Report creation date: 14.10.2008 - 10:38
Countr(y/ies): Hungary
Chapter(s): 1,2,21,22,23,24,241,242,243,244,245,246,3,31,32,33,4,41,42,421,422,423,424,425,426,427,428,429,4210,43,5,51,511,512,513,514,515,516,517,518,519,52,53,531,532,533,534,535,536,537,538,539,5310,6,61,62,63,64,7,71,72,73,8,81,811,812,813,82,821,822,83,831,832,84,841,842,9,91,92

Hungary/ 1. Historical perspective: cultural policies and instruments

The Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000. Following Ottoman expansion (1526 to 1686) and subsequent Austrian domination, it was doubtful whether the Hungarians would be able to retain their identity and autonomy. The 19th century, however, brought about a successful national revival, in which culture played a significant role. A considerable part of Hungary's current cultural institutions and traditions is rooted in the nineteenth century. Budapest, Freedom Bridge

Hungary's typical East European social structure was also inherited from that period. A highly developed upper class strata of society, with high cultural standards comparable to most developed countries, was opposed by a majority that was captured in backwardness. While a stable middle class formed the basis of democracy, economic and cultural development in Western Europe, more than half of the Hungarian society was constituted by peasantry up until the middle of the twentieth century. Compared to the West, the size of the working class and the intelligentsia remained small and the bourgeoisie was weak. At the same time, being a Central European country, Hungary constituted a "western" kind of entity as opposed to the Balkans and the East.

After the First World War, cultural policy played a strategic role in helping the country overcome its national trauma, with just a fragment of its former territory left. After the Second World War, cultural policy was focused on physical and political reconstruction. At the same time, the bourgeois, conservative, national and civic traditions were increasingly liquidated. By the late 1940s, the progressive element was eliminated from a Bolshevik kind of cultural policy. Up until the revolution of 1956, a crude, schematic course, slavishly imitating the Soviets, dominated the scene.

After the suppression of the revolution, cultural dogmatism began to melt away in the early 1960s. Up until 1989, similar to other areas of life, a rather protracted process of revision was in progress and the most gradual transition of the entire Communist bloc had taken place. As a consequence of the weakening of the Communist system, public resources were gradually depleted and, parallel to the withdrawal of political control, the state pulled out resources to subsidise culture. In the 1980s, the commercialisation of culture moved ahead, and the Soros Foundation in Hungary obtained an important role in the emerging vacuum of finances.

As a result of state subsidies, culture was accessible at low cost in the decades of socialism, and cultural consumption was growing (reading of books, attendance at the theatre, cinema, concerts, museums and exhibitions). Under dictatorship, art acquired a specific political significance; its end also contributes to the view of many that culture has been one of the losers in the transition.

After the political turn of 1989-1990, the shaping of cultural policy was based on two main sources: the national traditions from before Communism and modern western examples. During the first few years, this transition took place amidst great economic difficulties. By the time the change of system had been completed and the new setup was consolidated, world-wide recession prevented the government from spending more on culture. The protracted process of joining the European Union - which actually took place in May 2004 - was a major factor in shaping cultural policy in Hungary.

The political system has been relatively stable: the five parties that are in the Hungarian Parliament have been there since 1990. Also, there has been sustained economic growth, which propelled per capita GDP to slightly above 60% of the EU-25 average by 2004 (purchasing power parities, PPP). During the past decade, public cultural spending was usually above the European average. Against this favourable background, however, a huge deficit has accumulated in the state budget (as well as in the balance of trade and payments). This led to a number of harsh measures and a set of revisions from 2006, which affects cultural policy in many ways. As one of the first steps, the culture ministry, which was a separate entity between 1998 and 2006 (the Ministry for National Cultural Heritage), merged once again with the Ministry of Education. Reorganisation and fusion of institutions, as well as staff cuts, have started and will probably take place in the entire public system of culture. On the other hand, it is hoped that some of the euro 22.4 billion that the country is entitled to between 2007 and 2013, in the framework of the EU cohesion policy, will be allocated to the broadly defined cultural sector.

Hungary/ 2. Competence, decision-making and administration

2.1 Organisational structure (organigram)

Ministry for Education and Culture

Hungary/ 2. Competence, decision-making and administration

2.2 Overall description of the system

Competencies related to culture have been restructured several times over the past decades.

The remit of the Minister for Education and Culture includes protection of monuments, the supervision of cultural institutions abroad, and religious affairs. Although the department for the arts is also in charge of audio-visual issues, the Minister has no direct mandate with regard to radio and television. The financial support to culture in local governments is beyond the responsibility of the Ministry; on the other hand, a separate unit is in charge of the professional guidance of community cultural centres. Artistic education is the responsibility of the education departments of the Ministry for Education and Culture.

The Equal Treatment Authority reports to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, where there is also an Office for National and Ethnic Minorities. A Parliamentary Commissioner for National and Ethnic Minorities' Rights has been in office for over a decade now.

There is a Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad attached to the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office. Among others, they administer support for cultural activities and needs of Hungarian communities in the neighbouring countries.

The National Cultural Fund is a semi-autonomous branch of the Ministry and is in charge of financing projects (see also chapter 5.2).

The country has been unable to cope with the reorganisation of its regions. The county system was established by the founding king St Stephen in the 11th century - which makes it hard to leave behind and switch to the (probably seven) regions, which the EU funding system requires. The 19 traditional counties still have cultural functions (especially maintaining institutions like county museums, libraries and archives, some of these jointly with cities). Besides the central government, the only real level that matters is that of the nearly 3 200 local governments.

Although the regions are not given real administrative power, they are the basic units of the National Development Plans. The same logic of medium term planning has speeded up the formation of 167 so-called small or micro-regions: these are not yet full partners of the central government, however they have an increasing opportunity to apply for EU funds, including for cultural matters.

The single-chamber Parliament is in charge of legislation. In addition to its role in preparing laws, the Committee for Culture and Press also fulfils supervisory functions by occasionally putting various issues related to culture on its agenda. On the whole, however, the Parliament and its Committees have limited autonomy, in most cases reflecting the will of the government on the one hand and opposition parties on the other.

Hungary/ 2. Competence, decision-making and administration

2.3 Inter-ministerial or intergovernmental co-operation

Inter-ministerial co-operation is mandatory by government decree. There are no formal procedures of special mechanisms to facilitate such governmental co-operation for culture, in general, or intercultural dialogue in particular.

The only exception is the National Development Agency which co-ordinates the contributions of the respective ministries with regard to the (second) National Development Plan for 2007-2013.

