Day parade is held annually in Troy, New York, whichbases its parade on the Quincy parade and typically draws50,000 spectators.Perhaps the oldest continuing Flag Day parade is at Fairfield,Washington. Beginning in 1909 or 1910, Fairfield has held aparade every year since, with the possible exception of 1918,and celebrated the "Centennial" parade in 2010, along withsome other commemorative events.

HistorySeveral people and/or organizations played instrumental rolesin the establishment of a national Flag Day celebration. Theyare identified here in chronological order.

1861, George Morris:The earliest reference to the suggestion of a "Flag Day" is cited in Kansas: a Cyclopedia of State History, publishedby Standard Publishing Company of Chicago in 1912. It credits George Morris of Hartford, Connecticut:To George Morris of Hartford, Conn., is popularly given the credit of suggesting "Flag Day," the occasion being inhonor of the adoption of the American flag on June 14, 1777. The city of Hartford observed the day in 1861, carryingout a program of a patriotic order, praying for the success of the Federal arms and the preservation of the Union.The observance apparently did not become a tradition.

1885, Bernard J. Cigrand:Working as a grade school teacher in Waubeka, Wisconsin, in 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand held the first recognizedformal observance of Flag Day at the Stony Hill School. The school has been restored, and a bust of Cigrand alsohonors him at the National Flag Day Americanism Center in Waubeka.From the late 1880s on, Cigrand spoke around the country promoting patriotism, respect for the flag, and the need forthe annual observance of a flag day on June 14, the day in 1777 that theContinental Congress adopted the Stars andStripes.He moved to Chicago to attend dental school and, in June 1886, first publicly proposed an annual observance of thebirth of the United States flag in an article titled "The Fourteenth of June," published in the Chicago Argus newspaper.In June 1888, Cigrand advocated establishing the holiday in a speech before the "Sons of America," a Chicago group.The organization founded a magazine, American Standard, in order to promote reverence for American emblems.Cigrand was appointed editor-in-chief and wrote articles in the magazine as well as in other magazines and newspa-pers to promote the holiday.On the third Saturday in June 1894, a public school children’s celebration of Flag Day took place in Chicago at Douglas,Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks. More than 300,000 children participated, and the celebration wasrepeated the next year.Cigrand became president of the American Flag Day Association and later of the National Flag Day Society, which al-lowed him to promote his cause with organizational backing. Cigrand once noted he had given 2,188 speeches onpatriotism and the flag.Cigrand lived in Batavia, Illinois, from 1913–1932.Cigrand generally is credited with being the "Father of Flag Day," with the Chicago Tribune noting that he "almost sin-glehandedly" established the holiday.

1888, William T. Kerr:William T. Kerr, a resident of Collier Township, Pennsylvania, for a number of years, founded the American Flag DayAssociation of Western Pennsylvania in 1888, and became that organization's national chairman one year later, servingas such for fifty years. He attended President Harry S. Truman's 1949 signing of the Act of Congress that formally es-tablished the observance.

1889, George Bolch:In 1889, the principal of a free kindergarten, George Bolch, celebrated the Revolution and celebrated Flag Day, aswell.

1893, Elizabeth Duane Gillespie:In 1893, Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, a descendant of Benjamin Franklin and the president of the Colonial Dames ofPennsylvania, attempted to have a resolution passed requiring the American flag to be displayed on all Philadelphia'spublic buildings. This is why some credit Philadelphia as Flag Day's original home. In 1937, Pennsylvania becamethe first state to make Flag Day a legal holiday.

1907, BPOE:American fraternal order and social club the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has celebrated the holiday sincethe early days of the organization and allegiance to the flag is a requirement of every member. In 1907, the BPOEGrand Lodge designated by resolution June 14 as Flag Day. The Grand Lodge of the Order adopted mandatory ob-servance of the occasion by every Lodge in 1911, and that requirement continues.The Elks prompted President Woodrow Wilson to recognize the Order's observance of Flag Day for its patriotic ex-pression.

1908, Theodore Roosevelt:Oral tradition passed on through multiple generations holds that on June 14, Theodore Roosevelt was dining outsidePhiladelphia, when he noticed a man wiping his nose with what he thought was the American Flag. In outrage, Roo-sevelt picked up a small wooden rod and began to whip the man for "defacing the symbol of America." After about fiveor six strong whacks, he noticed that the man was not wiping his nose with a flag, but with a blue handkerchief withwhite stars. Upon realization of this, he apologized to the man, but hit him once more for making him "riled up with na-tional pride."

1913, City of Paterson, New Jersey:During the 1913 Paterson silk strike, IWW leader “Big” Bill Haywood asserted that someday all of the world's flagswould be red, “the color of the working man's blood.” In response, the city's leaders (who opposed the strike) declaredMarch 17 to be “Flag Day,” and saw to it that each of the city's textile mills flew an American flag. This attempt by Pa-terson's leaders to portray the strikers as un-Americanbackfired when the strikers marched through the city with Amer-ican flags of their own, along with a banner that stated:WE WEAVE THE FLAGWE LIVE UNDER THE FLAGWE DIE UNDER THE FLAGBUT DAM'D IF WE'LL STARVE UNDER THE FLAG.

Observance of Flag DayThe week of June 14 is designated as "National Flag Week." During National Flag Week, the president will issue aproclamation urging U.S. citizens to fly the American flag for the duration of that week. The flag should also be dis-played on all government buildings. Some organizations hold parades and events in celebration of America's nationalflag and everything it represents. Other organizations and tribal groups hold counter-celebrations and protests. TheNational Flag Day Foundation holds an annual observance for Flag Day on the second Sunday in June. The programincludes a ceremonial raising of the flag, recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, singing of the national anthem, aparade and more. The Betsy Ross House has long been the site of Philadelphia's observance of Flag Day.

Liberation Day - Jun 14F a l k l a n d I s l a n d s

The Military Administration of the Falklands, South Georgiaand the South Sandwich Islands (Spanish: GobernaciónMilitar de las Islas Malvinas, Georgias del Sur y Sandwichdel Sur) was the short-lived, Argentine-controlled govern-ment of a long disputed group of islands in the South At-lantic which had been governed by the United Kingdomsince the 1833 re-establishment of British rule until 2 April1982 when they were invaded and occupied by the MilitaryJunta of Argentina.The invasion and subsequent occupation signalled the startof the Falklands War, which resulted in the islands comingback under British control on 14 June 1982.

BackgroundSeveral people and/or organizations played instrumentalroles in the establishment of a national Flag Day celebra-tion. They are identified here in chronological order.The Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) had been under British administration since January 1833, when theUnited Kingdom re-established sovereignty over the islands which, at that time, housed an Argentine settlement. Ar-gentina has claimed the Falklands to be part of their territory ever since.The UK first claimed South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in 1843, and incorporated them as Falkland Is-lands Dependencies in 1908. The Compañía Argentina de Pesca had an operation on South Georgia in the early 20thcentury, and Argentina had claimed sovereignty over South Georgia since 1927 and the South Sandwich Islands since1938. In November 1976, Argentina landed and occupied the uninhabited islands of Southern Thule which had beenin British possession since the 18th century.

EstablishmentIn the early hours of 2 April 1982, in the wake of violent anti-government riots inBuenos Aires, the military junta, whichruled Argentina, launched an invasion of the Falkland Islands. Faced with overwhelming Argentine force, Sir Rex Hunt(British Governor of the Islands) surrendered to Admiral Carlos Busser (the Argentine amphibious force commander)at 9.15am. The next day, Argentina sent troops to capture and occupy South Georgia and the uninhabited South Sand-wich Islands.Historically, Argentina had claimed the islands were part of the then federal territory of Tierra del Fuego and South At-lantic islands. However, on 3 April 1982, the junta issued a decree which separated the islands from the jurisdictionof Tierra del Fuego and named Brigadier General Mario Menéndez as the 'Military Governor of the Malvinas, SouthGeorgia and the South Sandwich Islands'.

74 daysOn the first day of the occupation, Governor Hunt and officials from the Foreign Office were forcibly evicted from theisland by the Argentine forces and sent to Montevideo, Uruguay. Argentine troops took over control of the Falkland Is-lands Broadcasting Studio when Patrick Watts was live on air. The Argentines used the radio station to play tapeswith instructions for the islanders and military music including the Argentine National Anthem.Argentina made Spanish the official language of the Islands and changed Port Stanley's name to Puerto Argentino.Traffic was commanded to drive on the right by painting arrows on the road indicating the direction of traffic and chang-ing the location of street andtraffic signs. Argentinian Captain Barry Melbourne Hussey, who was chosen for a positionin the administration due to his knowledge and experience of English, asserted safety as a major concern, during dis-cussions with the Islanders: "Which would you prefer, that our eighteen-year-old conscripts, with their big lorries,should try to drive on the left, or that you, with your little vehicles, change to the right?".However, outside Stanley, most roads were single track anyway and some islanders refused to observe the new ruleand continued to drive on the left. Other acts of civil disobedience included Reg Silvey (lighthouse keeper and hamradio enthusiast) broadcasting clandestine radio messages throughout the occupation.The Argentine military police arrived on the islands with detailed files on many islanders. One of their first actions wasto arrest and deport noted critics of links to Argentina including David Colville, as well as Bill Luxton and his family.Such deportations proved internationally embarrassing as Bill Luxton gave numerous interviews on his deportationand subsequently detainees faced internal exile at Fox Bay.Major Patricio Dowling, an Argentine of Irish origin, became the chief of police. He frequently over-stepped his authority,ignoring instructions to treat the islanders with respect, and quickly became known throughout the islands for his ten-dency to resort to violence. Dowling imposed a regime of arbitrary house searches, arrests and questioning. Hisactions came to the attention of Comodoro Carlos Bloomer-Reeve who recommended to Brigadier-General Menéndezthat he be removed and he was subsequently sent back to the mainland in disgrace.Comodoro Carlos Bloomer-Reeve, chief of the Secretariat of the new government, in conjunction with Major BarryHussey were instrumental in protecting the Falkland Islanders and avoiding conflict with the Argentine military. Bloomer-Reeve had previously lived on the islands between 1975 and 1976, when he ran the LADE operation in Stanley andhad great affection for the islands. Despite their political differences, the humanity and moral courage of both menearned them the enduring respect and affection of many islanders.No wholesale confiscation of private property occurred during the occupation (all goods obtained from the Islanderswere paid for), but had the Islanders refused to sell, the goods in question would have been taken anyway, as isnormal in military situations. However, Argentine officers did expropriate civilian property at Goose Green followingthe detention of the civilian population, although they severely punished any conscripts that did the same.During the 74 day occupation, 114 inhabitants of Goose Green, considered to be potential troublemakers, were im-prisoned and 14 residents of Stanley were sent to Fox Bay East and placed under house arrest. The Argentine militaryevacuated 52 schoolchildren from Stanley and turned the playground of the school into a compound for drilling troops.The Argentine peso replaced the Falkland Islands pound and stamps were over-franked with an Islas Malvinas post-code.There was no widespread abuse of the population; indeed after the war it was found that even the Islanders' personalfood supplies and stocks of alcohol were untouched, and Brigadier-General Menéndez, the Argentine governor of theIslands, had made it clear from the start that he would not engage in any combat in Stanley itself but in the last dayof battle, Private Santiago Carrizo of the 3rd Regiment described how a platoon commander ordered them to take uppositions in the houses and "if a Kelper resists, shoot him", but the entire company did nothing of the kind.

FallOn 22 April, the British task force arrived in Falklands waters, three days later British troops recaptured South Georgia.Following over a month of fierce naval and air battles, the British landed on 21 May, and a land campaign followeduntil Governor Mario Menéndez surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore on 14 June in Stanley. Six days later,on 20 June, British forces landed on the South Sandwich Islands and Southern Thule where 10 unarmed Argentineshanded over their station. 649 Argentines and 255 British died during the war.

DissolutionThe Argentine Administration officially continued to exist until 15 May 1985 when it was dissolved by President RaúlAlfonsín. Since then, Argentina has claimed the islands are part of Tierra del Fuego (then an Argentine National Ter-ritory) which became a fully-fledged province of Argentina in 1990.

World Blood Donor DayW o r l d w i d e - J u n 1 4

World Blood Donor Day is day dedicated to "thanking and celebrating vol-untary non-remunerated blood donors". It occurs on June 14, the birthdayof Karl Landsteiner, the creator of the ABO blood group system, for whichhe won the Nobel Prize. The first day was held in 2005.One of the main goals of the World Blood Donor Day is to ensure the avail-ability of 'safe blood' for transfusion.

