I.

Introduction

Hungary (in Hungarian, Magyarország), republic, in central Europe, bordered on the north by Slovakia; on the north-east by Ukraine; on the east by Romania; on the south by Serbia (part of Serbia and Montenegro), Croatia, and Slovenia; and on the west by Austria. The total area of Hungary is 93,030 sq km (35,919 sq mi).

Hungary is somewhat oval in shape, with an extreme length from east to west of about 528 km (328 mi) and a maximum width from north to south of about 267 km (166 mi). The capital and largest city is Budapest.

II.

Land and Resources

Hungary is predominantly flat. The River Danube, which forms part of the Slovakian-Hungarian border from near Bratislava to near Esztergom, turns abruptly south, dividing Hungary into two general regions. A low, rolling plain known as the Great Hungarian Plain or the Great Alföld covers most of the region east of the Danube extending east to Romania and south to Serbia. Highlands along the northern border of the country extend eastward from the gorge of the Danube at Esztergom and include the Bükk and Mátra mountains. Mount Kékes (1,015 m/3,330 ft), in the Mátra Mountains, is the highest peak in Hungary. The area west of the Danube, known as Transdanubia, presents a variety of land forms. In the south rise the isolated Mecsek Mountains. In the north are the Bakony Mountains, which overlook Lake Balaton, the largest freshwater lake in central Europe. The Little Alföld, or Little Plain, in the extreme north-western section of Hungary, extends into southern Slovakia.

A.

Climate

Hungary has a relatively dry continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers. Average temperatures range from -1.1° C (30° F) in January to 21.1° C (70° F) in July. Rainfall is heaviest in early summer, and the average amount decreases from 787 mm (31 in) along the western frontier to 508 mm (20 in) in the east.

B.

Natural Resources

The main resource of Hungary is the rich black soil of its farmlands. The alluvial soils of the Great Hungarian Plain are highly fertile, although inferior to the black earth in the south-eastern and southern plain that extends into Romania and Serbia and Croatia. Soils in the northern highland river basins are generally fertile, but in much of Hungary the soil is of a loose type, called loess, or sandy. The country has some deposits of bauxite, coal, oil, natural gas, manganese, uranium, lignite, and iron ore. Reserves of most minerals are small, however, and the iron ore and hard coal are of low quality.

C.

Plants and Animals

Approximately 18 per cent of Hungary is forested, mostly with oak, lime, beech, and other deciduous trees in the Transdanubian lands and mountains. Hare, fox, deer, and boar are abundant. Duck, heron, crane, and stork are indigenous to the country, and the Great Hungarian Plain, which is mostly steppe, is a haven for many migrating species.

D.

Environmental Concerns

Rapid industrialization in Hungary contributed significantly to a number of major environmental problems, including air, water, and soil pollution. Emissions from motor vehicles and electric plants have created most of the air pollution. A significant percentage of the country's forests, waterways, and buildings suffer damage from acid rain. Winds carry Hungary's air pollution into neighbouring countries, where it has caused similar problems. River, lake, and groundwater pollution in Hungary are the result of industrial run-off, much of which is untreated when it enters the water. Insufficiently treated sewage also contributes to water pollution, as a large percentage of the country's population does not have access to adequate sanitation facilities. Hungary's Lake Balaton, the largest lake in central Europe and an important recreational and fishing resource, is severely polluted. Soils are also susceptible to pollution from chemical run-off from local industries. Because Hungary shares its major waterway, the Danube, with other European countries, pollution problems affecting neighbouring countries often affect Hungary as well, and vice versa.

Arable land and permanent crops cover 54.7 per cent (1997) of Hungary's land area, a high percentage compared with other countries in the region. Forests make up only 18.6 per cent (1995) of Hungary's total land, but reforestation efforts have allowed the country to steadily gain forestland. About 6.8 per cent (1997) of Hungary's land is protected in parks and other reserves, preventing development but not the ill effects of acid rain and water pollution. Hungary is party to international treaties concerning air pollution, biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, and wetlands.

III.