As regards vertical co-operation between the central government and lower levels of administration, the culture ministry has no general institutional representation at the levels or regions or counties. Regional and (or) county subsidiaries exist in some areas, e.g. the public library system, museums and archaeology, cultural heritage; their future depends on the settling of the country's regional policy dilemmas (see chapter 2.2).

Hungary/ 2.4 International cultural co-operation

2.4.1 Overview of main structures and trends

The merging of the ministries of education and culture in 2006 has important implications for official international co-operation, which is administered in close co-ordination with bilateral educational co-operation. Also, the servicing of the Hungarian cultural institutions abroad became the task of the Balassi Institute -see chapter 2.4.2.

Hungary/ 2.4 International cultural co-operation

2.4.2 Public actors and cultural diplomacy

The focus of Hungarian cultural diplomacy has traditionally been in the culture ministry, with the embassies having cultural attachés only.

Currently, there are 18 Hungarian Cultural Institutes in operation all over the world. The latest addition was the Hungarian Cultural Centre in Brussels, in December 2004. There are considerable differences between the institutes, with some having facilities for providing scholars with fellowships, while others are just offices for cultural co-operation. In May 2006, the assistance and co-ordination of the content of the activities of the 18 institutes was allocated to the Balassi Institute (Balassi Intézet, named after a 16th century poet), originally established for the co-ordination of Hungarian studies and for looking after students and lecturers who act in the framework of intergovernmental agreements.

The Education and Culture Ministry records bilateral agreements with 105 countries, 50 of which are active. The exchanges of experts are still of importance in the agreements, especially in the heritage field. In the arts, most co-operation projects are realised through other channels.

The state has acted as a guarantor for the insurance of high value exhibitions since 2005; this guarantee was significantly broadened in 2007.

Strengthening ties with the old EU members is no longer as much of a priority as it was around 2004, the year of accession.

However, major emphasis remains on the concentrated strings of events, called cultural seasons, in selected foreign countries, such as:

"Magyar Magic" in England in 2003-2004;
"Hongarije an Zee" in the Netherlands in 2004; and
"Ungarischer Akzent" in Germany in 2006-2007.

This series of events is presented in two parts, separated by an interval of a few months. The 2007 section, lasting from May to November, presents over 700 Hungarian artists in 60 cities of 5 German länder.

"Liberty, Love" in China in 2007-2008.

A large number of cultural events are planned in Beijing and Shanghai in 2007, and Hong Kong and Shenzen in 2008.

Another priority of the Minister for Education and Culture is the organisation of large scale exhibitions from abroad. The main focus of these projects is the Museum for Fine Arts (Szépművészeti Múzeum), which celebrated its 100th anniversary with exhibitions on Emperor Sigismundus (Luxembourg), Picasso, Rembrandt and Van Gogh in 2006. This trend continued in 2007 with the hosting of the treasures of the Inca and the Mongols - the latter by the National Museum.

Cultural diplomacy remains almost entirely dominated by the promotion and branding of Hungarian culture abroad. This is characterised by increasing professionalism (which also refers to the great projects cited above).

Magyar Filmunió, a subsidiary of the Public Foundation for Motion Pictures, has been promoting Hungarian cinematography throughout the world since 1992.

The Budapest Music Centre (BMC) is an independent initiative, financed from a number of public and private sources. Regular exhibitors at the MIDEM in Cannes, BMC has mainly focused on contemporary music. In 2005, the government established Music Export Hungary, with the aim of promoting Hungarian pop, rock, metal, electro, underground, jazz, folk and world music on an international level.

The Hungarian Translation Fund, in operation for 8 years, has a small, but efficient office that provides grants to foreign publishers. It has powerful allies in the Hungarian Translators House Foundation, as well as a civic website entitled Hungarian Literature Online http://www.hlo.hu.

Hungary/ 2.4 International cultural co-operation

2.4.3 European / international actors and programmes

There is no work-plan for implementing and monitoring the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions; the secretariat of the Hungarian Commission for UNESCO, a unit of the Ministry for Education and Culture, is in charge of preparing the Hungarian ratification of the Convention.

The European Folklore Institute (EFI) is a regional centre for the safeguarding, revitalisation and diffusion of traditional culture and folklore in Europe. It was founded in 1996 by Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and UNESCO.

The European Youth Centre Budapest is a residential educational establishment of the Council of Europe. Within the Council of Europe, the EYCB is part of the Directorate of Youth and Sport and is, like the European Youth Centre Strasbourg (EYCS) and the European Youth Foundation (EYF), an important instrument of the Council's youth policy. The EYCB enjoys diplomatic status under an agreement between the Council of Europe and the Hungarian state, the owner of its building.

The Hungarian Cultural Contact Point is one of the most active EU contact points. It has arranged for the special programme of the National Cultural Fund, whereby Hungarian winners of Culture 2000 framework programme receive significant and practically automatic grants as matching funding. Between 2000 and 2006, 9 project leaders, 193 co-organisers and associated organisations from Hungary participated in C2000 projects. The Budapest Observatory is an independent non-profit organisation, whose remit is to monitor the cultural policies and conditions of culture in the ex-communist countries in east and central Europe.

Hungary also takes part in the cultural co-operation programme of the Visegrad Fund, as well as of Central European Initiative. However, neither the dimensions, nor the intensity, of these initiatives match regional co-operation in, for example, the Nordic and Baltic area.

Beyond these formal and official frameworks, increasingly vibrant co-operation and networking takes place in the civic sector and at municipal level. EU programmes tend to dominate co-operation between regions.

Hungary/ 2.4 International cultural co-operation

2.4.4 Direct professional co-operation

Hungarian cultural operators are well integrated into their respective international communities. In several areas of heritage and music, Hungarians are active in European networks. At the same time, criticism about provincialism is often voiced: e.g. few Hungarians are active in European cultural policy forums and projects, lacking an adequate academic and educational background in cultural matters.

Most of the mainstream institutions (museums, galleries, theatres, and especially large festivals) have rich programmes of international exchange.

Cultural and artistic activities of many operations are international by definition. Trafó, the A38 ship, the MU theatre, are popular and well functioning spaces especially for innovative and experimental productions, both form Hungary and abroad. The first two have participated in a number of Culture 2000 projects and are financed by a number of sources.

Hungary/ 2.4 International cultural co-operation

2.4.5 Cross-border intercultural dialogue and co-operation

In the major part of the cross-border programmes, the international element merely serves to broaden and diversify the content of the projects. However, especially on the alternative scene, the number of international and intercultural interactive projects is on the increase. Some genres, especially, lend themselves to such fusions, e.g. jazz and world music, in which Roma musicians play an eminent role. The government (and the National Fund) subsidise these projects without placing special emphasis on interculturalism.