Day of National SalvationA z e r b a i j a n - J u n 1 5

Azerbaijan is a country near the intersection of Asia and Eu-rope. This country has its borders on the verge of Russia inthe north, Armenia in the west, Iran to the South, and theCaspian Sea eastwards. The majority of the people are Shi-ite Muslims and ethnic Azeri. The country follows secularismas a policy, and its love for peace is demonstrated by themembership in various organizations such as GUAM, Or-ganization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and theUnited Nations. It is also a part of the NATO Partnership forPeace program.One of the most important days in the calendar of this coun-try is National Salvation Day celebrated every year on June15.

HistoryNational Salvation Day is celebrated to commemorate boththe end of a civil war that went on within the country and thereturn of democracy to the people. The military coup was conducted by Surat Huseynov’s military on June 4 in Ganjaand demanded resignation of Parliament Speaker Isa Gambar and Prime Minister Panah Huseyn. This led Azerbaijanto anarchy. These rebels then seized power in Ganja and moved towards Baku.To stop this insurgence and to battle against these anarchists, Heydar Aliyev was invited to Baku. He accepted the in-vitation, and once he arrived, he was elected unanimously as speaker and head of state. He held talks with the revoltinggroup of the army when he reached Baku. The talks went on smoothly, and he reported the turn of events and the de-mands of the rebellion in the parliament. The members of the rebellion agreed to the demands, and hence the threatof the civil war that hung upon the country was lifted.To mark this day of lifting the specter of war, every year on June 15, National Salvation Day is celebrated. It is on thisday when Heydar Aliyev was elected as the chairman of the parliament and subsequently as the president. This holidaywas made official by an act of parliament in 1997.

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS AND ACTIVITIESThe defense wing and the veterans of the military take part in the ceremonial parade that takes place every year. Thepresident presides over this parade accepting the salute from the various wings or parts of his defense force. Likeany other important day, this is also a public holiday with the majority of commercial establishments closing.The president also addresses the nation on this day emphasizing the need for national unity and security. These cel-ebrations are also extended to the television, which broadcasts live the speech of the president to the civilians. Thereare also celebrations in the form of a fireworks display at night.

National Flag DayD e n m a r k - J u n 1 5

The national flag of Denmark or Dannebrog is red witha white Scandinavian cross that extends to the edgesof the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to thehoist side. On the Danish flag, the cross design, whichrepresents Christianity, was subsequently adopted bythe other Nordic countries; Sweden, Norway, Finland,Iceland and the Faroe Islands, as well as the Scottisharchipelagos of Shetland and Orkney. During the Dan-ish-Norwegian personal union, Dannebrog ("Danishcloth") was also the flag of Norway and continued to be,with slight modifications, until Norway adopted its cur-rent flag in 1821.Dannebrog is the oldest state flag in the world still in useby an independent nation.

OriginThe legend states the origin of the flag to the Battle ofLyndanisse, also known as the Battle of Valdemar (Dan-ish: "Volmerslaget"), near Lyndanisse (Tallinn) in Esto-nia, on June 15, 1219.The battle was going badly, and defeat seemed imminent. But then, right when the Danes were about to give up,the flag fell from heaven. Grasping the flag before it could ever touch the ground, the king took it in his hand, andproudly waved it in front of his discouraged troops, giving them hope, and leading them to victory.No historical record supports this legend. The first record of the legend dates from more than 300 years after thecampaign, and the first record connects the legend to a much smaller battle, though still in Estonia; the battle ofFellin (Viljandi) in 1208. Though no historical support exists for the flag story in the Fellin battle either, it is not difficultto understand how a small and unknown place is replaced with the much grander battle of Reval (Tallinn) from theEstonia campaign of King Valdemar II.This story originates from two written sources from the early 16th century.The first is found in Christiern Pedersen's "Danske Krønike", which is a sequel to Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, written1520 – 23. It is not mentioned in connection to the campaign of King Valdemar II in Estonia, but in connection witha campaign in Russia. He also mentions that this flag, falling from the sky during the Russian campaign of KingValdemar II, is the very same flag that King Eric of Pomerania took with him when he left the country in 1440 afterbeing deposed as King.The second source is the writing of the Franciscan monk Petrus Olai (Peder Olsen) of Roskilde, from 1527. Thisrecord describes a battle in 1208 near a place called "Felin" during the Estonia campaign of King Valdemar II. TheDanes were all but defeated when a lamb-skin banner depicting a white cross falls from the sky and miraculouslyleads to a Danish victory. In another record by Petrus Olai called "Danmarks Tolv Herligheder" (Twelve Splendoursof Denmark), in splendour number nine, the same story is re-told almost to the word; however, a paragraph hasbeen inserted correcting the year to 1219.Whether or not these records describe a truly old oral story in existence at that time, or a 16th century inventedstory, is not currently determined.Some historians believe that the story by Petrus Olai refers to a source from the first half of the 15th century, makingthis the oldest reference to the falling flag.It is believed that the name of the capital of Estonia, Tallinn, came into existence after the battle. It is derived from"Taani linn", meaning "Danish town" in Estonian.

Other theories of the origin of the flagCaspar Paludan-Müller:The Danish historian CasparPaludan-Müller in 1873 in hisbook "Sagnet om den him-melfaldne Danebrogsfane" putforth the theory that it is a ban-ner sent by the Popeto the Dan-ish King to use in his crusadesin the Baltic countries. Otherkings and lords certainly re-ceived such banners.One would imagine, though,that if this story were true, somekind of record ought to exist ofthe event, and presumably Dan-ish historians would not havefailed to mention it in some way.Being granted a banner by thePope would have been a greathonour, but despite the manyletters of the popes relating tothe crusades, none of themmentions granting a banner to aKing of Denmark. On the otherhand, the letter in question might simply have been lost.

Johan Støckel:A similar theory was suggested by Danish explorer, adventurer and Captain Johan Støckel in the early 20th century.He suggested that it was not a papal banner to the King but a papal banner to the Churchly legate in the North,more specifically to archbishop Andreas Sunesøn, which he – without the knowledge of the King – brought with himon the King's crusade in the Baltic countries, in an effort to make the army take on a Christian symbol (over theking's symbol) and thereby strengthen the power of the church.It is unlikely that the very fair and loyal archbishop would do such a thing behind the king's back. Moreover, it is un-likely that the pope would send such a banner, given the fact that they already had one, namely the banner of theKnights Hospitaller (Danish: "Johanitterne").

Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen:A theory brought forth by the Danish historian Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen in 1875 in his book "Danebroges Oprindelse"is that the Danish flag is the banner of the Knights Hospitaller. He notes that the order came to Denmark in the latterhalf of the 12th century and during the next centuries spread to major cities, like Odense, Viborg, Horsens, Ribeand their headquarters in Slagelse, so by the time of theBaltic crusade, the symbol was already a known symbol inDenmark.Furthermore he claims that Bishop Theoderich, already co-initiator of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in Livonia,had the idea of starting a similar order in Estonia; and that he was the original instigator of the inquiry from BishopAlbert of Buxhoeveden to KingValdemar II in 1218, that set the whole Danish participation in the Baltic crusades inmotion.In the contemporary writing of the priest Henry of Livonia from Riga it is said that Bishop Theoderich was killedduring the 1219 battle, when the enemy stormed his tent, thinking it was the King's tent. Adolf Ditlev Jørgensen ex-plains that it was Bishop Theoderich who carried the flag, planted outside his tent; thus as an already well-knownsymbol of the Knights Hospitaller in Livonia, the enemy thought this was the King's symbol and mistakenly stormedBishop Theoderich tent. He claims that the origin of the legend of the falling flag comes from this confusion in thebattle.

L. P. Fabricius:The Danish church-historian L. P. Fabricius proposed yet another theory, explained in his study of 1934, titled "Sagnetom Dannebrog og de ældste Forbindelser med Estland". He ascribes the origin to the 1208 Battle of Fellin, not theBattle of Lyndanisse in 1219, based on the earliest source available about the story.He says in this theory that it might have been Archbishop Andreas Sunesøn's personal ecclesiastical banner or per-haps even the flag of Archbishop Absalon, based on his tireless efforts to expand Christianity to the Baltic countries.Under his initiative and supervision several smaller crusades had already been conducted in Estonia. The bannerwould then already be known in Estonia. He repeats the story about the flag being planted in front of BishopTheodorik's tent, which the enemy mistakenly attacks believing it to be the tent of the King.All these theories centre on two battles in Estonia, Fellin (1208) or Lyndanisse (1219), and thus try to explain theorigin in relation to the tale brought forth over 300 years after the event.

Fabricius and Helga Bruhn:A much different theory is briefly discussed by Fabricius and elaborated more by Helga Bruhn in her book "Dan-nebrog" from 1949. She claims that it is neither the battle nor the banner that is central to the tale, but rather thecross in the sky. Similar tales of appearances in the sky at critical moments, particularly of crosses, can be found allover Europe.Bruhn mentions a battle (also mentioned by Fabricius) taking place on September 10, 1217 between Christianknights and Moorwarriors on the Iberian Peninsula near the castle Alcazar, where it is said that a golden cross onwhite appeared in the sky, to bring victory to the Christians. Likewise an almost identical Swedish tale from the 18thcentury about a yellow cross on blue appearing in 1157 during a Swedish battle in Finland. Probably a later inventionto counter the legendary origins of the Danish flags, but nevertheless of the same nature. The English flag, the SaintGeorge's Cross is also claimed to have appeared in the sky during a critical battle, in this case in Jerusalem duringthe crusades.The similarities to the legends is obvious. In Spain, the colours of the Pope appears in the sky, in Finland the Swedishcolours. In Estonia it is the Danish colours, and in Jerusalem the English colours. Basically, these are all variationsof the same legend.Since King Valdemar II was married to the Portuguese princess, Berengaria, it is not unthinkable that the origin ofthe story, if not the flag, was the Spanish tale or a similar tale, which again might have been inspired by an evenolder legend.

Earliest recorded use of the flag:Danish literature of the 13th and 14th centuries remains quiet about the national flag. Whether the flag has its originsin a divine sign, a banner of a military order, an ecclesiastical banner, or perhaps something entirely different, Danishliterature is no help before the early 15th century.However, several coins, seals and images exist, both foreign and domestic, from the 13th to 15th centuries andeven earlier, showing flags similar to Dannebrog. In the 19th and early 20th century, these images were used bymany Danish historians, with a good flair of nationalism, trying to date the origins of the flag to 1219. However, ifone examines the few existing foreign sources about Denmark from the 13th to 15th centuries, it is apparent that,at least from foreign point of view; the national symbol of Denmark was not a red-and-white banner but the royalcoat of arms (three blue lions on a golden shield.) This coat of arms remains in use to this day.An obvious place to look for documentation is in the Estonian city of Tallinn, the site of the legendary battle. In Tallinn,a coat-of-arms resembling the flag is found on several buildings and can be traced back to the middle of the 15thcentury where it appears in the coat-of-arms of the "Die Grosse Gilde", a sort of merchant consortium which greatlyinfluenced the city's development. The symbol later became the coat-of-arms of the city. Efforts to trace it from Es-tonia back to Denmark have, however, been in vain.The national Coat of Arms of Estonia, three blue lions on a golden shield, is almost identical to the Coat of Arms ofDenmark, and its origin can be traced directly back to King Valdemar II and Danish rule in Estonia 1219-1346.

Laws and flag variationsDenmark does not have a specified flag law, but various regula-tions and rules spread out over many documents, from KingChristian IV's time till today, can be found.

Superstitions:A part of the Danish culture, states that Dannebrog is not allowedto touch the ground because it came from heaven. Another partstates that Dannebrog is not allowed to be hoist at night, becauseit is said to salute the Devil.

National flag:The size and shape of the coufhordie flag ("Koffardiflaget") formerchant ships is given in the regulation of June 11, 1748, whichsays: A red flag with a white cross with no split end. The whitecross must be 1/7 of the flags height. The two first fields must besquare in form and the two outer fields must be 6/4 lengths ofthose.The proportions are thus: 3:1:3 vertically and 3:1:4.5 horizontally.This definition are the absolute proportions for the Danish nationalflag to this day, for both the civil version of the flag ("Stutflaget"),as well as the merchant flag ("Handelsflaget"). Both flags areidentical.A somewhat curious regulation came in 1758 concerning Danishships sailing in theMediterranean. These had to carry the King'scypher logo in the center of the flag, to distinguish them from Mal-tese ships, due to the similarity of the flag of the Order of St. John(also known as the Knights Hospitaller). To the best of knowledge, this regulation has never been revoked, howeverit is probably no longer done.According to the regulation of June 11, 1748 the colour was simply red, which is common known today as "Dan-nebrog rød" ("Dannebrog red"). The only available red fabric dye in 1748 was made of madder root, which can beprocessed to produce a brilliant red dye (used historically for British soldiers' jackets). The private company, DanskStandard, regulation number 359 of 2005, defines the red colour of the flag as Pantone 186c. No official nuancedefinition of "Dannebrog rød" exists.During the next about 150 years nobody paid much attention to actually abide fully to the proportions of the flaggiven in the 1748 regulation, not even the government. As late as 1892 it was stated in a series of regulations thatthe correct lengths of the two last fields in the flag were 6/4. Some interested in the matter made inquires into theissue and concluded that the 6/4 length would make the flag look blunt. Any new flag would also quickly becomeunlawful, due to wear and tear. They also noted that the flag currently used had lengths, of the last two fields, any-where between 7/4 to 13/6.So in May 1893 a new regulation to all chiefs of police, stated that the police should not intervene, if the two lastfields in the flag were longer than 6/4 as long as these did not exceed 7/4, and provided that this was the only ruleviolated.This regulation is still in effect today and thus the legal proportions of the National flag is today anywhere between3:1:3 width / 3:1:4.5 length and 3:1:3 width / 3:1:5.25 length.That some confusion still exists in this matter can be seen from the regulation of May 4, 1927, which once againstates that Danish merchant ships have to fly flags according to the regulation of 1748.