Population

About 97 per cent of the Hungarian people are Magyars, descendants of Finno-Ugric and Turkish peoples who mingled with Avar and Slavic peoples in Hungary in the 9th century ad. Ethnic minorities of the country include Germans, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Roma (Gypsies), and Romanians.

A.

Population Characteristics

Hungary has a population of 9,930,915 (2008 estimate). The overall population density is about 108 people per sq km (278 per sq mi). The population is about 66 per cent urban. Life expectancy in 2008 was 69 years for men and 77.6 years for women.

B.

Political Divisions

For administrative purposes Hungary is divided into one county borough (city with county rank), Budapest, and 19 counties, which are subdivided into districts. The 19 counties are Bács-Kiskun, Baranya, Békés, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Csongrád, Fejér, Györ-Moson-Sopron, Hajdú-Bihār, Heves, Jäsz-Nagykún-Szolnok, Komárom-Esztergom, Nógrád, Pest, Somogy, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Tolna, Vas, Veszprém, and Zala.

C.

Principal Cities

Budapest, the largest city, with a population of 1,708,000 (2003 estimate), is the capital and also the cultural and economic centre of Hungary; its many industries include shipbuilding and metalworking. Other major cities, with their populations, are Debrecen, 206,564 (2002 estimate), the trading centre of a major agricultural region; Miskolc, 182,408 (2002 estimate), the location of iron and steel and other metallurgical industries; Szeged, 163,699 (2002 estimate), a shipping centre for the agricultural products of the Great Hungarian Plain, also noted for its chemical and synthetic-textile industries; and Pécs, 159,794 (2002 estimate), home of small manufacturing industries.

D.

Religion

Hungary is traditionally a Roman Catholic country with a large Protestant minority. During the Communist period, from the 1940s to the late 1980s, religious bodies were separated from the State; however, the State Office for Church Affairs exercised control over them. Moreover, the Communist regime dissolved most religious orders and seized the properties of the monasteries. About two thirds of the population is Roman Catholic and about one quarter is Protestant, the chief Protestant groups being the Hungarian Calvinist Reformed Church and the Hungarian Lutheran Church. The Jewish community is estimated to number about 100,000.

E.

Language

Hungarian (called “Magyar” by Hungarians), a Finno-Ugric language, is the official language, spoken by the great majority of the population. Eleven other languages are spoken in Hungary, all of them Indo-European but from various sub-families. From the Germanic sub-family, Standard German and Bavarian are mother tongues for some Hungarians. Romanian, a Romance language, is also spoken by some. Three Slavic languages are first languages in Hungary for certain communities: Croatian, Slovak, and Slovenian. Four Indo-Iranian languages—Balkan Romani, Vlax Romani, Carpathian Romani, and Sinte Romani—are mother tongues for minorities. Several non-indigenous languages are also used, most notably Ukrainian, which has around 300,000 speakers.

F.

Education

Schooling is compulsory for children in Hungary between the ages of 7 and 16. About 99.4 per cent of the population of Hungary is literate. Primary education is free, and the government pays the bulk of the cost of secondary and advanced schooling. The educational system consists of general, or primary, schools, which comprise the first eight grades; secondary grammar schools for academic work; technical schools; and institutions of higher learning. Emphasis is placed on vocational training and on education in technical subjects. In 2002–2003, 5.8 per cent of GNP was expended on education.

In 2000 enrolment at some 3,814 primary schools totalled about 489,768 children. Approximately 1,006,546 students attended secondary school in 1998–1999.

Of the 16 public university-level institutions in Hungary, the most important are: the Eötvös Loránd University of Arts and Sciences, Budapest (1635), the University of Pécs (1367), the University of Miskolc (1735), and the University of Debrecen (1912). In 2001–2002 354,386 students were enrolled in colleges and universities. Most of the colleges specialize in teacher training, technical subjects, agriculture, or in other vocations.

G.

