The Club - Benelux DT issue presented

The Hotel Le Méridien Budapest hosted the latest Diplomacy and Trade Club event where a constitutional expert spoke about the changes introduced by the current government. In the meantime, the news emerged that a new President was nominated by the Prime Minister.

Ambassadors, other diplomats and businesspeople gathered in the heart of the Hungarian capital Monday evening for the latest session of the Diplomacy and Trade Business Club (‘The Club’) where the latest issue of the publication ‘Diplomacy & Trade’ – fousing on the Benelux countries – was presented before a buffet dinner, including a cheese and wine tasting, provided by the Hotel Le Méridien Budapest.

Following introductions by Publisher Péter Freed and Managing Director Péter Kerényi, Ambassadors Robert Milders of the Netherlands and Jo Indekeu of Belgium spoke about the history and present of the Benelux cooperation and what values of their home countries they represent in Hungary and that the main expectations of investors from their countries towards the government in Hungary are transparency and predictability.

The guest speaker of the event was popular Hungarian constitutional expert Dr. György Kolláth who explained the differences between the previous Constitution and the new one, called basic law, that the currently ruling Fidesz party passed in Parliament last year and took effect as of this year. His brief lecture was spiced with humor and football examples.

New President chosen

It was an interesting coincidence that while Dr. Kolláth was explaining that – after the resignation of Pál Schmitt following a plagiarism scandal – the new President of the country needs to be a figure with prominent background and enjoy a broad support of the population, the news emerged that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán nominated János Áder to the post of the President.

Áder, 53 next month, has a legal degree but has only worked as a politician of the Fidesz party of Viktor Orbán in the past 22 years. Presently, János Áder is a member of the European Parliament elected from the Fidesz list in 2009. Parliament is scheduled to elect Áder as President on May 2.