Splitflag and Orlogs flag:The Splitflag and Orlogsflag have similar shapes but different sizes and hues. Legally, they are two different flags.The Splitflag is a Danish flag ending in a swallow-tail, it isDannebrog red, and is used on land. The Orlogsflag is anelongated Splitflag with a deeper red colour and is only used on sea.The Orlogsflag with no markings, may only be used by the Royal Danish Navy. There are though a few exceptionsto this. A few institutions have been allowed to fly the cleanOrlogsflag. Same flag with markings has been approvedfor a few dozen companies and institutions over the years.Furthermore, the Orlogsflag is only described as such if it has no additional markings. Any swallow-tail flag, nomatter the color, is called a Splitflag provided it bears additional markings.The first regulation regarding the Splitflag dates from March 27, 1630, in which King Christian IV orders that Nor-wegian Defensionskibe(armed merchants ships) may only use the Splitflag if they are in Danish war service. In 1685an order, distributed to a number of cities in Slesvig, states that all ships must carry the Danish flag, and in 1690 allmerchant ships are forbidden to use the Splitflag, with the exception of ships sailing in the East Indies, West Indiesand at the coast of Africa. In 1741 it is confirmed that the regulation of 1690 is still very much in effect; that merchantships may not use the Splitflag. At the same time the Danish East India Company is allowed to fly the Splitflag whenpast the equator.It is obvious that some confusion must have existed regarding the Splitflag. In 1696 the Admiralty presented theKing with a proposal for a standard regulating both size and shape of the Splitflag. In the same year a royal resolutiondefines the proportions of the Splitflag, which in this resolution is called Kongeflaget (the King's flag), as follows:The cross must be 1/7 of the flags height. The two first fields must be square in form with the sides three times thecross width. The two outer fields are rectangular and 1½ the length of the square fields. The tails are the length ofthe flag.

Royal Standard:The current version of the royal standard was introduced on 16 November 1972 when theQueen adopted a newversion of her personal coat of arms. The royal standard is the flag of Denmark with a swallow-tail and charged withthe monarch’s coat of arms set in a white square. The centre square is 32 parts in a flag with the ratio 56:107.

Blooms DayI n t e r n a t i o n a l - J u n 1 6

Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writerJames Joyce during which the events of hisnovel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. It is observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere.Joyce chose the date as it was the date of his first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle; they walked to theDublin suburb of Ringsend. The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses.The English portmanteau word Bloomsday is usually used in Irish as well, though some purist publications, includingthe Irish Wikipedia, call it Lá Bloom .

First Bloomsday CelebrationBloomsday (a term Joyce himself did not employ)was invented in 1954, on the 50th anniversary of theevents in the novel, when John Ryan (artist, critic,publican and founder of Envoy magazine) and thenovelist Flann O'Brien organised what was to be adaylong pilgrimage along the Ulysses route. Theywere joined by Patrick Kavanagh, Anthony Cronin,Tom Joyce (a dentist who, as Joyce's cousin, repre-sented the family interest) and AJ Leventhal (Regis-trar of Trinity College, Dublin). Ryan had engagedtwo horse drawn cabs, of the old-fashioned kind,which in Ulysses Mr. Bloom and his friends drive topoor Paddy Dignam's funeral. The party were as-signed roles from the novel. They planned to travelround the city through the day, visiting in turn thescenes of the novel, ending at night in what hadonce been the brothel quarter of the city, the areawhich Joyce had called Nighttown. The pilgrimagewas abandoned halfway through, when the wearyLestrygonians succumbed to inebriation and rancour at the Bailey pub in the city centre, which Ryan then owned,and at which, in 1967, he installed the door to No. 7 Eccles Street (Leopold Bloom’s front door), having rescued itfrom demolition . A Bloomsday record of 1954, informally filmed by John Ryan, follows this pilgrimage.

Bloomsday activitiesDublin:The day involves a range of cultural activities including Ulysses readings and dramatisations,pub crawls and otherevents, much of it hosted by the James Joyce Centre in North Great George's Street. Enthusiasts often dress inEdwardian costume to celebrate Bloomsday, and retrace Bloom's route around Dublin via landmarks such as DavyByrne's pub. Hard-core devotees have even been known to hold marathon readings of the entire novel, some lastingup to 36 hours. A five-month-long festival (ReJoyce Dublin 2004) took place in Dublin between 1 April and 31 August2004. On the Sunday in 2004 before the 100th "anniversary" of the fictional events described in the book, 10,000people in Dublin were treated to a free, open-air, full Irish breakfast on O'Connell Street consisting of sausages,rashers, toast,beans, and black and white puddings. "Every year hundreds of Dubliners dress as characters fromthe book ... as if to assert their willingness to become one with the text. It is quite impossible to imagine any othermasterpiece of modernism having quite such an effect on the life of a city." On Bloomsday 1982, the centenary year of Joyce's birth, Irish state broadcaster, RTÉ, transmitted a continuous 30-hour dramatic performance of the entire text of Ulysses on radio.

Hungary:Bloomsday has also been celebrated since 1994 in the Hungarian town of Szombathely, the fictional birthplace ofLeopold Bloom's father, Virág Rudolf, an emigrant Hungarian Jew. The event is usually centered around the Iseum,the remnants of an Isis temple fromRoman times, and the Blum-mansion, commemorated to Joyce since 1997, at40–41 Fő street, which used to be the property of an actual Jewish family called Blum. Hungarian author LászlóNajmányi in his 2007 novel, The Mystery of the Blum-mansion (A Blum-ház rejtélye) describes the results of his re-search on the connection between Joyce and the Blum family.

United States:The Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia is the home of the handwritten manuscript of Ulysses and cele-brates Bloomsday with a street festival including readings, Irish music, and traditional Irish cuisine provided by localIrish-themed pubs.New York City has several events on Bloomsday including formal readings at Symphony Space and informal read-ings and music at the downtown Ulysses' Folk House pub.The Syracuse James Joyce Club holds an annual Bloomsday celebration at Johnston's BallyBay Pub in Syracuse,New York, at which large portions of the book are either read aloud, or presented as dramatizations by costumedperformers. The club awards scholarships and other prizes to students who have written essays on Joyce or fictionpertaining to his work. The city is home to Syracuse University, whose press has published or reprinted several vol-umes of Joyce studies.

Italy:There have been many Bloomsday events in Trieste, where the first part ofUlysses was written. The Joyce MuseumTrieste, opened on 16 June 2004, collects works by and about James Joyce, including secondary sources, with aspecial emphasis on his period in Trieste.Since 2005 Bloomsday has been celebrated every year in Genoa, with a reading of Ulysses in Italian by volunteers(students, actors, teachers, scholars), starting at 0900 and finishing in the early hours of 17 June; the readings takeplace in 18 different places in the old town centre, one for each chapter of the novel, and these places are selectedfor their resemblance to the original settings. Thus for example chapter 1 is read in a medieval tower, chapter 2 ina classroom of the Faculty of Languages, chapter 3 in a bookshop on the waterfront, chapter 9 in the University Li-brary, and chapter 12 ("Cyclops") in an old pub. The Genoa Bloomsday is organized by the Faculty of Languagesand the International Genoa Poetry Festival.

Australia:In Sydney, Australia, Bloomsday is hosted by the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies UNSW in associationwith the National Irish Association Sydney and the Consulate General of Ireland, Sydney.

Global:On Bloomsday 2011, @11ysses was the stage for an experimental day-long tweading of Ulysses. Starting at 0800(Dublin time) on Thursday 16 June 2011, the aim was to explore what would happen if Ulysses was recast 140 char-acters at a time. It was hoped that the event would become the first of a series.

Literary referencesIn 2004 Vintage Publishers issued Yes I said yes I will yes: A Celebration of James Joyce, Ulysses, and 100 Yearsof Bloomsday. It is one of the few monographs that details the increasing popularity of Bloomsday. The book's titlecomes from the novel's famous last lines.In 1956, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath were married by special licence of the Archbishop of Canterbury at St Georgethe Martyr Church, Holborn, on 16 June, in honour of Bloomsday.Seamus Sweeney's short story "Bloomsday 3004" is a description of a future in which Bloomsday continues to becelebrated, however its origins are completely forgotten and it is now a quasi-religious folk ritual.Pat Conroy's 2009 novel South of Broad has numerous references to Bloomsday. Leopold Bloom King is the narrator.The book's first chapter describes the events of 16 June 1969 in Leo's story.In the novel by Enrique Vila-Matas Dublinesca (2010), part of the action takes place in Dublin for the Bloomsday.The book's main protagonist, Riba, a retired Spanish editor, moves to this city with several writer friends to officiatea "funeral" for the Gutenberg era.

Popular cultural referencesJefferson Airplane's 1967 album After Bathing at Baxter's contains the track, "Rejoyce", inspired by Joyce's Ulysses.In Mel Brooks' 1968 film The Producers, Gene Wilder's character is called Leo Bloom, an homage to Joyce's char-acter. In the musical2005 version, in the evening scene at the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, Leo asks, "Whenwill it be Bloom's day?". However, in the earlier scene in which Bloom first meets Max Bialystock, the office wall cal-endar shows that the current day is 16 June, indicating that it is, in fact, Bloomsday.Punk band Minutemen have a song on their 1984 Double Nickels on the Dime album entitled "16 June".Richard Linklater references Ulysses in two of his films. Once in 1991's Slacker, where a character reads an excerptfrom Ulysses after convincing his friends to dump a tent and a typewriter in a river as a response to a prior lover'sinfidelity. And again in 1995's Before Sunrise, where the events take place on 16 June.In 2009 an episode of the cartoon The Simpsons, "In the Name of the Grandfather", featured the family's trip toDublin and Lisa'sreference to Bloomsday.U2's 2009 song "Breathe" refers to events taking place on a fictitious 16 June.

International Day of the AfricanChild

I n t e r n a t i o n a l - J u n 1 6The International Day of the African Child has beencelebrated on June 16every year since 1991, whenit was first initiated by the Organisation of AfricanUnity. It honors those who participated in the SowetoUprising in 1976 on that day. It also raises aware-ness of the continuing need for improvement of theeducation provided to African children.In Soweto, South Africa, on June 16, 1976, about tenthousand black school children marched in a columnmore than half a mile long, protesting the poor qual-ity of their education and demanding their right to betaught in their own language. Hundreds of youngstudents were shot, the most famous of which beingHector Peterson (see image). More than a hundredpeople were killed in the protests of the following twoweeks, and more than a thousand were injured.