Culture

The ancient Magyars had a flourishing pagan culture, which utilized Eastern strains in its folktales, folk art, and folk music. Following the Hungarian conversion to Christianity in the 10th century, pagan and Eastern cultural elements were displaced by Western cultural and social patterns, and Latin became the official and literary language. From the 15th into the 20th century Hungary was often considered the “protecting bastion of Western civilization”, because, unlike the cultures beyond its eastern borders, it has assimilated many Western influences. During the 15th century Italian artists and scholars were employed to introduce the humanistic Renaissance, and in the 16th century during the Reformation the vernacular replaced Latin. In the 18th and 19th centuries Hungary absorbed the French Enlightenment and Western European liberalism. Hungarian literature enjoyed strong autonomous development. Dominant in the early 20th century was the “West” school of Hungarian intellectuals, who favoured Hungarian cultural elements compatible with modern Western culture. After World War II the Communist regime made definite attempts to superimpose Soviet cultural patterns on the country. Imre Kertesz won the 2002 Nobel Prize for Literature.

G.1.

Libraries and Museums

Hungary has more than 5,000 public libraries, the largest of which is the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, founded in 1802; it contains some 2.4 million books and 4.2 million other archives. Other important libraries, all in Budapest, are the National Archives, the library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the Library of Parliament. Besides regional and municipal public libraries, Hungary has trade union libraries and scientific libraries.

Among the leading museums in Hungary are the Hungarian National History Museum, which contains collections tracing the history of Magyar society and culture since the 9th century; the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts; and the Hungarian National Museum of Natural History. All three are located in Budapest. More than 100 public museums are maintained throughout Hungary.

G.2.

Art

Only a few Hungarian artists are internationally renowned. Hungarian painting reached the peak of its development during the Romantic period in the 19th century. Notable painters included Mihály Munkácsy, Viktor Madarász, Pál Szinyei Merse, and Mihály Zichy. László Moholy-Nagy was a leading 20th-century artist. In monumental sculpture notable works were created by György Zála and Alajos Stróbl von Liptóujúar. During the period of Communist rule, Socialist Realism predominated in Hungarian art.

G.3.

Music

The introduction of Christianity into Hungary in the 10th century brought with it the use of sacred music from Western Europe. The music consisted of Gregorian chants and, after the Reformation, of Protestant chorales. Secular music was largely influenced by styles from the East. A distinctive instrumental and vocal style was brought into Hungary during the 15th century by the Roma, who may have come from as far away as India. In addition, Hungarian folk music absorbed features of Oriental harmony, for example, the organization of melodies by modes or scales from the Turks, who occupied the country in the 16th and 17th centuries.

During the 17th and 18th centuries princely courts such as that of the Esterházy family often had orchestras and opera companies of their own, in which foreign musicians were employed. In 1761, the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn was employed as court composer by the Esterházys. During his 30 years in their service, he worked first at their palace in the town of Eisenstadt (today in Austria), and later at the magnificent palace built by Prince Miklós József near the town of Fertöd, in Hungary.

In the 19th century Hungary produced its first important native-born composer, Ferenc Erkel, who composed the Hungarian national anthem and the first Hungarian opera. The Hungarian-born composer and pianist Franz Liszt spent most of his life in other countries. The later composer Ernst von Dohnányi, like Erkel, was greatly influenced by German composers.

German music continued to be the dominant influence on Hungarian music until the 20th century, when the music of Béla Bartók and Zóltan Kodály began to gain international acceptance. Beginning in 1905, Bartók and Kodály collected and published thousands of Hungarian folk tunes and used them or their characteristic features in their own music. In the late 1950s, however, younger Hungarian composers began to reject this folk music style and to explore more recent approaches to composition.

IV.

Economy

Before World War II, the economy of Hungary was based primarily on agriculture, and what little industry the country had was almost entirely destroyed during the war. After the Communists took power in 1948, the Hungarian government promulgated a series of long-range economic development plans, in which the emphasis was on industrialization. Neglecting consumer goods and the service industries, the government devoted its investments to establishing heavy industry. Since the 1960s more emphasis has been placed on the manufacturing of consumer goods. Beginning in 1968 economic decision-making was decentralized to a limited extent. With the election of a non-Communist government in 1990, Hungary accelerated its transition from a centrally planned economy to one based on free market principles. This opened the country to tourism, which rapidly became an important part of the economy. In 2004, Hungary’s gross national product (GNP) was US$84,567 million; equivalent to US$10,870 per head (World Bank figure). Budgeted annual revenue in 2006 was estimated at US$40,436 million; expenditure, US$49,787 million.