Among the few Hungarian projects that go beyond the logic of bilateral exchanges, http://www.babelmatrix.org stands out, presenting specimens from literary works in 13 languages.

For more information, see our Intercultural Dialogue section.

Hungary/ 2.4 International cultural co-operation

2.4.6 Other relevant issues

The Sziget (Island) Festival is a rock festival for students on an island in the Danube, in Budapest, established in 1993. It has remained a private undertaking, and has become one of the largest meeting points of European young people (and youthful elderly people!), held during one week in August each year. The diversity of the programme is very important to the organisers, with a large number of non-profit causes represented, in their tents, and stages for classical music, alternative dance productions etc. In some of the recent years, the festival has received a government subsidy, but the main source of income remains the box office.

Hungary/ 3. General objectives and principles of cultural policy

3.1 Main elements of the current cultural policy model

It would be difficult to place Hungarian cultural policy into any one of the existing "models". After the regime change, (1989/90) decentralisation and the arm's length principle were important slogans. The objective conditions for the former have been set by creating nearly 3 200 local - especially municipal - self-governments in 1990; however, both in the eyes and expectations of the public, and in actual practice, cultural policy is fairly centralised. The Minister for Education and Culture is supposed to bear primary responsibility for Hungarian culture. The running of major cultural institutions is considered to be a state obligation. Although the National Cultural Fund was established in 1993 as an arm's length agency and has been acting in this capacity since then, its role is rarely seen as strategic.

Furthermore, Hungarian cultural policy is characterised by pragmatism, in which there is an absence of basic official documents. There are few cultural laws, and practice is rarely guided by high level statements or theoretical documents about the development of cultural policy. Over the past few years, there have been efforts to change this characteristic by composing two draft middle-term strategies, but both were shelved after a change of minister.

Similar to other countries in the region, Hungarian cultural policy has inherited two complementary features, which can be labelled as plebeian and aristocratic. Historically, culture has had the social function, or rather mission, of empowering the lower classes. This, for example, is reflected by the significant share of socio-cultural programmes and institutions in the various cultural budgets, especially at the local levels. At the same time, determined efforts serve the achievement of cultural excellence, often in the spirit of adding to the pride of the nation.

If anything, the Hungarian cultural policy can be described as eclectic.

Hungary/ 3. General objectives and principles of cultural policy

3.2 National definition of culture

There is no formal definition of culture enshrined in law. For Hungarians, the word "culture" naturally involves the arts: thus the compound of "arts and culture" is rarely used. Although terms like "cultural industries", "creative sector" etc. have made their way into the general parlance, they have not been enacted in any high level document.

Hungary/ 3. General objectives and principles of cultural policy

3.3 Cultural policy objectives

Since 1990, when the first free elections took place, the pendulum of cultural policy priorities swung to the right and to the left at four year intervals; this regularity was broken in 2006 when, for the first time, the same "side" was re-elected. Some of the principles correspond to the clichés associated with the political notions of "right" and "left": conservative administrations put greater emphasis on national heritage and pride and on the cultural links with Hungarians living in the neighbouring countries. A marked re-centralisation process occurred between 1998 and 2002, during the "centre-right" administration. It was during this period that culture enjoyed the highest relative ranking among overall priorities of the government in the past 30-40 years. The schism between the two "sides" reached its peak at the 2002 Parliamentary elections and flared up again in the autumn of 2006; the efforts to shelter culture from political and ideological influences have not yielded lasting and overall success.

The role of culture in fighting social and regional inequalities remains a priority, although culture shares its position with goals that are all concerned with cross-border actions, such as:

presenting Hungarian values to the wider world;
presenting the outstanding values of world culture in Hungary (for this, and the previous item see chapter 2.4.2); and
providing assistance to Hungarians to cultivate their culture in neighbouring countries.

The government has also been trying to overcome the fragmentation of the 3 200 local governments by designing incentives for joint actions, such as running libraries or other institutions, especially in the framework of the small regions referred to under chapter 2.2.

With the government's attention directed to handling the economic difficulties of the country, and also with the beginning of the arrival of major EU funds for development, those elements of cultural policy that relate to growth and employment are being slowly and spontaneously upgraded (for instance interactions with tourism).

Hungary/ 4. Current issues in cultural policy development and debate

4.1 Main cultural policy issues and priorities

Recurring elements in the statements of the Minister for Education and Culture, appointed in June 2006, continue to be the state of socio-cultural activities in Hungary, the stability of the functioning of the national cultural institutions, the presentation of Hungarian culture abroad and of universal culture in Hungary, as well as the reform of the system of financing culture. With regard to the latter, concern is focused on boosting sponsorship through the involvement of the corporate world. The creation of a theatre law also figures among current cultural policy goals. Until now, there have not been any far-reaching public debates on any of these issues.

Hungary/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.1 Cultural minorities, groups and communities

While Hungary is very much concerned about the fate of the 2-3 million ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring countries, significant efforts are made to stop or slow down assimilation within its own borders.

The proportion of all national minorities in Hungary is estimated to be as high as 7-8%. In the 2002 census, 3.1% of the population declared that they belong to one of the minority groups and 1.3% has a minority language as their mother tongue or first language. In 1995, Hungary was among the first to sign and ratify the framework agreement of the Council of Europe on the protection of national minorities. Hungary also takes part in discussions which raise the issue of minorities within the political principles and priorities of the European Union.

An Act on National and Ethnic Minorities was passed in 1993 (Act LXXVII), declaring minorities to be constituent elements of the state; defining their collective and personal rights. There are 12 recognised national minority cultural groups and one ethnic minority group (see Table 1 below). The latter are the Romanies: the old name of Gypsy (cigány) is still widely used, both in their community and in official documents. Romanies constitute the largest minority group and, at the same time, pose a major challenge to social policy, with important cultural implications.

In Hungary, ethnicity is considered a private matter: systematically collecting data according to ethnic background is not allowed under the Personal Data Protection Law. National censuses and elections of minority governments are all based on voluntary self-identification. During the 2001 census, 190 000 Roma were recorded, i.e. about 2% of the population; estimations put the actual figure much higher, varying between 4-8%. Due to the very high correlation between those with a Roma background and crucial social problems (unemployment, poverty, exclusion etc), the fate of this minority group is among the greatest challenges to Hungarian society and government. On the other hand, the greatest number of Roma with full higher education in the whole of Europe is in Hungary, both in absolute and relative terms. Among the 24 Hungarian members of the European Parliament, two are Roma. This mass of people is present in all segments of culture and in the civil sector at large: Hungarian Roma artists are especially famed in music, both individually and in ensembles. On the other hand, because of the indifference of the majority society and its authorities, and partly also due to the lack of necessary coherence inside the Roma community, plans such as the establishment of a Roma Museum or a Contemporary Roma Arts Gallery have constantly been postponed.