Dear Pakistani brothers and sisters:The Day of Russia is the main national hol-iday of our country, the state with cen-turies-old historical and cultural traditions.Celebrated annually it symbolizes the unityand fraternal friendship of many peoplebuilding together their future within oneFederation.The history of this holiday goes back to theyear of 1990 when the Supreme Council ofthe Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Re-public adopted the Declaration of StateSovereignty of Russia. After the break-upof the USSR in 1991 our country finally em-barked on the path of becoming a multi-ethnic democratic state with a marketeconomy and launched fundamental re-forms in the political and social spheres.In the last two decades – a moment bystandards of history – we achieved signifi-cant progress moving toward our goals. Wegot stronger as a country, as one nation.In the world community Russia is beingperceived as a dynamically developingdemocratic state which commands author-ity in the international arena. A permanentmember of the UN Security Council, theRussian Federation is respected for its con-sistency in supporting the principles of de-mocratization of international relations, forits reliability as a partner in addressing theglobal challenges and threats humankind isfaced with – be it the fight against terror-ism or environmental issues.Since the birth of the independent Russiaour main achievement has been ourstrengthening of the economy and ensur-ing steady increase in citizens’ quality oflife. The deficit of food and consumer prod-ucts typical for the late 1980s was liqui-dated. Nowadays there is practically nounemployment. A vast middle class ofaround 30% of the population emergedwhich is rapidly turning into a locomotiveof the national economy. These are peoplewho stand firmly on their feet, provide forthemselves and give jobs to fellow citizens.Today the level of consumption and varietyof consumed goods of 80% of Russians are

three times higher than those in the USSR. A high level of education is maintained inRussia. 57% of our citizens aged 25-35have higher education. Besides Russia sucha high rate is achieved in three countriesonly: Japan, South Korea and Canada. Atthat, our education is of highest quality.Our universities (Moscow State University,Moscow Institute of Physics and Technol-ogy, Bauman Moscow State Technical Uni-versity, etc.) and their graduates,specialists and scientists are known and indemand worldwide. The solid educationaland scientific potential allows Russia tolook ahead with confidence.Due to the balanced economic policy of thePresident and the Government we man-aged to pull through global financial crisesof 1998 and 2008 with minimum losses.Russian people practically did not feel anyeconomic turbulences in 2008. Moreover,unlike many developed countries, we kepthigh growth rates of the GDP, raised pen-sions and carried out welfare programs atthe height of the crisis.Russia will continue to pursue an active for-eign policy based on the principles of re-spect for sovereignty and territorialintegrity of other states as well as non-in-terference in the internal affairs of its part-ners. One of the priority areas forapplication of Russia’s diplomatic effortswill remain Asia where the epicenter ofglobal political processes has been shiftingin recent years. As for South Asia its majortask will be further enhancement of mutu-ally beneficial cooperation and partnershipwith the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Itwas under Vladimir Putin that our relationswith Pakistan acquired their own, truly in-dependent value.Russia attaches great significance to its re-lations with the Islamic Republic of Pak-istan. Your country occupies an importantplace among Russia’s foreign policy priori-ties which is determined by its geostrategicposition in the South and Southwest Asiaregion directly adjacent to the borders ofthe CIS as well as by its high authority in

the Islamic world. Russia and Pakistan areneighbors in the region with common chal-lenges and problems affecting our coun-tries’ national security interests. We mustaddress these problems together. The roleof Pakistan in the international arena hasconsiderably increased due to its activeparticipation in the international countert-errorist coalition and the contribution whichyour country can make to the Afghan set-tlement. After the election of Pakistan as anon-permanent member of the UN SecurityCouncil for 2012-2013 opportunities for ourcooperation in the universal internationalorganizations have substantially widened.It is extremely important that the need formutually beneficial partnership is recog-nized at the highest level. A regular ex-change of views on key issues of regionaland bilateral cooperation has been estab-lished between our leaders. The officialvisit of President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardarito Russia in May 2011 can be rightfullycalled as a milestone in the history of Russ-ian-Pakistani relations. During the negoti-ations the two sides discussed in detail thestatus and prospects of bilateral coopera-tion as well as pressing regional and inter-national issues. The heads of statesendorsed the priority areas of partnership:struggle against international terrorism anddrug-related crimes, implementation of re-gional, energy and infrastructure projects,strengthening trade, economic and busi-ness ties. It was agreed to coordinate ourpositions on the Afghan settlement. Rele-vant work is being carried out.The official visit to Russia of Minister of For-eign Affairs of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Kharin February 2012 gave a serious impetus tothe Russian-Pakistani relations: the agree-ments reached during the last year’s sum-mit were thoroughly looked into, necessaryactions of concerned national ministriesand departments were specified to ensuretheir consistent implementation.Apart from bilateral visits leaders of ourcountries regularly interacted on the side-lines of international events held in multi-

lateral formats. In September 2011 Asif AliZardari met Russian President DmitryMedvedev at the summit of heads of statesof the “Dushanbe quartet” in Dushanbe(Russia-Pakistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan). InNovember 2011 Prime Minister of PakistanYousaf Raza Gilani met Chairman of theGovernment of Russia Vladimir Putin at themeeting of the Council of heads of govern-ments of member states of the ShanghaiCooperation Organization in Saint Peters-burg. At present a possibility of RussianPresident’s visit to Pakistan is being nego-tiated through diplomatic channels.We are satisfied with the active interactionbetween Russia and Pakistan in interna-tional organizations. We have close or iden-tical positions on main problems of theworld politics, including the formation of amultipolar world order with the UN’s lead-ing role being strengthened, the primacy ofinternational law in interstate relations, cri-sis management and resolution of disputeson the basis of search for a balance of in-terests. Russia attaches special importance to co-operation with Pakistan in the frameworkof the SCO. We are grateful to the Pakistanipartners for their active participation – es-pecially at the highest level – in events ofthis prestigious organization which is rap-idly emerging as an important element ofthe regional security architecture, usefulmechanism for the implementation of tran-sregional economic, energy and infrastruc-ture projects. Russia consistently supportsthe intention of Pakistan which now pos-sesses an observer status to join the SCOas a full-fledged member.There is constructive Russian-Pakistani in-teraction between various ministries anddepartments, at an expert level. Last yearafter a five-year pause consultations onAfghanistan, regional and bilateral issuesresumed. Special Representative of thePresident of Russia on Afghanistan ZamirKabulov conducts them from the Russianside. In December 2011 a mechanism ofbilateral consultations on UNSC issues was

launched at the level of directors of rele-vant departments of foreign ministries. Ne-gotiations take place within the frameworkof the Russian-Pakistani ConsultativeGroup on Strategic Stability. The seventhmeeting of the said group was held inMoscow in January 2012. There is also aWorking Group on counter-terrorism. Itsnext (fifth) meeting should take place thisyear in Islamabad. A Joint Working Groupon Energy started to function, its firstmeeting was held in Moscow in August2011. We have high hopes for the Inter-governmental Commission (IGC) on Tradeand Economic, Scientific and Technical Co-operation which should enhance bilateralbusiness ties and bring them onto a quali-tatively new level. We hope the IGC will beable to meet in Islamabad for a secondtime in the near future.It should be admitted that against thebackdrop of our political contacts dynami-cally developing the economic componentof our cooperation is lagging behind. Wecannot be satisfied with the existing bilat-eral trade turnover of about USD 500 mil-lion, with the low level of direct businessties, insufficient knowledge of our businesscommunities about the possibilities of eachother’s markets and, virtually, actual ab-sence of cooperation in the investmentfield. Such a situation does not representthe potential. It is encouraging that in offi-cial and business circles of our countriesthere is a growing understanding of the ne-cessity to improve things and ensure accel-erated development of trade and economicties which ought to be taken to completelynew qualitative and quantative levels. There is a substantial potential for cooper-ation in energy, oil and gas, metallurgy sec-tors. The regional CASA-1000 project ofcreating a system to transfer electricityfrom Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan toAfghanistan and Pakistan can become mu-tually beneficial. Russia is ready not only tojoin this project but also to act as a co-in-vestor bearing a considerable part of ex-penses (up to USD 500 million). Besides,

Russia is ready to participate in nationalpower projects – such as reconstruction ofcombined heat and power plants “Multan-2” and “Guddu” constructed in Pakistanwith the assistance of Soviet specialists,construction of new hydroelectric powerstations and CHPPs of small and mediumproduction capacity.Our companies could participate in the ex-ploration and development of offshore oiland gas fields in Pakistan, building of un-derground gas storage facilities, training ofspecialists for the Pakistani oil and gas sec-tor which was once created with the helpof the Soviet Union. Being considered areissues of possible Russian participation inthe construction of regional gas pipelinesTurkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Indiaand Iran-Pakistan by the JSC “Gazprom” –the world-famous Russian corporation withvast experience in building such facilitiesand the reputation of a reliable contractorand investor.Cooperation in the field of metallurgy is animportant sphere of our partnership. Weare interested in securing Russian partici-pation in the modernization and expansionof the Pakistan Steel Mills in Karachi builtin the 1980s with financial and technicalsupport of the USSR. We are discussingwith Pakistani partners technical modalitiesof the Russian company JSC “VO “Tyazh-promexport” participation in the recon-struction of the enterprise to provide anincrease in its annual production capacityfrom 1.1 to 3 million tons of steel.Russia highly values its partnership withPakistan. We intend to further developmulti-faceted cooperation with your won-derful country in which I have the honor towork as Ambassador of Russia. Undoubt-edly, strengthening ties of friendship andlong-term partnership between Russia andPakistan not only meets the interests of ourpeoples but also serves as a significant fac-tor of maintaining regional stability and se-curity.

Dannebrog falling from the sky during the Battle of Lyn-danisse, June 15, 1219. Painted by Christian August Lorentzenin 1809. Original located at Statens Museum for Kunst, Den-mark

The Danish flag from the front pageof Christiern Pedersen’s version ofSaxo’s Gesta Danorum, 1514.

H u n g a r i a n s m a r k t h e D a y o fN a t i o n a l U n i t y

(Online 05Jun) OnM o n d a ymorning theDay of Na-tional Unity(also knownas the Day ofNational Co-hesion) wascommemo-rated in Kos-suth tér infront of theH u n g a r i a nPar l iamentwith a cere-monial rais-ing ofH u n g a r y ’ snational flag,a c c o m p a -nied by aguard of ho-nour and theplaying of thenational an-them.President ofthe RepublicJános Áder,Prime Minis-ter ViktorOrbán andSpeaker ofPar l iamentLászló Kövérattended thec e r e m o n y,as did mem-bers of theGovernment,s e v e r a lmembers ofParliament,members ofthe diplo-matic corpsand two hun-dred childrenfrom Hun-gary andneighbouringcountries.D e p u t yPrime Minis-ter ZsoltSemjén offi-cially openedthe pro-gramme ofevents forthe young atthe House ofHungarians.He said thatthere are twoc o n d i t i o n sfor continuityof the Hun-garian na-t i o n :un i f i ca t ionthrough citi-zenship andthe reinforce-ment of Hun-g a r y ’ scultural her-itage. Henoted that‘The point ofthe com-memorationis not tomourn for thepast or to ac-knowledgegenuine his-torical facts which have notbeen distorted, but to serve thecontinuity of the Hungarian na-tion.’ Mr. Semjén expressed gratitudeto Hungarians outside Hungarywho have preserved their Hun-garian identity in often difficultcircumstances. He also men-tioned that fifteen thousandschoolchildren have been ableto visit areas beyond the bor-ders populated by Hungariansas part of the Without Borders!programme, thus strengtheningthe links between Hungarians inthe Carpathian basin.In a written announcement,President of the Republic JánosÁder stated that the Treaty ofTrianon was unjust in every re-spect and created a humiliatingsituation for all peoples: the vic-tors as well as the vanquished.He also wrote that the feeling ofsolidarity will not be nourishedby anything other than the ac-ceptance of responsibility forone another.He continued by declaring thatthe Day of National Unity sendsa message to all Hungarians (in-cluding the members of national

minorities), all our neighboursand all European peoples thatthe foundation for our commonfuture and success can only beopenness to cooperation andmutual respect shown to eachother.The President affirmed his sup-port for all those who wereforced to leave Hungary be-cause of their ancestry, religionor political convictions, eitherafter 4 June 1920, under thedictatorships of National Social-ism or Communism, in 1956 orsubsequently.His message to the national mi-norities within Hungary is thatHungary depends on them, andrespects their efforts to preservetheir traditions, languages andcultures, because this is alsoseen as strengthening theirHungarian identity and patriot-ism.Parliament declared 4 June theDay of National Unity in 2010.The country is remembering thisyear for the second time the dayof the signing of the Trianonpeace dictate as the Day of Na-tional Unity and the fact thatevery member and communityof the Hungarian nation sub-

jected to thejurisdiction ofm u l t i p l estates formspart of thesingle, uni-fied Hungar-ian nation.On 4 June1920 thePeace Treatyof Trianonclosing WorldWar I wass i g n e d ,which desig-nated thenew bordersof Hungary,Austria andRomania onaccount ofthe disinte-gration of theAustro–Hun-garian Em-pire and thenewly estab-l i s h e dCzechoslo-vakia and theKingdom ofS e r b s ,Croats andS l o v e n e s .With desig-nation of thenew borders,Hungary lostmore thantwo thirds ofits territoryand the num-ber of its in-h a b i t a n t sd e c r e a s e dfrom 21 mil-lion to lessthan 8 mil-lion. It is inconsequenceof this pactthat to thisday millionsof Hungari-ans live di-rectly beyondthe country’sborders, inR o m a n i a ,Ukraine, Ser-bia, Slovakia,A u s t r i a ,Slovenia andCroatia.H u n g a r ytherefore re-garded 4June 1920 asa day of na-tional mourn-ing for a longtime, whileduring thecommun is tregime it wassimply forbid-den to re-member it atall.H u n g a r i a nsociety hashad the op-portunity toexper ienceand truly ap-preciate thevalue of na-tional unity

with Hungarians beyond theborders, to acquaint themselveswith the true details of historyand to foster relations with Hun-garians living beyond the bor-ders since the political transitionof 1989/ 90.Based on society’s overwhelm-ing support, Hungary’s newFundamental Law, too, confirmsHungary’s commitment to ournational unity with Hungariansbeyond the borders. With a viewto unity and cohesion, the Hun-garian State not only takes re-sponsibility for Hungariansbeyond the borders but alsopromotes the survival of theircommunities, the enforcementof their individual and collectiverights, the establishment ofcommunal municipalities andtheir advancement in their na-tive land, the Constitution pro-claims.The Orbán government hasmade possible the acquisition ofdual citizenship as of January2011, which some 250,000 indi-viduals have applied for to date,and launched the websitewww.nemzetiregiszter.hu forHungarians around the world.