A.

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

Approximately 53.6 per cent of the total area of Hungary is arable (2005 figure). In the mid-1980s about 94 per cent of all arable land was socialized into collective and state farms. This land was returned to those former owners who wished to cultivate it in 1990. Cereal grains account for more than half of the total planting. The approximate yearly outputs (in tonnes) of the leading agricultural products in 2006 were corn (8.44 million), wheat (4.38 million), sugar beet (3 million), barley (1 million), potatoes (574,436), oilseeds (1,602,298), and rye (94,967). Livestock included about 708,000 cattle, 3.85 million pigs, 1.41 million sheep, and 41.1 million poultry. In the mid-1990s the annual output of major livestock products amounted to about 1.9 billion litres of milk (412 million gallons), 349,000 tonnes of meat, 2.1 billion eggs, and 4,981 tonnes of wool. The vineyards of the Tokaj region are internationally famous; in 2006 total grape output was 551,251 tonnes. Agriculture contributed 16 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 1985, but this had declined to about 4.2 per cent by 2006.

In 2005 21.2 per cent of land was forested. Expansion of cultivated areas, a high rate of exploitation, and inadequate reforestation diminished resources through the period following World War II. In the 1960s the government restricted cutting and began an extensive reforestation programme. Roundwood removal in 2006 was about 5.91 million cu m (209 million cu ft).

Important freshwater fisheries are on Lake Balaton and the Danube and Tisza rivers. The catch in 2005 was 21,270 tonnes and consisted chiefly of perch, carp, pike, sheatfish, and shad.

B.

Mining

During the Communist period, all subsurface resources were the property of the state and were exploited exclusively by the Hungarian government, except for uranium ore, which was mined by an agency of the USSR. The leading minerals, with annual production totals in 2004, are coal (13.2 million tonnes), bauxite (647,000 tonnes), oil (9.13 million barrels), and natural gas (2.94 billion cu m/104 billion cu ft).

C.

Manufacturing

Limited in natural resources, Hungary is dependent on imports of raw materials for its rapidly developing industries. Leading manufactures, with their annual production in the early 1990s, were crude steel (1.7 million tonnes), rolled steel (1.8 million tonnes), aluminium (27,900 tonnes), cement (2.5 million tonnes), and leather footwear (11.7 million pairs). Other major manufactures include lathes, buses, tractors, motorcycles, diesel engines, television sets and radios, sewing machines, engineering products, chemicals, fertilizers, prefabricated building materials, and cotton textiles. The processing of agricultural products is also important.

D.

Tourism

The tourist industry is an important and well-developed part of the economy. Budapest is a popular destination with visitors and enjoys a reputation as one of Europe’s most elegant cities. The highland forests of the Northern Uplands and Lake Balaton, the largest lake in central Europe, with its many shore-side resorts, are other popular destinations. In 2006 about 9.26 million visitors generated a revenue of about US$2,119 million.

E.

Currency and Banking

The monetary unit of Hungary is the forint of 100 fillér (174.17 forints equalled US$1; early 2008). All banking activities are controlled by the National Bank of Hungary (Magyar Nemzeti Bank). The National Bank issues currency and maintains current and savings accounts. The Foreign Trade Bank serves enterprises trading abroad, and the State Development Bank finances large-scale investment projects. There were more than 30 commercial banks operating in the early 1990s.

F.

Commerce and Trade

During the Communist period, all wholesale and most retail enterprises in Hungary were under state supervision. About half the annual foreign trade was with the USSR and other Communist nations, but trade with Western Europe increased substantially, especially during the 1980s. The Budapest Stock Exchange reopened in 1990, and in 1995 was the first in Central Europe to gain recognition as a properly regulated stock exchange. The principal exports of Hungary are machinery and transport equipment, agricultural products, chemicals, apparel, textiles, iron and steel, and wine. The leading imports include machinery and transport equipment, crude petroleum, chemicals, and metal ores. In 2003 the total value of imports was US$46,394 million, whilst exports amounted to US$42,309 million.