National federations of minorities have consultative status, and often veto rights in relevant legislative matters. Their elected local government representatives in the villages and towns, and on the national level, have significant rights and growing resources - which, by nature, are to a great extent spent on culture. As part of the local elections in the autumn of 2006, minority self-governments were elected in 1 434 areas, that is in 45% of all local entities. The conditions for establishing a self-government of a given minority at a given settlement are at least 30 registered voters who elect at least five representatives. In many towns, bodies of more than one minority were elected, with the number of self-governments totalling 2 044, along the following composition:

Table 1: Number of minority self-governments, 2006

Ethnic group	Number of self-governments
Gypsy	1 117
German	378
Slovak	116
Croatian	115
Ruthenian	52
Polish	47
Romanian	46
Serbian	40
Bulgarian	38
Greek	34
Armenian	31
Ukranian	19
Slovenian	11

Source: National Election Office http://www.valasztas.hu

In spite of these endeavours, assimilation is occurring and it is feared to continue. The existing sociological and ethnographic traits of minorities could melt into nostalgic relics of culture.

The cultural rights and situation of the new minorities (immigrants) is a marginal issue; immigration figures are very low. Legally, 125 000 foreigners lived in Hungary (two thirds permanently) in 2006. The overwhelming majority of these immigrants are ethnic Hungarians from a neighbouring state and do not constitute a cultural minority. In this sense, the Chinese are the largest new minority community, with a little over 4 000 people.

As stated previously, in the Hungarian context, policies for minorities always include concerns regarding Hungarians living abroad. It is widely feared that the enforcement of the Schengen border requirements, to take effect from 2008, will hamper cultural co-operation between Hungarians on the two sides of the border with Ukraine and Serbia, which remain third countries for the EU.

Hungary/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.2 Language issues and policies

The century-old deficit in mother tongue teaching of minorities, followed by the callousness of the communist decades, the disappearance of closed communities and the growing uniformity caused by mass communication have all contributed to the process of linguistic assimilation.

In an effort to counterbalance these factors, the national public television broadcasts regular weekly or bi-weekly 25 minute programmes in 7 minority languages and combined programmes for 6 more cultures - these all carry Hungarian subtitles. The average length of all these is 14 hours per month. More than 10 hours are broadcast in the same 13 minority languages by the Hungarian Radio each day. Out of the average time per week, Slovakian takes up the most air space with 870 minutes, while the shortest, at 30 minutes per week, is provided in six of the minority languages. A separate channel, MR4, is being planned for minorities. The practice of bilingual street-signs is increasing in villages of mixed ethnicity.

The 2006 budget of the Public Foundation for Minorities contained HUF 1 279 million (ca euro 5.1 million) for subsidising cultural minority projects, allocated as follows:

Table 2: Expenditure of the Public Foundation for Minorities, in HUF, in euro, 2006

Field	Budget expenditure in HUF	Budget expenditure in euro
Periodicals (18 in total)	250 000 000	1 000 000
Theatre festival of minorities	9 400 000	38 000
Various other projects	155 600 000	622 000
Roma scholarship grants	863 700 000	3 455 000

Source: Public Foundation for Minorities http://www.mnekk.hu

Only a minority of Roma people speak a Gypsy dialect, with literacy in those languages in its infancy.

There is no general language law regarding the Hungarian language. After intensive debate in Parliament and in the press, Act XCVI/2001 prescribed the use of Hungarian in commercial advertisements, slogans, signs, instructions etc. next to the foreign versions; yet its impact is insignificant and the advances of foreign linguistic influences are not a central issue at present.

Hungary/ 4.3 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.3 Intercultural dialogue: actors, strategies, programmes

Intercultural dialogue had not yet become a specific goal in Hungary. The scene, therefore, is not rich in actors, strategies and programmes substantially dedicated to intercultural dialogue. However, Hungary has set up a mechanism for celebrating the 2008 EU Year of Intercultural Dialogue, which will certainly result in some changes in this field. KultúrPont Iroda, the Hungarian cultural contact point, in its role of national co-ordinator issued a call for projects that enhance intercultural dialogue: the results are to be announced before the end of 2007.

The only intercultural relationship that is an issue in today's Hungary is the one between the Roma and the majority society. Due to the large number (see also chapter 4.2.1) and the geographic spread of this minority group, occasions for interaction, opportunities for exclusion, inclusion and assimilation are numerous; however, it is difficult to quote proven good practices of conscientious intercultural dialogue. An increasing number of Roma have lately made progress towards public visibility, recognition and celebrity: television announcers, survival show participants, winners of amateur singing competitions etc. Radio-C (C standing for cigány: gipsy), especially its music programme, has large non-gipsy audiences. A special item was "Nyócker", a popular award-winning animated film from 2004: the title refers to a district of Budapest with a peculiar Roma sub-culture. All these are important factors towards intercultural understanding in Hungary.

There is another relationship that is heavily laden with historic legacy and remains a latent source of tension: that of Jews who are estimated to represent around 1% of the population. In spite of recent phenomena of displaying or reconstructing Jewish art (there are Jewish festivals, cultural centres etc.), one cannot speak of a separate Jewish culture inside the Hungarian society, with which intercultural dialogue is pursued.

For more information, see:
Database of Good Practice on Intercultural Dialogue and our Intercultural Dialogue section.

For more information on the government's National Strategy for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue please see: http://ec.europa.eu/culture/eac/dialogue/strategies_en.html

Hungary/ 4.3 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.4 Social cohesion and cultural policies

Social cohesion has traditionally been a strategic goal of Hungarian cultural policy. In the absence of a significant number of immigrants, social cohesion is conceived in terms of poverty, unemployment, a low level of education, as well as territorial inequalities. Social inequality was the central issue in the national survey on culture, conducted in 2003, which revealed that the gap between the cultural habits of the top and bottom layers of society had grown since a previous survey carried out in 1998. Territorial differences have also increased, with the inhabitants of Budapest having performed most of the advances in cultural consumption. These facts were decisive in the decision of the government to choose a provincial city, Pécs, to be the first European Capital of Culture in Hungary for the year 2010.

Strategies to involve culture in the struggle for increased social cohesion are centred on "közművelődés": socio-cultural activities and institutions - see chapter 8.4.2.

Hungary/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.5 Media pluralism and content diversity

The national competition authority in Hungary effectively applies anti-trust measures. A few buy-outs have been prevented in the media market in recent years. However, the majority of commercial media is owned by international capital.