HUNGARY

G D P d a t a i n l i n e w i t hp r i o r e s t i m a t e s

(Online 08 Jun) The HungarianCentral Statistical Office (KSH)has published earlier todayGDP data in line with prelimi-nary figures in its detailed re-lease. In Q1 2012 theHungarian economy – due pri-marily to negative external mar-ket developments – contractedby 0.7 percent.On the production side everymajor sector – albeit slightly –but declined. In contrast withprior periods, the industrial sec-tor which mainly produces forforeign markets has also de-clined slightly, and agriculturecould achieve no expansion ei-

ther after the success of lastyear. It has to be noted thoughthat the gross added value cre-ated by the national economicsector of information and com-munication increased by 3 per-cent, however the constructionsector shows no signs of recov-ery.On the consumption side ten-dencies have been similar: netexports could contribute togrowth, whereas other sectorstypically registered near-stag-nation minimal decline.It has been obvious that Hun-gary could not stay immune tonegative trends which have

been prevailing on externalmarkets. It is a significant factorwith regard to the future how-ever that large scale productionat the Mercedes plant in thenext couple of quarters willhave a positive influence ongrowth trends via industrialdata. Good news from thelabour market is also expectedto improve prospects and thehousehold sector which hasbeen gaining independencefrom the burden of exchangerate risks imposed by foreigncurrency denominated loanscan also provide some pleasantsurprises via consumption.

Tr a d i t i o n a n d i n n o v a t i o n – a r m a -m e n t c o o p e r a t i o n w i t h I n d i a

(Online 06Jun) The5th Hun-gary-IndiaJoint De-fence Com-m i t t e eMeeting -which is theh i g h e s tlevel forumfocusing atelaboratingand review-ing the de-f e n c ecooperationp r o -g r a m m e sb e t w e e nH u n g a r yand India -was final-ized by thesigning ofthe Minutesof the Ple-nary Ses-sion. TheCo-Chai r -men anony-m o u s l ystated thatthe currentJDC meet-ing was themost suc-c e s s f u lamong thelast years’meetings.By the invi-tation ofG á b o rM á r k i ,D e p u t yState Sec-retary forD e f e n c eEconomy,MOD Hun-gary an In-d i a ndelegationled by ShriS h e k h a rA g a r w a l ,Secre tary( D e f e n c eP r o d u c -tion), Min-istry ofD e f e n c e ,G o v e r n -ment ofIndia tookpart in the5th Hun-gary-IndiaJoint Defence Committee Meet-ing. H. E. Gaury ShankarGupta, the Ambassador of theRepublic of India joined the of-ficial delegation in Budapestand participated in all the majorevents of the JDC programme.As an organic part of the JDCprogramme a Civilian DefenceIndustry Day was organised bythe Ministry for National Econ-omy on 23rd May. During theIndustry Day the Indian Delega-tion had the opportunity to meetrepresentatives of the Hungar-ian defence industry alreadyhaving relations in the Indianmarket. On the other hand theIndustry Day was a good debut

for Hungarian companies todisplay products which could benoteworthy for potential Indiancostumers from the defenceand security sector. In theframework of the Industry Daythe delegation visited to the El-Tech Centre.The Plenary Session of the 5thJDC was held on 24th May inthe Stefánia Palace. During themeeting the Ministry for Na-tional Economy was repre-sented by Balázs Hidvéghi,State Secretary for ExternalEconomic Relations and Inter-national Affairs. In the course ofthe Plenary Session the Co-Chairmen made a short reviewof decisions and proposals

which hadbeen madeor tabledduring thelast JDCMeeting inNew Delhi.In the metingthe Co-C h a i r m e ndeterminedthe direc-tions andfields for co-o p e r a t i o nwhich arem u t u a l l ybeneficial forboth coun-tries’ armedforces inorder to de-velop capa-b i l i t i e sadequate tomeet thechal lengesof the globaland regionalsecurity en-vironments.The ex-ploited areasof coopera-tion are:training andR&T aspectsof NBC de-fence; up-grade andmodernisa-tion of So-viet/Russianorigin arma-ment and ar-m a m e n t ssystems; up-grade ofsome seg-ments of bat-tle systemsof the IndianA r m e dForces; mili-tary medicalcooperation;cooperationin the field oftraining andeducation.At the end ofthe PlenarySession theC o - C h a i r -men agreedthat cooper-ation in thefield of arma-ments; re-

search and technology anddefence industry can only beachieved by real partnershipwhich can be eventuated feasi-ble results in a timely manner.In the course of the JDC pro-gramme the Indian delegationmet Lieutenant General ZoltánOrosz Ph.D., Deputy Chief ofthe Defence Staff. Moreoverthe delegation had office callswith György Matolcsy Ph.D.,Minister for National Economy,Lajos Fodor, AdministrativeState Secretary, MOD andJános Hóvári Ph.D., DeputyState Secretary for Global Af-fairs, Ministry for Foreign Af-fairs.

(photo: M.D.)

(photo: M.D.)

(photo: M.D.)

Commander of Arrabona Regiment is NewChief of Staff at NATO HQ Sarajevo

(Online 04Jun) At ac e r e m o n yheld on May24 Col. TiborRózsa, theChief of theCIMIC Direc-torate of theHDF JointForce Com-m a n dhanded overthe responsi-bilities ofchief of staffof NATOHeadquar -ters Sara-jevo (NHQSa) to hissuccessor tothe post,Col. (Eng.)F e r e n cKovács, thecommanderof the HDF1 2 t hA r r a b o n aSurface-to-Air Missile(SAM) Regi-ment ofGyőr.Br ig . -Gen.Gary E. Huff-man, thecommanderof NHQ Saand hisdeputy, Col. Dr. John AndreasOlsen also attended the trans-fer of authority ceremony, whichtook place in the presence ofthe soldiers serving at the HQand several invited guests.Brig.-Gen. Huffman thanked

Col. Rózsa for his work doneover the last six months byhanding him a certificate ofmerit, and praised the Hungar-ian military contribution to thework of the NHQ Sa.In his speech, Col. Rózsa

thanked hisformer col-leagues forthe help andsupport hehad receivedfrom themwhile fillingthe position,and wishedthe incomingcommanderfrom Győrevery suc-cess, deter-mination ands o l d i e r ’ sluck.Col. Kovácsdelivered aspeech inwhich hethanked theo u t g o i n gChief of Stafffor his assis-tance withthe transferof authorityperiod, andwished thepersonnel re-turning homea good jour-ney. He saidhe hopedthat the staffof NHQ Sawould sup-port his workthe same

way it did in the case of his out-going predecessor in the posi-tion.There are currently four Hun-garian soldiers – three field offi-cers and one NCO – serving atthe NATO HQ Sarajevo.

(photo: Photo: WO Zoltán Inoka)

(photo: Photo: WO Zoltán Inoka)

A g r e e m e n t b e t w e e n C h i n a a n dH u n g a r y i n e m p l o y m e n t i s s u e s(Online 07Jun) WangX i a o c h u ,Deputy Min-ister at theHuman Re-sources andSocial Insur-ance Min-istry of thePeople’s Re-public ofChina, haspaid a visit tothe Ministryof NationalE c o n o m yearlier today,where hemet withS á n d o rC z o m b a ,Minister of State for Employ-ment.

At the meeting, after an inter-ministerial exchange of experi-

ences withregard toemploymentand voca-tional train-ing issues,the ministerssigned a joints t a t e m e n twhich de-fined furtherfields of co-operation.In the spirit ofopening tothe East inthe near fu-ture severalother fieldscan providemutually ad-vantageous

opportunities for cooperation.

R e s p o n s e t o t h e F r e e d o mH o u s e R e p o r t

(Online 07 Jun) Yet anotherFreedom House report hasbeen released that is based ona number of incorrect argu-ments. It is proof of the fact thatthe Washington-based organi-sation measures democraciesin Central- and Eastern-Europewith double standards. The re-port reveals that the organisa-tion shows not the slightest signof empathy or understandingtowards the region, and specif-ically Hungary, that left commu-nism behind twenty years agobut is still in need of a numberof changes and reforms on ac-count of the deficiencies of theinherited constitutional system.Reforms have been launched ina number of areas in Hungaryand changes have begun; theelementary demand of Hungar-ian society for change wasamply testified to by the resultsof the 2010 democratic elec-tions. A strong government anda two-third parliamentary major-ity came into being as a resultof these democratic electionsand not in consequence of theconstruction of some „super-power”. Thanks to this majority,Hungary today has one of Eu-rope’s most stable and mostpredictable political leader-ships. We wish to remind FreedomHouse that Hungary was theonly country in Central-Europethat was unable to create a newfundamental law since thechange of regime; the rest ofthe former socialist countriesmanaged this feat in thenineties (mostly at the begin-ning of the nineties), Polandbeing the last in 1997. Ourcountry had a Stalinist-type,transitional constitution datingfrom 1949. We likewise must make men-tion of the fact that the reportcontains a number of argu-ments that reveal that the au-thors are far from beingthoroughly familiar with Hungar-ian internal political events andthe statutory environment. FHclaims, for instance, that theConstitution was passed with-out extensive consultation; bycontrast, the truth is that thepassage of the new fundamen-tal law was preceded by a se-ries of national consultationsand extensive parliamentarypreparations.

FH claims incorrectly that right-wing paramilitary organisationshave gained in significance; bycontrast, the truth is that theGovernment has curbed andprohibited their existence. FHclaims incorrectly that there issome kind of decline in theelectoral process. By contrast,the truth is that the new electionlaw remedied a constitutionalomission known to all partiesconcerned for a number ofyears by re-drawing the coun-try’s constituencies in accor-dance with the earlierrecommendations of the Con-stitutional Court. The electionsystem has changed, indeed;instead of the current 2 rounds,there will only be a single roundin the future. The essence ofthe single-round system is thatthe mandate goes to the candi-date who obtains the mostvotes in the given constituency.This is not at all unusual in theEuropean electoral systems;furthermore, most electoral sys-tems outside Europe are single-round. However, the result ofthe elections as at any time isdetermined by the electorate atthe end of the day, whether theelections are single-round orare held in two rounds. It is also unacceptable that theorganisation identifies the fran-chise granted to Hungariansbeyond the borders as the rea-son for the decline, while thereare similar arrangements in anumber of other westerndemocracies, and the franchiseis a civic right that is insepara-ble from citizenship. By grantingthe franchise to Hungarians be-yond the borders, Hungary fi-nally eliminates a discriminatorysituation that has existed for toolong as almost all EU MemberStates allow their citizens livingbeyond their borders to casttheir votes in parliamentaryelections. As regards the remarks con-cerning the freedom of themedia, which we are by nowonly too familiar with, we wishto repeatedly draw attentionmerely to the facts. The free-dom of the press, speech andopinion is guaranteed by theHungarian Constitution as wellas by Hungary’s media consti-tution and media law. Neitherthe Hungarian Government, norany other political or civil organ-

isation has the right or thescope to interfere with the day-to-day activities of the elec-tronic or conventional mediaand editorial boards. Theprinted and electronic press issupervised in Hungary by au-tonomous professional organi-sations based on an agreemententered into with the authorities.As regards the supervision oftelevision channels and radiostations, similar to the Euro-pean practice, these are moni-tored by an autonomous stateadministration agency that is in-dependent of the Government,the Media Council of the Na-tional Media and Infocommuni-cations Authority, within theboundaries of the Constitutionand the legal rules on mediaadministration. All decisions ofthe Media Council may be ap-pealed against before the inde-pendent Hungarian courts. In the context of the evaluationof Hungary’s anti-corruptionmeasures, we wish to draw theattention of FH to the fact thatthere is an anti-corruption pro-gramme in place and, in actualfact, the Government has donemuch more than merely createa programme. See the Govern-ment’s anti-corruption meas-ures. The administration of justice isindependent in Hungary; fur-thermore, thanks to the judicialreform, courts will be able to op-erate much more effectivelyand will, in consequence, beable to restore the faith of Hun-garian citizens in the adminis-tration of justice. Not a singlejudge has been removed fromoffice before the end of theirmandate; judges have onlybeen released due to the com-pletion of the retirement age, asis customary in the case of allother Hungarian citizens. We agree that the operation oflocal governments is jeopar-dised by financial difficulties. Itis regrettable, however, that thereasons for these financial diffi-culties have been omitted fromthe report; namely, the accumu-lation of dramatic debt ratesduring the previous govern-ments, the bad allocation of re-sponsibilities, the ongoingwithdrawal of funds from thesystem and the lack of reforms.