G.

Labour

The labour force in 2006 totalled about 4.20 million. Of this number, about 923,700 were employed in mining and manufacturing and about 348,200 in agriculture. Workers are organized in trade unions, which are consolidated into the Central Council of Hungarian Trade Unions; the council has about 4 million members.

H.

Transport

The River Danube, which flows from north to south through the centre of the country, serves as a major artery of the Hungarian transport system. With its navigable affluents (totalling some 1,622 km/1,008 mi), it provides low-cost transit for a large portion of the domestic freight and passenger traffic and offers ready access to the markets of central and south-eastern Europe and to the Black Sea. About 7,950 km (4,940 mi) of railway track was in operation in 2005, and the Hungarian road system, in 2003, included about 159,568 km (99,151 mi) of roads. In 2003 there was a ratio of 313 motor vehicles per 1,000 people. Hungary is served by a state-owned airline, Malév, as well as by foreign airlines. Flights are handled by Ferihegy International Airport south-east of Budapest; internal air services resumed in 1993 after an interval of 20 years.

I.

Communications

Postal, telegraph, and telephone services are government owned and are controlled by the ministry of commerce. Hungary had four central radio stations and two television services in the early 1990s. In 2000 radios numbered about 7 million and television sets about 4 million; some 1.8 million telephones were in use. The Hungarian constitution guarantees freedom of the press. There were 34 daily newspapers in 2004, with a combined daily circulation of 5 million.

V.

Government

Hungary’s constitution, introduced in 1949 and subsequently amended, was substantially revised in 1989. The revisions marked Hungary’s transformation from a Communist-dominated people’s republic to an independent democratic state.

A.

Executive and Legislature

The head of state of Hungary is the president, elected in a secret ballot by the National Assembly for a five-year term. The president is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The National Assembly selects, moreover, the prime minister and his Cabinet, the Council of Ministers. The prime minister is the head of government in functional terms.

The unicameral National Assembly consists of 386 members: 176 directly elected from local districts, 152 elected on a proportional representation basis from county and metropolitan lists, and 58 indirectly elected from national lists drawn up by the competing parties. Members are elected to four-year terms.

B.

Political Parties

From 1949 to 1989, the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (HSWP) dominated the nation's political life. In October 1989, however, with its membership rapidly declining, the HSWP reconstituted itself as the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSP; Magyar Szocialista Párt), enjoying a revival in its fortunes under the former prime minister, Gyula Horn. Other political parties in Hungary include the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF; Magyar Demokrata Fórum), the Alliance of Free Democrats (SzDSz; Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége), the Independent Smallholders' Party (FKgP; Független Kisgazda, Földmunkás és Polgári Párt), and the Hungarian Truth and Life Party (MIEP; Magyar Igazság és Elet Pártja). In December 1997 the MDF and the Federation of Young Democrats-Hungarian Civic Party (Fidesz) signed an electoral pact under which they fought the 2002 election.

C.

Judiciary

The Supreme Court, located in Budapest, functions as a final court of appeals. The Constitutional Court, established in 1990, consists of 11 members elected by the National Assembly for a period of 10 years. County, district, and municipal courts handle criminal cases and are normally presided over by one professional judge and two lay assessors. The judges are elected by local councils for three-year terms. Judges are elected to the Supreme Court by the National Assembly.

D.

Local Government

Local administration is organized in a hierarchy of village councils, county and municipal councils, and metropolitan district councils. All councils are filled by free elections, but turnouts are generally low.

E.

Health and Welfare

Since 1972 the population has been covered by social insurance, which is supervised nationally (since 1993) by the Social Security Administration. Social insurance is funded mainly by employers. Most medical care is free but a small charge is usually made for medicines. The ministry of health administers state health services through county and district hospital regions. The state also provides free professional guidance and assistance for pregnant women and new mothers, maternity leaves and grants, compensation for unemployment, old age, and disability, allowances for children, and aid for funeral expenses. The infant mortality rate in 2008 was 8 deaths per 1,000 live births, and in 2001 expenditure on health accounted for 9.94 per cent of total government spending.