The mission and structure of public television have been stipulated in the Act on Media (I/1996). Public TV broadcasts on three channels. Their accumulated number of viewers has slightly increased recently, reaching about 17%. However, the two nation-wide commercial channels are typically ahead of the no. 1 public channel in terms of number of viewers: their combined share of viewers was 52.3% in 2006.

Public television is criticised because of its high expenses. As a kind of "fuite en avant", the launching of parallel thematic public channels is being considered - a promise also for culture. Alternatively, the merging of two public television stations (the traditional national station and "Danube" (Duna), broadcasting via satellite primarily to Hungarians abroad, has been aired repeatedly.

The long term licences of the two national commercial channels were awarded by way of public tenders: the proposals included certain promises of a cultural character. Due to the relative decrease in advertising budgets, the cultural content of these media has fallen considerably.

By 2006, 73% of households had access to, and 60.2% actually did link to, one or other cable network and thus had access to 57 channels in Hungarian - including the Hungarian versions of multinational chains, and in addition to international ones in their original languages. The situation is similar in the case of radio, with three national public service channels and several dozen national and local stations. An interesting development is Radio C, run by and for the Roma. Having run out of funds after the first year, the government stepped in with renewed subsidies for this initiative.

There are 38 daily newspapers with a combined print run of 1.49 million copies, about half of which are national and the other half local and regional papers. However, the largest print run belongs to the 39th paper, a free daily. The share of political papers continues to dwindle at the expense of tabloids. Each of these papers has an internet version and a number of widely read internet-only newspapers exist.

The array of weekly, biweekly and monthly periodicals is on the increase; in 2007 there are 539 such papers and journals (against 386 in 2000). The National Cultural Fund provided grants to 229 of these periodicals in 2005.

Hungary/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.6 Culture industries: policies and programmes

To date there is no comprehensive strategy or policy in Hungary directed towards the cultural industries as a whole.

However, in 2005 the Hungarian Patent Office conducted a large survey on the economic contribution of copyright-based industries in Hungary. The survey interpreted the copyright industry in the broadest sense; it took into consideration all the activities relating to the creation, distribution, communication to the public, etc. of works protected under Copyright Law, or which constitute the technical background necessary for the "consumption" of copyrighted creations, as well as which serve them in any other manner. Core copyright industries encompass the cultural sphere (literature, press, music, theatre productions, films etc.) and the software industry. Partial copyright industries include those that are only partially engaged in the production of copyrighted creations (e.g. furniture, architecture). The interdependent (background) copyright industries comprise, for example, the manufacture of TV sets, radios, DVD players and computers, while non-dedicated support industries, also serving the copyright sector, include general trade, transportation and telecommunications (telephone, Internet). According to the findings of the survey, the gross added value of copyright-based industries represented 6.67% of the national economy's gross added value in 2002; contribution to the gross output was 9.68% and 7.1% of the total employment rate, or 278 000 employees, were from this sector. The contribution of core copyright industries was 3.96% of national GDP and 3.95% of gross output; the number of employees in this field was 162 000, i.e. 4.15% of total employment in Hungary.

Table 3: Sales in cultural industries, 2003 and 2006

	Million units	Domestic share	Classical share	Million HUF	Domestic share	Classical share
2003
Audio	5.04	40.5%	13.7%	13.93	14.6%	5.0%
Video	0.13	24.6%	..	0.74	18.9%	..
Books	32.63	..	..	56.87	93.1%	..
2006
Audio	5.55	33.3%	5.5%	9.82	43.1%	6.9%
Video	0.24	40.4%	..	0.87	29.2%	..
Books	38.28	..	..	65.53	93.1%	..

Sources: http://www.mahasz.hu/, http://www.mkke.hu/
Note: Both audio and video include all forms: DVD, CD, cassettes etc. Domestic means Hungarian performers and authors as well as manufacturers in case of video and DVD, publishers in case of books.

In the field of book publishing, the most important development was the reduction of VAT from 12% to 5% as of January 2004. The share of foreign owned houses is 24.6% of sales. The average print-run has been decreasing, from about 10 000 at the time of the regime change in the early 1990s, to below 3 000 today. Independent presses are fairly represented: 14 publishers produce 58.9% of the sales, and 160 presses sell 90.3%, which shows a smaller degree of concentration than in most of the European markets. There is a greater concentration in bookselling, where the Alexandra chain is becoming more dominant year by year. In the book sector, a scheme of reduced interest rates on loans has been functioning for over a decade now (50% of the interest is covered by the Ministry), which is jointly managed by the Ministry and a private bank selected through a tendering process.

The shrinking sales revenues in recorded music reflect the global crisis in this sector. Nevertheless, 2006 produced a slight increase both in copies and revenue over the preceding year.

The Law on Motion Pictures, commonly called the Film Law, amended twice, now Act II/2004, altered the environment of film making. The central role of the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Foundation has been reinforced; most of the subsidies and grants to the entire scope of the sector, from script writing to distribution, are channelled through this arm's length body. The promotion agency Magyar Filmunió is also affiliated to this Foundation: among others, it is instrumental in securing financial contributions from the Eurimage and Media Plus programmes, which amounted to over 600 million HUF (about euro 2.4 million) over the period since Hungary has been party in these organisations .

The most important feature of the new legislation is the tax credit for film making - see chapter 5.1.5. As a result, money invested in shooting films grew by three times more than before the Law was passed, reaching HUF 24 000 million by 2006 (ca. euro 96 million). About two thirds of this funding went to full or partial Hungarian productions.

No data is available on the turnover of applied arts, folk art, postcards, etc.

Hungary/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.7 Employment policies for the cultural sector

Table 4 reflects an increase in the number of people employed in the public cultural sector between 2003 and 2005. (This coincides with the increase of relevant expenditure figures.) The decrease of personnel in the arts is counterbalanced by a growth in the areas of heritage and socio-culture, where the number of professionals increased by over 30%! Detailed analysis showed that this is almost entirely due to the 55% growth of employment in the cultural centres, showing a robust revival of the community cultural sector in the municipalities.

Table 4: Cultural employment in the public sector, 2003 and 2005

Sector	No. of personnel municipalities and regions			No. of personnel national institutions			No. of personnel public cultural institutions
Sector	P	A&T	Total	P	A&T	Total	P	A&T	Total
Arts 2003	2 324	1 821	4 145	1 412	450	1 862	3 736	2 271	6 007
Heritage & Socio-Culture, 2003	5 993	4 264	10 257	3 203	1 632	4 835	9 196	5 896	15 092
Total 2003	8 317	6 085	14 402	4 615	2 082	6 697	12 932	8 167	21 099
Arts 2005	2 351	1 626	3 977	1 230	392	1 622	3 581	2 018	5 599
Heritage & Socio-Culture, 2005	7 805	5 399	13 204	3 316	1 806	5 122	11 121	7 205	18 326
Total 2005	10 156	7 025	17 181	4 546	2 198	6 744	14 702	9 223	23 925

Source: Annual reports of the Hungarian State Treasury.
Notes: P= Professional Staff, A&T= Administrative and Technical Staff.