H u n g a r y C e n t r a l B a n k Vo t eD e l a y W i l l H e l p I M F Ta l k s , Va r g a

(Online 07 Jun) Hungary’sdelay of a vote on amendmentsto a disputed central bank lawwill help resolve differencesblocking talks with the Interna-tional Monetary Fund, said Mi-haly Varga, the country’s chiefnegotiator.Financing is guaranteed thisyear and by 2013 Hungarywould like to have a “a safetynet” from the IMF, Varga, theminister in charge of relationswith international financial insti-tutions, said in an interview dur-ing a World Economic Forummeeting in Istanbul today. Hun-gary may consider selling inter-national bonds whilenegotiating the loan, he said.Prime Minister Viktor Orbanasked for IMF financing in No-vember as the forint fell to arecord low against the euro andthe country’s credit grade wascut to junk. Varga, the premier’sformer chief of staff who tookhis current job on June 1, re-quested delaying a June 4 votein parliament on the centralbank law after the EuropeanCentral Bank said proposedchanges still fail to safeguardmonetary-policy independence.The delay “give the chance forfurther negotiations if it’sneeded,” Varga said. “We areready to sit down at the negoti-ating table immediately as soonas” the IMF and the EuropeanUnion “decide when and underwhat conditions they want tobegin the talks.”

The forint rose 1.2 percent to298.8 against the euro as of4:06 p.m. in Budapest today,advancing for a third day. It hasweakened 4.2 percent in thepast month, the world’s third-worst performance behind theMalawian kwacha and the Syr-ian pound.‘Categorically Refute’Economists including Tim Ashof Royal Bank of Scotland andPeter Attard Montalto of No-mura have said Hungary maybe emulating a tactic used byTurkey, which discussed a pos-sible IMF loan for more than ayear and a half until the govern-ment announced in March 2010that it no longer needed a back-stop.Hungary is delaying the talks by“dragging” its feet on changinga disputed central bank law, Cit-igroup Inc. said on May 17 aftermeeting the Washington-basedlender’s officials in Budapest.“I would like to categorically re-fute” assumptions by somemarket participants that thegovernment isn’t really seekingan agreement, Varga said.“Hungary isn’t preparing for anegotiation that isn’t going tolead to an agreement. Wewould like a good agreementthat’s beneficial for the countryand reassures the IMF and theEU that Hungary is a reliablepartner.”‘Technical’ IssuesThe vote on the central banklaw amendments will probably

take place before parliamentgoes into summer recess onJuly 15, Antal Rogan, head ofthe ruling Fidesz party’s groupof lawmakers, said June 4.Varga said he met Hungariancentral Bank President AndrasSimor yesterday and is plan-ning to meet Simor’s deputy,Ferenc Karvalits, in “the comingdays” about Hungary’s negoti-ating position.Remaining issues about thecentral bank law are “technical”and will be resolved in talks be-tween the central bank, Hun-gary’s government, the ECB,the IMF and the EuropeanCommission, Varga said.With about 35 billion euros ($44billion) of central bank foreignexchange reserves “financingof the country is secured,”Varga said. “This year is guar-anteed and by next year wewould like to get to the pointwhere Hungary has this safetynet in place.”While Hungary always needs tobe weighing its financing op-tions, selling Eurobonds “wouldnot be realistic at the moment,”Varga said. “The market is alsowaiting for the start of the nego-tiations.”Once Hungary has started talkson the international bailout it willbecome “possible to consider”an international bond sale,should market sentiment re-garding turmoil in the euro re-gion improve, he said.

R e s p o n s e t o Tr a n s p a r e n c y I n t e r -n a t i o n a l ’s R e p o r t

(Online 06 Jun) Hungariangovernments in the last twentyyears combined have not doneas much for preventing and re-ducing corruption and forachieving accountability as thegovernment currently in officehas in the past two years.We acknowledge with regretthat this fact has been omittedfrom the organisation’s report,and we are therefore unable toembrace or agree with most ofits findings. It would have beenfar more justifiable to expressconcern about the state of cor-ruption in Hungary during theperiod between 2002 and 2010when a series of high-profilecorruption cases involving theeffective assistance and partic-ipation of senior government of-ficials and local political leadersbrought shame to the country.Since its establishment, theGovernment has implementedthe most intensive series ofanti-corruption measures of thepast twenty years because or-ganised corruption left unpun-ished in the last few years andthose who turned a blind eye tosuch malpractices played amajor role in the developmentof the country’s current direeconomic and financial situa-tion and the general deprecia-tion of morals and trust. If thereis any country in the world thatis most painfully aware of this,it must be Hungary as genera-tions of Hungarians will pay theprice for the irresponsible prac-tices of previous governments,the country’s high debt rate andthe shortage of public fundssquandered and stolen duringprevious periods.The Government is committedto enhancing faith in the State,and guarantees with all meansat its disposal the responsible

management of the nation’s as-sets and public funds and theuncovering of cases involvingcorruption, and makes every ef-fort to bring the guilty to justice.Since the change of regime,Hungary has for the first time agovernmental anti-corruptionprogramme the implementationof which has begun. Since itsentry into office, the Govern-ment has improved the condi-tions necessary for the fightagainst corruption in the fieldsof law, public administration andthe economy.The Government has made thelaw on public procurementssubstantially more stringent,thereby putting an end to theuntenable practice during thesocialist governments, in thewake of which billions werestolen due to the shortcomingsand loopholes of the public pro-curement system. The Govern-ment is committed to increasingthe faith of citizens in the Stateand guarantees with all meansat its disposal that the nation’sassets and public funds aremanaged in a responsible fash-ion, for the advancement of thepeople, that cases of corruptionare fully uncovered and thatthose who are responsible forcases of corruption are broughtto justice. To this end, the Gov-ernment has implemented anumber of measures in the pastalmost two years. For instance,Parliament passed a law on theprotection of national assets,and Parliament is currently de-bating the draft of the newPenal Code which will take fur-ther steps towards creatingrules that are capable of pro-tecting and upholding fairnessand transparency in public life.It is also thanks to the Govern-ment currently in office that a

government-level anti-corrup-tion strategy and an action planhave been adopted for the firsttime since the change ofregime. Hungarian society ex-pressed an elementary demandfor these (firm action againstcorruption, prevention, trans-parency of utilisation of publicfunds) during the socialist gov-ernance between 2002 and2010 when the public wasshocked practically daily bynews of the involvement of so-cialist and liberal state and mu-nicipality leaders in cases ofcorruption.Thanks to the new public pro-curement law, Hungary,uniquely in the EuropeanUnion, has barred off-shorebusinesses with an unclear pro-prietary background from publicprocurement proceedings. Con-sequently, the incomes pro-duced in Hungary cannot bechannelled to foreign taxhavens in an uncontrolled man-ner. For instance, according tothe new rules, only businessesthat fully reveal their proprietarystructure may be awarded pub-lic procurements. The novelmeasures introduced in thenew public procurement legisla-tion are, in a number of in-stances, parallel with the goalsof the EU directives in the mak-ing. Consequently, a progres-sive law has been created thatis fully EU-compatible and isexemplary also by internationalstandards.Hungary has, as a result,opened a new chapter in thefight against corruption. At thesame time, everyone is awarethat this is an eternal fight thatmust be pursued persistently,for instance, also through thecreation of the new party fund-ing legislation.

P a r l i a m e n t a d o p t s a m e n d m e n t st o t h e M e d i a A c t

(Online 06 Jun) According toamendments adopted by Par-liament on 4 June, the identityof editorial boards’ sources willreceive protection, the remits ofthe Media and Infocommunica-tions Commissioner and theMedia Authority will be moreprecisely defined, programmequotas will change and moreprogrammes will be made ac-cessible to those with hearingimpairment.Last December Hungary’s Con-stitutional Court struck downcertain sections of media regu-lation. In response, the Govern-ment requested a detailedinterpretation of the provisionsin the Fundamental Law relatedto freedom of the press. TheConstitutional Court consideredthe task of answering the ques-tions put to it to be the respon-sibility of the legislature, and soon 10 May the Governmentpresented a bill to Parliamentproposing amendments to cer-tain legislation on media serv-ices and press products. Thebill was further amended andsupplemented in the course ofthe parliamentary debate. The amended legislationstrengthens protection for jour-nalists’ sources. Journalists oreditorial boards will not be re-quired to identify sources. Dis-closure of the identity of asource will only be justified inthe course of criminal proceed-ings, if the public interest is bet-ter served by such disclosurethan its non-disclosure, whenthe information is necessary forinvestigation of a serious of-fense and the information can-not be obtained in any otherway. As was previously thecase, the media authority shallnot be empowered to demandthe identity of sources fromanybody, and this shall continue

to be the sole preserve of thecourts. With regard to regulation ofcontent in the printed press andon the internet, the media au-thority shall not have the powerto investigate alleged infringe-ments of human rights, humandignity, privacy and the rights ofthose making public state-ments; this is because protec-tion of these rights is alreadyadequately provided for in theCivil and Criminal Codes. In re-lation to the press, however,there will continue to be sanc-tions against hate speech, in-fringement of constitutionalorder, and the contrivance ofsituations in which people aredepicted in humiliating or de-grading circumstances. Provi-sions related to the protectionof minors will also remain. Inthese cases, the Authority mayinvestigate in tandem with itsparallel regulatory organisa-tions. Following a submission to theConstitutional Court by theCommissioner for FundamentalRights, the remit of the Presi-dent of the National Media andInfocommunications Authority(NMHH) has also been af-fected. The President may nothave authority in connectionwith the Media Council, if he orshe is not elected head of theCouncil. The President of theNMHH may not continue in of-fice if Parliament has notelected him or her as head ofthe Media Council within 30days of his or her appointmentas president. The powers of the Media Com-missioner have also beenamended. The Commissionerwill continue to have powersequivalent to that of an author-ity, but they will only remain inrelation to electronic infocom-

munications services. TheCommissioner shall have noremit in the area of media serv-ices and press products. Inthese cases, if the Commis-sioner receives a complaint, heor she may only initiate discus-sions with professional organi-sations and issue a report at theend of the investigation. This re-port may only be sent to inter-ested parties, as making itpublic would limit press free-dom. The Commissioner willcontinue to be able to initiateproceedings if a substantialnumber of viewers, listeners orreaders are concerned, but heor she may also recommendpersonal meetings betweencomplainants, professional or-ganisations and the media con-tent service provider. Thisprocess will not constitute alimit on press freedom. TheCommissioner may not investi-gate the activities of a mediacontent service provider. According to the amendments,the quota related to works ofHungarian origin shall onlyapply if the programme in ques-tion is received within the bor-ders of Hungary. The number ofprogrammes accessible tothose with hearing impairmentwill increase, for example,sports broadcasts and weatherreports will have subtitles orsign language interpretation.Parliament took a final vote onthe bill on 24 May, but subse-quently the President of the Re-public, János Áder, sent it backdue to a procedural error. Hedid not find it unconstitutional inany way, however. The legisla-tion was voted on again andadopted on 4 June. Some ofthe provisions will come intoforce on the day of the publica-tion, while others will do so 15and 16 days after this.

The Hungarian government condemnsan insult aimed at József Schweitzer

(Online 06 Jun) The Hungar-ian government utterly con-demns the insult recentlydirected at former Chief RabbiJózsef Schweitzer, who is oneof the most highly respectedHungarian intellectuals.

The Office of the Govern-ment’s Spokesman said in astatement that the Govern-ment will take action againstall expressions of extremism,racism and anti-Semitism,and will do everything in its

power to combat words andactions which are incompati-ble with European norms. TheGovernment wishes to makeit absolutely clear that thecountry will protect all of itscitizens from such attacks.