F.

Defence

The 1947 Peace Treaty restricted Hungary to an army of 65,000 personnel and an air force of 5,000. The Hungarian army in the late 1980s actually had about 68,000 members and the air force about 23,000. A small fleet patrolled the Danube. During 1990-1991 the USSR pulled out its 55,000 troops stationed on Hungarian territory, and the Warsaw Pact, which had tied Hungary’s defence to that of the USSR, was dissolved. The Hungarian armed forces in 2004 consisted of an army of 23,950 and an air force of 7,500. The forces also include some 22,900 conscripts serving a six-month term, as well as some 90,300 reservists and paramilitary forces of 14,000. In 2003, Hungary spent US$1,589 million (1.9 per cent of its GDP) on defence.

G.

International Organizations

Hungary is a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe (CE), the Partnership for Peace (PFP), the Central European Initiative (CEI), the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the European Union (EU), and the United Nations (UN).

VI.

History

The region comprising contemporary Hungary was part of the ancient Roman provinces of Dacia and Pannonia.

A.

The Origins of Hungary

Situated on the periphery of the Roman Empire, these provinces were among the first to fall to the Germanic peoples that began to overrun the Roman dominions in the closing years of the 2nd century ad. The Germanic peoples were later driven from the region by the Huns. After the death of Attila the Hun, the Germans reoccupied the area, only to be expelled again, in the 5th century, by the Avars, an Asian people. With the decline of Avar power during the 8th century, the Moravians, a Slavic people, seized the northern and eastern portions of the region and, between 791 and 797, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, added the remainder of the region to his domains.

A century later, in 895 or 896, the Magyars, a Finno-Ugric people, seized control of Pannonia. Under the leadership of their semi-legendary chieftain Árpád, the invaders conquered Moravia, raided the Italian Peninsula, and made incursions into Germany. The Magyars ranged over central Europe for more than half a century after the death of Árpád in 907, and in 955 they devastated Burgundy. Later in 955 they were defeated by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, on the River Lech. After this defeat, the Magyars maintained friendlier relations with the Holy Roman Empire, with the result that Christianity and Western culture began to penetrate Hungary. Duke Géza was converted to Christianity in 975. His son Stephen I, the founder of the Árpád dynasty, received formal recognition as King of Hungary in 1001, when Pope Sylvester II granted him the title Apostolic Majesty, an appellation retained by Hungarian kings for more than nine centuries.

B.

The Árpád Kings

With Stephen, who was canonized in 1083, a new era began for Hungary. Christianity became the official religion, paganism was suppressed, royal authority was centralized, and the country was divided into counties for administrative purposes. The non-Magyar sections of the population were treated as subject races and were forced to shoulder a disproportionate burden of toil and taxation for many centuries. After Stephen’s death a pagan reaction developed, and his immediate successors also had to contend with barbarian and German invasions. Ladislas I, renowned for his wise legislation, arranged an alliance with Pope Gregory VII. Thus strengthened, Hungary again became a powerful kingdom. Ladislas subjugated Croatia, Bosnia, and part of Transylvania; his successor, Koloman, obtained part of Dalmatia.

Royal authority in Hungary declined during the 12th century, chiefly because of internal strife instigated by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus. Seizing control of the Hungarian throne, he bestowed huge grants of the Crown lands on partisans among the native nobility, thereby providing foundations for the development of feudalism. Byzantine influence disappeared after the death of Manuel in 1180, but the barons retained their privileged status. King Andrew II attempted to re-establish a centralized regime. In 1222 he issued the Golden Bull, sometimes called the Hungarian Magna Carta, which extended various rights, including tax exemptions, to the nobility. Although the decree gained some adherents for the king among the weaker barons, it failed to reduce the power of the great landowners.

During the reign of Andrew’s successor Béla IV, Hungary was overrun by the Mongols. Most of the Mongols withdrew from the country in 1241, but weak leadership and further royal concessions to the barons accelerated the disintegration of the kingdom.

C.