These figures refer to employment in the public sector only. As the country is forced to take a course of severe reduction in public spending, from 2007 onwards the growth trend seen in this table is unlikely to continue.

The real workforce in the cultural area is much higher, but no statistics are available for the business sector and self-employment. Some branches, e.g. art galleries, film production and cinemas, publishing and book selling belong almost entirely to the private sector. The employees of radio and TV stations are not included as they are formally classified as belonging to a different sector.

The shift from civil servant status to that of contracted entrepreneurs appears to have continued, which may partly explain the drop in public artistic jobs in Table 4 - the phenomenon is discussed in chapter 5.1.6. In order to reverse the trend and to increase the number of people employed (instead of contracted ad-hoc), in 2005 the EKHO scheme was introduced. The logic is similar to EVA (see also chapter 5.1.5). The letter E stands for "simplified": people in 23 professions, including artists, journalist's etc pay 15% combined contribution to public funds including health and pension, the employer adding another 20%. This is less and simpler than for other professions / for the great majority.

Hungary/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.8 New technologies and cultural policies

There is a special institution, The John von Neumann Digital Library (the Neumann House) founded in 1997, whose mission is to co-ordinate digitisation in Hungarian culture. Three of its projects are the NAVA, the NDA, and the Digital Literary Academy.

The National Audiovisual Archive (NAVA) was established in 2004. NAVA acts as the legal deposit archive for the public and commercial television and radio channels that broadcast all over the country. NAVA plays the same role for electronic programmes as the National Széchényi Library does for printed publications or as the Hungarian National Film Archive does for Hungarian films. The NAVA collection can be freely reached on-line from several hundred "NAVA points", terminals in libraries, schools, etc. registered within the framework regulated by law.

The National Digital Archive (NDA), established in 2005, provides uniform access to over 340 000 records produced by its 61 partner institutions. The Digital Literary Academy is a unique endeavour that keeps digitised oeuvres of contemporary writers who make their works available on the Internet by contract. Created in 1998, it has 29 000 works by 63 authors in 2007. In return, authors receive a monthly allowance four times the value of the minimum wage.

MEK, the virtual anthology of Hungarian literature, launched in 1994 on private initiative, stands out in international comparison with its more than 5 200 items. Embedded into the National Széchényi Library, the project has maintained its community features (see also chapter 9.2).

These digitisation programmes will be complemented and upgraded in the framework of the next seven-year National Development Plan (2007-2013) with ca. euro 16 million from EU funds.

The on-going telematic development of the public library system has been another focus of attention and will receive significant additional resources, ca. euro 46 million, from the EU Structural Funds over the next seven years.

Hungary/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.9 Heritage issues and policies

Entrance to the permanent exhibitions of the 24 museums run by the state has been free of charge since May 2004. The rationale for this measure has been disputed by a considerable part of the museum profession. The loss of box office revenue was not sufficiently compensated by the government, and the change in number and composition of increased visitor numbers did not match the expectations. The minister therefore announced the withdrawal of free entrance from January 2008, against which no significant opposition was raised by the general public or the museum operators.

The system of state guarantees on vis maior events connected to large exhibitions, especially with exhibits from abroad, has been reinforced. For 2008, 14 such exhibitions have been designated to enjoy this kind of state insurance.

Table 10 (see chapter 8.2.1) shows a slow but steady decrease in the number of licensed museums, which is due to the downgrading of fully licensed museums to exhibition places with lesser obligation, due to diminishing resources of the regions and municipalities.

The museum community is looking forward to benefiting from the EU Structural Funds through various regional development projects. In addition, a ca. euro 14 million strong programme is being prepared, to train museum staff about museum education.

For more information, see
European Heritage Network: Country profile Hungary

Hungary/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates

4.2.10 Gender equality and cultural policies

For a long time there were no programmes to promote women in the arts and culture in Hungary. This did not seem to be an issue in our society until it was disclosed that Hungary figures at the bottom of lists of representation of women in Parliament. The subsequent awareness and disputes may have an impact on cultural policies as well other areas.

Hungary/ 4. Current issues in cultural policy development and debate

4.3 Other relevant issues and debates

Information is currently not available.

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.1 Constitution

The Constitution has the usual obvious references to culture:

Article 35.

(1) The Government shall -

f) define state responsibilities in the development of science and culture, and ensure the necessary conditions for the implementation thereof.

Article 66.

(1) The Republic of Hungary shall ensure the equality of men and women in all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

Article 70/F.

(1) The Republic of Hungary guarantees the right of education to its citizens.

Article 70/G.

(1) The Republic of Hungary shall respect and support the freedom of scientific and artistic expression, the freedom to learn and to teach.

Although the English translation of 70/F does not contain the word culture or the arts, this is the most often cited part in our context. For education the Hungarian original is művelődés, a term which is commonly understood broader than education proper (for which there are also more specific terms), and includes the activities of doing or "consuming" culture.

Nevertheless these passages have little direct impact on actual cultural phenomena in the country. The hundreds of resolutions of the Constitutional Court almost never touch upon them. If so, then not in a purely cultural sense: e.g. 70/G is sometimes consulted with regard to political statements or publications.

Similarly, the records of the activities of the parliamentary Ombudsman of civic rights contain negligible instances that only relate to cultural rights.

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.2 Division of jurisdiction

Public administration functions in a four tier system. In 2006, local governments were elected in 3 174 places. This number includes 283 towns as well as 23 districts of Budapest. The next level is that of the 19 historical counties that are gradually losing importance. However, they still have elected local governments, differently from the 7 regions formed recently(see also chapter 7.1).

On legal obligations of local governments see chapter 5.3.4.

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.3 Allocation of public funds

The legislative scene is in agreement with actual European standards with regard to spending public money. In the area of dispensing of public funds for culture, however, the picture is contradictory. On the one hand, there are laws that provide excessive obligations, while there are other opaque areas.

Examples of unnecessary administrative burden:

for the receipt of grants from the National Cultural Fund it is not enough to declare that the cultural organisation has no public debt, original certificates are required from a number of authorities on every single occasion; and
in order to control payments to civic organisations, ministries are obliged to apply for the approval of the government over a certain amount of the grant. This causes delays, and apparently is a formal procedure only, judged by the lists put up on the web site of the Ministry at intervals of two or three months.