H u n g a r i a n a i d h a s r e a c h e di t s d e s i n a t i o n

(Online 06Jun) The re-lief offeredby the gov-ernment ofHungary tohelp the Syr-ian refugeeshas arrivedin Turkey.The trailertruck trans-porting theaid packageput togetherfrom the sup-plies of theH u n g a r i a nD e f e n c eForces (in-c l u d i n g5,000 blan-kets and+700 sheets)arrived inAdana in theafternoon ofJune 3. Lt.-Col. ZoltánSallai, Hun-garian de-f e n c e ,military andair attaché inA n k a r ahanded overthe reliefpackage toR a h m iBozkurt, thedirector forthe Mediter-ranean re-gion of theTurkish RedCrescent aid agency. In the or-

ganization of the National Direc-torate General for Disaster Man-

a g e m e n t ,Ministry ofthe Interior( N D G D M )and with fi-nancial sup-port from theMinistry ofDefence andthe Ministryof Foreign Af-fairs, co-fi-nanced bythe EU Com-mittee, thegovernmentof Hungaryoffered theaid to theTurkish au-thorities sothat they canhelp the Syr-ian refugees.R a h m iBozkurt saidthanks forthe Hungar-ian aid, andi n f o r m e dthose pres-ent that aftera transfer theaid would bedelivered im-mediately soit wouldreach ther e f u g e ecamp ac-commodat-ing some5 , 7 0 0refugees thefollowing day,

on June 5.

photo: Ernő Horváth

photo: Ernő Horváth

János Áder (photo: Ernő Horváth)

photo: Károly Árvai

F I F A p r e s i d e n t t h a n k s t h eP r i m e M i n i s t e r

(Online 05Jun) JosephBlatter, Pres-ident of theInternationalFederation ofAssociationF o o t b a l l(FIFA), haswritten a let-ter to ViktorOrbán thank-ing the Hun-garian primeminister forcontributingto the suc-cess of theo r g a n i s a -tion’s con-gress inBudapest inMay. In the letter, which appearson the Prime Minister’s website,the Swiss sports diplomat offersMr. Orbán his special thanks fora ‘thought-provoking speech’which the Prime Minister gaveat the opening of the federa-tion’s 62nd Congress. Mr. Blat-ter made special mention of thefact that he was particularly im-pressed by Mr. Orbán’s state-ment that ‘fair play is a strength,not a weakness’.The FIFA president also wishedthe Prime Minister success, par-

ticularly in his efforts to developthe game in Hungary. He addedthat the Hungarian nationalteam is now higher in the worldrankings than it has been indecades, and therefore its fu-ture looks bright. He expressedhis hope that the national sidewill once again compete at thehighest level. In his speech at the BudapestCongress Centre, the PrimeMinister said that there is astrong link between sport andpolitics, and that they can do

much to helpeach other –but in certainc i r c u m -stances poli-tics can harmsport. Refer-ring to thepossibility ofa boycott bysome coun-tries of theE u r o p e a nC h a m p i -onship beingjointly organ-ised byPoland andUkraine thissummer, hesaid that thespirit of foot-

ball must not be harmed. ‘Sport is made to unify people,not to divide them. Footballteaches us everything. We aretrying to build a country wherefair play is a strength, not aweakness in Hungary, like infootball,’ said Mr. Orbán. Budapest played host to theFIFA Congress on 24-25 May.This was the third time it hadperformed this role, having doneso in 1909 and 1930.

Talks continue on amendments to theAct on the National Bank of Hungary

(Online 05 Jun) Mihály Varga,Minister without portfolio incharge of negotiations with theInternational Monetary Fund(IMF) and the EU, who sworehis oath of office on Monday inParliament, has asked theFidesz parliamentary group toconsider postponing the finalvote on amendments to the Acton the National Bank of Hun-gary (MNB). According to theoriginal timetable, Mondaywould have seen the final voteon the Act, following amend-ments requested by the interna-tional organisations.Mr. Varga said that the requestfor postponement was becausethe current amendments hadnot put an end to all discussionon the issue, and so time must

be allowed for clarification talks. Fidesz parliamentary groupleader Antal Rogán said onMonday that he is sure Parlia-ment will pass the amended Actbefore the middle of July, and inthe meantime the Governmentwill have the opportunity to dis-cuss any possible furtheramendments with the IMF. Mr. Rogán said that five-waytalks on the Act are being con-ducted between the Govern-ment, the MNB, the EuropeanCentral Bank, the IMF and theEuropean Commission. Allpoints of community law havebeen agreed, with two excep-tions: the oath to be sworn bythe Governor of the MNB andhis salary. The Commissiondoes not see these as obsta-

cles to further progress, how-ever, and the most that mayhappen is that the parties wouldturn to the European Court fora ruling; but this, he said, wouldbe a routine procedure. He alsosaid, however, that reaching anagreement in talks between fiveparties is far more difficult thanbetween two parties, as the in-ternational organisations do notalways agree with each other. On Monday Parliament votedon the amendment to the Fun-damental Law which eliminatesthe possibility of the MNB beingmerged with the Hungarian Fi-nancial Supervisory Authority.This amendment was also re-quested by the European Com-mission.

F e e l t h e P u l s e o f K o s o v o – R e -p o r t i n g f r o m K o s o v o

(Online 04Jun) Theyare the eyeand ear ofthe com-mander ofK F O R ,b e i n gtasked withsupp ly ingthe leadersof thepeacekeep-ing missionin Kosovowith variousimpor tan tpieces of in-formation.For this rea-son, theirslogan is“Feel thepulse ofKosovo”.The Hun-garian Liai-s o nMonitoringT e a m(LMT) serv-ing with thesixth rota-tion of theHDF KFORcontingentis based inPodujevo.The task ofthe LMT isto keepcontact withthe leadersof the set-t l e m e n t s ,the repre-sentatives ofcompaniesand theh e a d m a s -ters ofschools inthe area ofresponsibil-ity (AOR).During the li-aising workthey gatherinformationthat may befed into theC O M K -FOR’s deci-sion-makingprocess.“The LMT isthe COMK-FOR’s eyeand ear inthe AOR, so it receives its de-tailed tasking orders from thecommander of the NATO-ledpeacekeeping mission”, Capt.Attila Ivánfalvi told us. The offi-cer assigned to the HungarianLMT adds that the team ismade up of six soldiers who arehelped by two English-Alban-ian-Serbian interpreters in theirwork. Their office room is lo-cated in the office building ofthe leader of Podujevo munici-

pality.“We think we’ve managed todevelop very good relationshipswith the local people, and we’relucky to have their trust”, thecaptain says, adding that thepeople of Kosovo definitely likethe Hungarian soldiers, per-haps in part owing to the factthat many citizens of the coun-try had worked or studied ear-lier in Hungary.One way of maintaining contact

is to supplythe primarys c h o o l sfunctioningin the area ofresponsibilitywith variouspublicationsand sta-tionery. Re-cently theydis t r ibutedthe “For YouMagazine”,KFOR’s jour-nal for civil-ians as wellas pens andno tebooksamong theschoolchild-ren andh e a d m a s -ters.“This way weare trying topopu la r i zeK F O Ramong thechildren ofK o s o v o ” ,WO ZsoltVasvári, theoperat ions(S3) officerof the Hun-garian LMTtells us. Healso revealsthat beingpublished inthe area ofresponsibil-ity, the mag-a z i n ereaches outto a lot ofyoung peo-ple and luck-ily, it has awide reader-ship. This isno accident,as it focuseson topicswhich arepopular witht o d a y ’ syouth inK o s o v o .Among oth-ers, it in-c l u d e sarticles onfashion andsport, andthe childrencan find af u l l - f i g u r e

poster of the current local teenstar – a singer – inside the jour-nal.Besides, the Hungarian sol-diers can use the school visitsto get an update on the prob-lems in the life of the educa-tional institutions and thedevelopment projects that theheadmasters would like to seeimplemented in their ownschools during the next period”,WO Vasvári told us.

(photo: Tünde Rácz)

(photo: Tünde Rácz)

(photo: Tünde Rácz)

W o r k i n g T o g e t h e r f o r aC l e a n E n v i r o n m e n t

(Online 03Jun) Thisy e a r ' sTe S z e d d !("YouPickIt!")drive wasonce againsuccess fu land effec-tive, with par-t i c i p a n t sc o l l e c t i n gseveral thou-sand tons ofr u b b i s h .Within theframework ofthe WorkingTogether fora CleanerH u n g a r ymovement,vo lun tee rsfrom all overthe countryput on theirgloves tomake the en-v i r o n m e n tmore beauti-ful andc l e a n e r .H u n g a r y ' slargest rub-bish collec-tion initiativetook place in700 settle-ments and atover 1500sites. Experi-ence hasshown that inplaces wherethe TeSzedd!vo lun tee rsc o l l e c t e drubbish lastyear, therewas lesswaste thisyear.The drivewas organ-ised jointlyby the Min-istry of RuralD e v e l o p -ment, theMinistry ofthe Interior,the NationalWaste Man-a g e m e n tAgency andthe NationalCivil Police Association. A pri-mary sponsor of the event wasthe Media Service Support andAsset Management Fund(MTVA). This year too, individ-ual volunteers, businesses,local governments, schools andnon-governmental organisationapplied to participate in theTeSzedd! drive. This year too,the goal of the drive was to getrid of unmanaged, derelict pilesof waste. The chief patron of thisyear's TeSzedd! 2012 nationalrubbish collection drive wasMinister for Rural DevelopmentSándor Fazekas, while the pro-fessional director was ZoltánIllés, State Secretary for Envi-ronmental Affairs.Some 110 thousand people reg-istered in advance for the drive,and according to estimatearound the same number of vol-unteers joined them at the col-lection points. There are noexact figures as yet as to howmany tons of rubbish the partic-ipants removed from the envi-ronment, but according topreliminary estimates at least 3thousand tons of waste was col-lected thanks to the sustainedefforts of the volunteers."The new bill on waste, which isbefore parliament at the mo-ment, has set as its goals an in-crease in the level of selectivityand the ratio of recycling", saidZoltán Illés at one of theTeSzedd! drive's sites in Bu-dapest. The State Secretary forEnvironmental Affairs of theMinistry of Rural Development

stressed that "With the introduc-tion of the deposit on bottles, theGovernment aims to make surethat it will not be worth throwingbottles away. The landfill contri-butions encourage less waste toend up in landfills and for recy-cling to come to the forefront in-stead."Several politicians also took partin the work. The drive waslaunched in Karcag by Ministerfor Rural Development SándorFazekas. The Ministry's Parlia-mentary State Secre-tary, Gyula Budai,also donned glovedon June 2 and tookpart in the country'slargest rubbish col-lection drive in thecapital's 17th District.State Secretary forRural DevelopmentZsolt V. Némethhelped local volun-teers collect fortybags of rubbish fromthe edge of the forestnear the town ofIvánc. State Secre-tary for AgriculturalEconomy György Cz-erván worked to-gether with locals toclean the areaaround the fishinglake in Tápiószent-márton.Minister of DefenceCsaba Hende tookpart in the nationwiderubbish collectiondrive at Szombathely.

Károly Kon-trát, Parlia-m e n t a r yState Secre-tary of theMinistry ofthe Interiorhelped localvolunteers inP á p a ;Deputy StateSecretary forthe Economyand Informa-tion Technol-ogy LászlóTóth, StateSecretary forE c o n o m i cRegulation ofthe Ministryof NationalE c o n o m yKristóf Szat-máry, andEstonian Am-b a s s a d o rPriit Pallumalso took partin the drive.H u n g a r y ' slargest re-fuse collec-tion drivewas organ-ised jointly bythe Ministryof Rural De-v e l o p m e n tand the Min-istry of the In-terior, andthis year, theevent's fund-ing, the pro-curement ofbags andgloves, andthe expensesof the profes-sional re-moval anddepositing ofthe rubbishcollected bythe volun-teers wastaken on bythe NationalWaste Man-a g e m e n tAgency. TheWater Direc-torates dis-tributed 100t h o u s a n d

pairs of rubber gloves and thesame number of bags amongvolunteers with the help of theNational Civil Police Associa-tion. The refuse collected in theTeSzedd! bags will be removedby local refuse collection publicservices.The movement began last yearwith the hope of creating a tra-dition to be repeated each year,and became Hungary's mostsuccessful civil initiative.

Sándor Fazekas (photo: Adrián Szabó)

Levente Ríz, Zoltán Illés (photo: Balázs Glódi)

Zsolt V. Németh (photo: Gábor Bodó)

György Czerván (photo: GáborFényes)

Closer cooperation between the Hungarianand the Bavarian Ministers of Interior

(Online 05Jun) We hadstrategicallyand opera-tionally effi-c i e n t ,forward-look-ing negotia-tion in afriendly at-mosphere –emphasizedMr. SándorPintér Hun-garian Minis-ter of Interiorafter hismeeting withJ o a c h i mHer rmann ,Bavarian In-terior Minis-ter.The minis-ters dis-cussed thecommon ac-tivities theyd e v e l o p e dc o m m o ns t r a t e g i e sand agreedon the fightagainst ille-gal migrationand issuesrelated to theS c h e n g e nborder.Hungary andBavaria havelong stand-ing experi-ence inpolice – co-operation, in training and educa-tion of standby police and incarrying out common activities –highlighted the Hungarian Inte-rior Minister.

The Parties agreed upon sim-ple, operative issues too: Bavar-ian police officers will serve atthe Balaton Lake and Hungarianpolice officers will support their

German col-leagues atthe MunichBeer Festi-val– informedthe Hungar-ian InteriorMinister.Today’s ne-gotiation con-tributed tothe deepen-ing of theoutstandingrelation be-tween theBavarian andH u n g a r i a nMinistries ofInterior –said JoachimH e r r m a n n .The BavarianState Policeappreciatesthe coopera-tion with theH u n g a r i a nState Policewhich is con-stant since1989.Most of theGerman pop-ulation arec o n c e r n e dthat the re-moval ofS c h e n g e nborders canlead to an in-crease incrime – tothis end in-tensive coop-

eration with Middle-EastEuropean countries will be ofhigh importance in the future too– underlined the Bavarian Inte-rior Minister.

Joachim Herrmann, Sándor Pintér (Photo: Ernő Horváth)

Joachim Herrmann, Sándor Pintér (Photo: Ernő Horváth)

T h i s i s h o w t h e C a s t l e w i l ll o o k !

(Online 05Jun) Planshave beenpresentedof the Vár-bazár (Cas-tle Bazaar)– a key ele-ment in thecityscape ofthe BudaC a s t l earea. Ac-cording tothe sched-ule, theproject willbe com-pleted by2014, andas a resultB u d a p e s twill be evenmore spec-tacular thanit is at pres-ent.After therenovationthe Vár-bazár –which hasbeen in astate ofdecay forthe pastthirty years– will be thevenue foran exhibi-tion space,art gal-leries, aworkshopopen to thepublic, alecture the-atre, arestaurant,c o f f e ehouse andshops offer-ing Hungar-i a np r o d u c t s .The com-plex couldbe a newjewel in thec a p i t a l ’ scrown. The Govern-ment de-cided tolaunch therenovationproject lastO c t o b e r .The deci-sion on the long-term develop-ment was announced inNovember, and in Decemberthe project was assigned prior-ity status. The project, fullyfunded by the EU, is worth atotal of HUF 8.5 billion. It isscheduled to begin in autumn2012 and be completed in2014. The work will be coordi-nated by Government Commis-sioner Ferenc Zumbok. Following a public procurementprocedure, the Castle Bazaarrestoration and related publictransport projects will be carriedout by Középülettervező(KÖZTI) Zrt. The lead designerwill be Ferenc Potzner, who hasworked on reconstruction ofmonuments for two decades.Already upon the launch ofHungary’s new developmentprogramme, the NewSzéchenyi Plan in 2011, theGovernment pledged to regardthe refurbishment of one of thetreasures of the Buda Castle,the Castle Bazaar left to decayfor decades, as one of the mostimportant national pro-grammes. According to the con-templated schedule, the plansand designs for the reconstruc-

tion works will be completed bythe autumn, and the tenders forthe works will be invited as well. The Castle Bazaar built be-tween 1875 and 1883 originallyserved as a trade facility; its ar-cades were once full of shops.Its promenade was a favouriteof Queen Sissi, wife of the Aus-trian Emperor. The state of theCastle Bazaar has continuouslydeteriorated since the nineteen-eighties, which eventually led tothe complete closure of thebuilding complex. Regrettably,the monument of unparalleledbeauty designed by Miklós Ybl,a world heritage site, has since1996 been one of the world’smost endangered monuments.Since March last year, FerencZumbok, a ministerial and morerecently a government commis-sioner has coordinated thepreparations for the project.The Government adopted a de-cision on the commencementof the project last October, pub-lished its decision on the long-term development in Novemberand finally declared the projecta top national economy priorityin December. The Government wishes to re-

furbish andre-open tothe publicthe CastleBazaar andthe royal gar-dens of theBuda Castlein publicownership.The Govern-ment is plan-ning tocommencethe projectworth HUF8.5 billion,implementedin its entiretyfrom EUfunding, inautumn 2012and to com-plete it byMarch 2014.Some of thepreparatoryworks al-ready begana year ago;the crum-bling, dan-g e r o u spieces arebeing contin-uously re-moved fromthe projectsite, theWater Car-rier stairsand theirvicinity. The projecti n v o l v e shighly com-plex tasks; inaddition tothe refur-bishment ofa listed site,the Govern-ment is alsorequired toregulate traf-fic in theneighbour-hood, to planthe naviga-tion of smallvessels onthe Danubeand to iden-tify a devel-o p m e n ts t r a t e g y .There areongoing con-sultations re-

garding the contemplatedproject concepts with the pro-fessional organisations, author-ities and civil organisationsconcerned.According to plans, in additionto the restoration of the originalbeauty of the promenade oncefavoured by Queen Sissi, thewhole of the site would accom-modate a wide variety of serv-ices. The royal gardenssituated on the garden terraceof the Castle Bazaar may be-come the pride and one of thegreatest attractions of Bu-dapest. According to plans,there will be a Baroque garden,a neo-Baroque garden, a neo-Renaissance garden, an Eng-lish landscaped garden, and asymbolic church and seculargarden. The Castle Bazaar tobe rebuilt shortly may becomea genuine cultural site and a so-phisticated entertainment dis-trict as underground culturalevent halls, fine art studios,sculptor workshops, exhibitionrooms, an outdoor stage, anunderground parking facility,restaurants and sophisticatedmusic venues will be created.

B r o t h e r s i n a r m a m e n t s(Online 05Jun) The4th BilateralHungarian-Italian Na-t i o n a lArmamentsDi rec tors ’M e e t i n gwas held inB u d a p e s tb e t w e e n23rd and24th May2012. Lieu-tenant Gen-eral ClaudioDebertolis,D e f e n c eSecre taryof Ministryof Defenceof Italy andhis delega-tion arrivedin Hungaryfor the invi-tation of MrG á b o rM á r k i ,D e p u t yState Sec-retary forD e f e n c eEconomy ofMinistry ofDefence ofHungary.The mainaim of theconferencewas tostrengthenthe activebilateral re-lations es-tablished in2010 be-tween theNational Ar-m a m e n t sDirectors ofthe two na-tions andfurthermoreto discussthe actualtopics of ar-m a m e n tand de-fence in-d u s t r yc o o p e r a -tion.In the hon-our of theItalian dele-g a t i o nC s a b aHende, Minister of Defence ofHungary held a ceremonialmeeting, on which Maria As-sunta Accili, ambassador ofItaly in Budapest and Arch-bishop Alberto Bottari deCastello, Apostolic Nuncio toHungary also took part.The first day was held in theNon-Commission Officer Acad-emy. The Parties gained furtherknowledge about the past andthe present of the Academy onthe Training Field Csobánka.Dynamic and static demonstra-

tions have been presented re-garding the C-IED and demoli-tion capabilities of theHungarian Defence Forces.The Szentendre base of theAcademy gave home to the of-ficial meeting.Gábor Márki in his welcomingspeech emphasized that mu-tual trust and understanding, bi-and multilateral cooperation,and also Smart Defence are im-portant to reach the desiredsuccess. In his answer GeneralDebertolis highlighted that the

e x c e l l e n tItalian-Hun-garian rela-tions givegood basisto the fruitfulcooperation.He indicatedthat hewould catchall opportuni-ties in orderto reachc o m m o na c h i e v e -ments. Sig-n i f i c a n tresult of themeeting isthat in accor-dance withthe HADIKPlan Hun-gary will or-ganise aDefence In-dustry Con-ference withparticipationof the deci-sive defencei n d u s t r yplayers ofthe two na-tions in thesecond halfthis year. Inthe end ofthe meetingthe Partiesagreed tomeet everyyear so as todiscuss themost rele-vant bilateralissues and todeepen thecooperationas well.On the sec-ond dayGeneral De-bertolis wasinvited for anoffice call byLajos Fodor,Administra-tive StateSecretary ofMinistry ofD e f e n c e ,and byBalázs Hid-véghi, StateSecretary forE x t e r n a lE c o n o m i cR e l a t i o n s

and International Affairs of theMinistry of National Economy.The visit ended on the Pápa AirBase where the participantshave been informed about thecapabilities of the NATO AirliftManagement Agency, theHeavy Airlift Wing and theNATO Strategic Airlift Capabilityas well.

(photo: M.D.)

(photo: M.D.)

(photo: M.D.)

I n t e r i o r M i n i s t e r o f H u n g a r y n e -g o t i a t e s i n F i n l a n d

(Online 04 Jun) Dr SándorPintér, Interior Minister ofHungary conducted negoti-ations with Päivi Räsänen,Interior Minister of Finlandand Krista Kiuru, Minister ofHousing and Communica-tions in Helsinki.Interior Ministers ex-changed views on theplanned new penalty sys-tem for cases of hit and runcrimes, on the law enforce-ment administration reforms

and overviewed the agendaof the following Justice andHome Affairs Council. Dr.Sándor Pintér reviewed theequipment of the Finnishpolice officers.Hungarian Interior Ministerpresented for Ms Kiuru theÓcsa Social House-BuildingProject and visited an en-ergy efficient house. Dr.Sándor Pintér provided adescription of the rationali-zation of rules of settlement

planning and constructionrequirements (OTÉK – Na-tional Settlement Planningand Construction Require-ments).The ministers discussed themethods to be used for co-operating with local selfgovernments too.The bilateral negotiationswere held in a friendly at-mosphere.

M o r e t h a n 4 t h o u s a n d n e w j o b st o b e c r e a t e d a t S M E s

(Online 05 Jun) In Februarythe Ministry for National Econ-omy invited tenders frommicro-, small and mediumsized enterprises aimed atcreating new jobs.Similarly to previous years, in-terest was quite keen in thesupport programme. In orderto gain access to the amountof 10bn HUF provided by theNational Employment Fund,750 competitions which re-quested subsidies of alto-gether 10.3bn HUF havebeen received by employ-ment centers where theycould be mailed to.

After a strict screening proce-dure of form and substance,584 enterprises wereawarded non-refundablegrants totaling 7.3bn HUF inorder to create 4010 newjobs. The subsidy will alsohelp preserve 6234 jobs, asapplicants have promised tomaintain current payroll num-bers for at least two moreyears. Grants are primarilyaimed at helping fund the pur-chasing of new machinery,equipment and technical ap-paratus as well as the buildingof new facilities.The success of the competi-

tion has proven that via rele-vant planning and apt tenderinvitation resources can reallyget to where they are mostneeded: to such domesticSMEs which have fought hardfor funding without which nonew jobs could have beencreated. Among applicantsthose from disadvantaged re-gions had been favoured andas a result, the 87.4 percentof the money which wasawarded is received by fourdisadvantaged regions of thecountry.

I n t e r n a t i o n a l B o r d e r P o -l i c e C o n f e r e n c e

(Online 05Jun) Wec o n c e n -trated onsharing ex-perience tom a i n t a i nhigh level ofborder pro-tection in thefuture too –underl inedMr. SándorPintér, Inte-rior Ministerin his open-ing speechof the 20thInternationalBorder Po-lice Confer-ence.The first In-ternationalBorder Po-lice Confer-ence wasorganized in1993 at theinitiative ofthe Hungar-ian BorderGuard –said Mr.Sándor Pin-tér. We canlook back ona successfulperiod of 20years as theconferencesprovided anopportunityfor the negotiations of the bor-der police leaders and con-tributed to the strategiccooperation between the or-ganizations. – emphasized theInterior Minister.The first International PoliceBorder Conference afforded aunique opportunity for the for-mer socialist countries at theborder of the European Unionand for the Member States ofthe Soviet Union to meet –highlighted Mr. Sándor Pintérand added: the main goal ofthe previous conferences was

to discuss border security andrelating issues. “Exchange ofexperiences helped to fightagainst illegal migration, tocombat cross-border terrorismactivities and to tackle drugtrafficking” – stated the InteriorMinister.The European Union wishes topromote border security in thecountries which lie to the east,south-east and south of it andthe conference contributed sig-nificantly to this activity – saidMr Sándor Pintér.International Border PoliceConference is only one initia-

tive of theHungar ianB o r d e rGuard. “Wehave beeninvolved inthe bordersecurity de-ve lopmentprocess ofBosnia andHerzegov-ina, Mace-d o n i a ,Montenegroand Serbiafor manyyears, in acontext ofcooperationwe are partof the inter-national ad-ministrationin Kosovo” –informed MrSándor Pin-tér anda d d e d :based onthe experi-ence of aHungar ianexpert groupwhich hasbeen work-ing in Cen-tral Asiasince 2007,model of in-tegrated bor-der securitydrawn up by

Hungary became a govern-ment programme in Kyrgyzs-tan.Border security guards from 42countries attended the two-daylong conference in Budapest.Interior Minister and JózsefHatala, Commissioner of theHungarian National Policeawarded those who signifi-cantly contributed to the suc-cess of the conferences overthe last twenty years.