On the other hand, the budget of the Ministry of Culture traditionally lacks transparency, which renders international comparisons impossible without additional research. Here are a few examples from the budget for 2007:

HUF 8100 million (ca. euro 32 million, over 13% of the 2006 cultural budget of the Ministry) serves to provide "support to cultural corporations", without breaking down the 26 companies owned (fully or partly) by the Ministry, such as the National Theatre Share Holding Company (!), two Budapest theatres, the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Cinema, several museums, the Royal Castle in Gödöllő and a huge 19th century fortress at Komárom and so on.
HUF 8820.4 million (ca. euro 35 million, nearly 15% of the budget) is earmarked for the support of "other cultural institutions" without specification.
A quarter of the HUF 8650 million budget of the National Cultural Fund is at the discretion of the minister: these grants, about euro 8 million a year, are made public on the website of the Fund.

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.4 Social security frameworks

Hungary has gone a far way from the socialist era when nearly all cultural actors were either civil employees, or as members of the monolithic artistic associations enjoyed benefits comparable to salaried persons. The most difficult task has been to transform the system of health care and pension plans of the so-called "Art Fund", inherited from the communist period, to a new insurance system. The state guarantees the payment of old age support (de facto pension) to those artists and writers who had been paying members of the Art Fund before it was transformed into the Hungarian Public Foundation for Creative Art (Magyar Alkotóművészeti Közalapítvány, MAK) in 1992. The budget for 2006 of the Culture Ministry contained a subsidy of HUF 1 600 million (ca euro 6.15 million, see also chapter 8.1.1) for these pensions.

It is estimated that over 75% of actors, dancers, musicians, arts organisers, technicians, designers and other cultural operators working for a variety of clients became self employed. Many self-employed people remained on the margins of the social security frameworks because they had been coerced into the position of quasi entrepreneurs instead of the more secure employee status, so that the employer (often a public institution like a theatre or a museum) could save on the social insurance fees; another reason was that self-employed people tended to pay social insurance after the minimum monthly wage only upon their own choice. To counteract this problem, the government started a campaign of re-integration of these "false entrepreneurs" into employment, and passed measures to make paying social insurance fees more attractive. This issue was behind the introduction of EKHO in 2005, a regime of simplified contributions to common charges (literally "public burden").

In the framework of EKHO, more favourable conditions and simplified procedures were offered to a list of professions, typically in the cultural sector. A condition of this status is that the annual income of the person remains below HUF 25 million (about euro 100 000). The EKHO Law (Act CXX/1995) states that the minimum mandatory tax base for social security contribution payments is the minimum wage, while the rest of the citizen's income should be taxed according to the rules of EKHO. This simplified way of paying social security fees is open to employees and self-employed people as well, including pensioners.

Independents are not able to claim unemployment benefit. Sickness benefit may be covered by paying into a private insurance policy. Most independents in the cultural sector pay into a private pension fund to top up the state pension.

For more information, see our Status of Artists section.

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.5 Tax laws

There are two income tax rates for individuals: 18% and 36%, the latter operating from about euro 6 800 per year.

State prizes, awards and fellowships are tax exempt; artists may claim material expenses on their income tax. Also, the tax base of authors and other creative artists may be reduced by 50% of the income generated by copyright or other royalty payments. On the other hand, from 2007 the tax allowance on (up to about 200 euros per year) on such revenue was cancelled: this had been a special allowance for the creative class since the 1980s. Company income tax is 16% for profitable companies, with an additional 10% tax on the dividend.

The so-called Non-Profit Act (CLVI/1997) promotes the operational conditions of third sector organisations and foundations. It includes tax incentives to facilitate the involvement of private support in supporting public goals. By adhering to specific conditions, almost all non-governmental organisations qualify as Public Benefit Organisations (PBO), with a smaller number qualifying as Outstanding Public Benefit Organisations (OPBO). Businesses - companies and individual entrepreneurs - can deduct 100% of the value of donations given to PBOs from their tax base, 150% if the beneficiary is an OPBO, and in the case of multi-annual pledges, this rate is 170%. 30% of donations for charitable purposes can be deducted also from personal taxes. Each of theses regimes has an annual ceiling, e.g. tax-exempt donations cannot exceed 20% of a company's tax base in a year.

In spite of these regulations, philanthropic support to cultural organisations is not particularly widespread, and the little that takes place is barely acknowledged: the prevailing mood in the cultural sector is that of dissatisfaction. Certainly, most of these tax benefits affect other sectors (social and health care, education etc.), and the bureaucratic regulations attached render donation complicated both for the donator and receiver. Greater attention and expectations are linked to sponsorship, where tax exemption is difficult to conceive: the entire amount can be deduced from the tax base as marketing expenses anyway.

Tax legislation has greater significance with investments. In this respect, the Law on Motion Pictures (Act II/2004 or Film Law) stands out, offering a 20% tax break on film making. The tax credit attracted the shooting of international productions and also provided incentives to some local projects. It has also created a favourable environment for investment in studios, the largest of which, the Alexander Korda Studios at Etyek, has already accommodated the first large American production due to be completed in 2008.

In 2003, a significant innovation in the fiscal system radically simplified the administration and taxation of small enterprises (called EVA: simplified enterprise tax), which is beneficial for many self-employed artists and cultural operators.

Under EVA, small businesses are taxed a flat rate of 25%. This eliminates any other income tax or levy. No record is required on business expenditure which negates the need for the collection, storing and book-keeping of bills and accounts. On the other hand, EVA subjects, must add VAT (usually 20%) to their invoices which they cannot reclaim. Partly, the large success of EVA led to a next step, the introduction of EKHO, a regime of simplified contributions to common charges (literally "public burden") - see chapter 5.1.4. There is one more speciality in the Hungarian tax system - Act CXXVI/1996 on "1%" has evoked great attention outside the country as well. When taxpayers submit their annual tax returns, they can allocate 1% of their income tax to a non-governmental organisation of their choice by indicating its tax identification number (also another 1% to a registered church, if they so wish). According to the data disclosed by the tax authorities on 2006, nearly 50% of tax payers channelled 8 400 million HUF to 27 400 organisations, about a fifth of which is supposed to serve cultural purposes, including protection of heritage.

VAT is applied as follows: the general rate of 20% on music recordings, performing arts (including theatre tickets), film making, video lending, cinema, etc.; whereas a rate of 5% operates for books, including textbooks, periodicals including newspapers, as well as licensed handicraft products. VAT registration is obligatory for undertakings, unless an individual tax exemption is granted, for those with an annual turnover under four million HUF (about euro 16 000).

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.6 Labour laws

Artists and other cultural actors can work in five forms: as civil employees, general employees, individual entrepreneurs (sole traders), corporate entrepreneurs, as well as free lance workers. The minimum monthly wage from January 2007 is HUF 65 500 (about euro 260). The average net income is about double this amount.

Social partnership functions relatively effectively on the national level and on a large scale, e.g. between the government and civil employees - whereby they come to an agreement on improvements in working arrangements including productivity and salary increases. It is less so, or even non-existent, in respective cultural sub-sectors.

Labour conditions of civil servants and civil employees are regulated by the acts on civil service and on public finances. They contain the detailed schedules and criteria of salaries and wages - with many direct references to cultural and artistic jobs. These are updated each year, in which the trade unions of the respective cultural sectors take an active part. As was described in chapter 5.1.5, until recently a considerable number of cultural workers have acted in the framework of a "betéti társaság" (Bt), the simplest form of business companies or partnerships, usually with family members as quasi business partners. A "Bt" is also used by employees receiving a regular wage who do occasional freelance work. The government is aiming to re-establish employment relationships involving social security payments and related obligations, in cases where these were concealed by recurring contracts with self-employed individuals. In a number of public cultural institutions a two-tier salary system operates with some artists on full time contracts, albeit at a very low salary, while other artists are self-employed and able to generate higher earnings in a variety of ways.

There are some provisions in the pensions system to permit performers to retire early, e.g. dancers and some other performing artists under certain circumstances.

There are no specific provisions concerning the involvement of volunteers that are relevant to culture. However, after lengthy preparations, Act LXXXVIII/2005 was passed and created the necessary legal environment and protection for public voluntary work.

For more information, see our Status of Artists section.

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.7 Copyright provisions

Hungary follows the continental, droit d'auteur tradition. The Copyright Act LXXVI/1999 closely observes requirements of the acquis of the European Union. This law, among others, specifies the rights attached to transmitting and downloading via Internet.

The law introduced reprography right, and led to the establishment of the Hungarian Reprographic Association (RSZ) that collects and distributes reprography fees. Schools and public libraries are exempt from paying this fee. Fees are paid by the importers and manufacturers of copy machines and related equipment; the RSZ has been trying to extend the obligation to printers, so far without success. The various categories of fees are annually determined by the culture minister.

The same system has been in effective use with regard to fees connected to public performances of literature and music. Fees are contained in a complex table with over 400 grids by various criteria. Examples of daily fees in 2005: HUF 2 042 (ca. euro 8.2) must be paid by night clubs at tourist resorts with seasons shorter than three months; at the other end HUF 82 (ca. euro 0.3) is due from confectionaries and ice-cream shops in settlements with less than 1 000 inhabitants. These amounts are 20% higher if multiple-choice slot-machines are in operation; 50% higher in case of live music (20% only if at least two musicians are lawfully employed).

Levies to be paid on the sale of blank cassettes was introduced in 1994. Subsequently new items have been added: CD, DVD, MP3 etc; for example the fee for the latter is HUF 530 (ca. euro 2.1) per 32 MB.

At 11 700 million HUF (about euro 46.8 million), the total revenue of Artisjus in 2006, the Hungarian collecting society, remained at around the same level as in recent years.

The Creative Commons has arrived in Hungary, although http://www.creativecommons.hu/ has shown limited activity.

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.8 Data protection laws

Hungarian data protection laws and their implementation are rather strict. Among others, there is a special Ombudsman for data protection, who (both the actual and the previous, first person to fulfil this office) has been vigilant and active. This, for example, has led to tensions in the work of our archives during the process of attempting to identify victims of the Jewish Holocaust.

Hungary/ 5.1 General legislation

5.1.9 Language laws

Act 2001/XCVI was passed aiming to limit the use of foreign expressions especially in commercial advertisements. The proposal was followed by a lively, but short, debate in the press, and very little information is available since as to the implementation of the law.

Hungary/ 5.2 Legislation on culture

In Hungary, there is no comprehensive law on culture or art. Act CXL/1997 is often referred to as the Law on Culture, but in fact it regulates libraries, museums and local socio-cultural activities only. The annually renewed Acts on the budget, on taxation and on regulating the competency of local governments have a pivotal role to play. The Acts on Public Finance and Public Servants pertain to the operation (creation and winding up) of publicly owned cultural institutions.

The Act on Companies also plays an increasingly important role. After the regime change in the early 1990s, the category of "public benefit company" or "kht" was created, and a considerable number of cultural institutions transformed themselves into such "businesses"; most of newly founded cultural institutions choose this status. The revised Act on Companies, Act IV/2006, however, stipulates that by mid 2009 all kht's must be transformed into one or other form of non-profit company, which will only be distinguished from other business companies by the ban on paying dividends. Non-profit companies must individually apply to the registry court for the status of Public Benefit Organisation (see chapter 5.1.5), while kht's automatically enjoy that status.

Similarly, public foundations are also a recent formation, the operation of which is basically regulated by the Civil Code.

Act XXIII/1993 created the National Cultural Fund that operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The law stipulates a cultural contribution of usually 1% to be paid on certain cultural goods and services, including on advertisements, which is the most important source. Each year, between HUF 7-8 000 million are collected. A quarter is reserved for the discretion of the minister, the rest is spent according to the guidelines of the main board, and actually administered by 16 area boards, representing areas of culture:

applied arts;
architecture;
archives;
belle-lettres;
dance;
folk arts;
historic monuments and archeology;
library;
moving pictures;
museum;
music;
photographic arts;
popularisation of knowledge;
sociocultural activities;
theatre; and
visual arts.

The Minister appoints the Chairman of the National Cultural Fund Committee. The eleven member Committee is appointed for a term of four years. The 132 members in the 16 area boards are also appointed for 4 years, upon the recommendations of professional organisations and also by the Minister. The Directorate of the National Cultural Fund helps in the administrative work of the Fund with a staff of 60 persons.

Natural and legal entities as well as business organisations without incorporation may apply for support from the Fund. 11 578 applications were processed in 2006, and HUF 7 483 million (ca. euro 30 million) was distributed between 6 301 grantees, averaging HUF 1.2 million (ca. euro 4 800). Applicants without Hungarian citizenship need an assistant executive being a legal entity registered in Hungary. The Fund does not give support to investments and operations: from project grants a mere 5% can be spent on operational overhead.

A special feature of the Fund is that it offers pledge to contribute to the financial shares that Hungarian cultural operations must bear when they win grants at the Culture 2000 programme of the EU, as leaders or co-organisers.