Beginnings of Foreign Influence

With the death of Andrew III in 1301 the Árpád line of kings became extinct. In 1308 Charles Robert of Anjou secured election as Charles I (of Hungary), thereby establishing the Angevin dynasty in Hungary. During his reign, which ended in 1342, Charles restored order, imposed limitations on the barons, and generally consolidated the realm. He also made a number of territorial acquisitions, including Bosnia and part of Serbia. Through his marriage to Elizabeth, the sister of Casimir III, King of Poland, he ensured the succession of his son Louis to the Polish crown.

The reign of Louis I lasted until 1382. By virtue of his Polish inheritance and of wars of conquest against Venice, Hungary became one of the largest realms of Europe. Louis instituted numerous administrative reforms, further curbed the power of the feudal lords, and promoted the development of commerce, science, and industry. In the closing years of his reign, however, the Ottoman Empire, advancing steadily northwards into the Balkan Peninsula, established their suzerainty in several of Hungary’s southern buffer provinces. Sigismund, who was crowned King in 1387, organized a crusade against the Turks, but was overwhelmingly defeated in 1396. Additional disasters followed, including defeats by the Venetians and costly struggles against the religious reformers known as the Hussites, whom, as Holy Roman Emperor, a post to which he was elevated in 1411, Sigismund persecuted relentlessly.

Hungary was again menaced by the Turks during the two-year reign of Sigismund’s Habsburg son-in-law and successor, Albert II. A bitter contest for the throne developed after Albert’s death in 1439, and Hungary was saved from extinction by the Turks chiefly through the capable military leadership of János Hunyadi. Acclaimed as the national hero of Hungary, Hunyadi crowned his career by breaking the Turkish siege of Belgrade in 1456.

Hunyadi’s son Matthias Corvinus was elected King in 1458, despite strong opposition from partisans of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. The new monarch, probably the most able and enlightened ruler of his time, inaugurated various administrative reforms, created a standing army, and promoted the commercial and cultural development of the nation. A brilliant military leader, Matthias won control of Austria from the Habsburgs in the 1480s and moved his residence to Vienna. This and his other territorial acquisitions, which included Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia, made Hungary for a time the strongest kingdom of central Europe.

After the death of Matthias in 1490, the feudal barons regained their former status. In consequence, Hungary was soon engulfed in factional strife, including a peasant rebellion.

D.

Partition of Hungary

The general political chaos became intensified during the first two decades of the 16th century, rendering the nation incapable of effective defence against its foreign foes. In August 1521 a Turkish army under Sultan Suleiman I captured Belgrade and Šabac (both now in Serbia), the chief strongholds of the kingdom in the south. In 1526 Suleiman crushed the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács, where King Louis II and more than 20,000 of his men perished. Following the capture of Buda, on September 10, 1526, Suleiman withdrew from Hungary.

For more than 150 years after the defeat at Mohács, Hungary was the scene of almost continuous strife, chiefly among the Habsburg Holy Roman emperors, who seized control of the western portion of the defunct kingdom, the Turks, who established their suzerainty in the central region, and groups of the native nobility, especially that of Transylvania. In the course of the struggle for control of Hungary, Transylvania became the centre of the Magyar movement against Turkish and Austrian, or Habsburg, domination. The Magyars had abandoned the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation, thereby aggravating the enmity of the Habsburgs and their papal allies. After the middle of the 16th century and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation, the strife between the Protestant Magyars and the Catholic Habsburgs became increasingly violent. At the end of the Long War (1593-1606), Emperor Rudolf II was forced to grant the Magyars of Transylvania political and religious autonomy, additional territory, and other concessions.

The Transylvanians sided against the Habsburgs during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), led at first by Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania and King of Hungary. George I Rákóczy, who succeeded Bethlen as Prince of Transylvania in 1631, resumed the fight against Habsburg domination of western Hungary. In alliance with the Swedes and French, Rákóczy invaded Austrian territory in 1644. Emperor Ferdinand III was forced to meet many of Rákóczy’s demands, including the extension of full freedom of religion to all Hungarians under Habsburg rule. In the decade following the accession of George II Rákóczy as Prince of Transylvania, the Turks extended their sphere of influence into Transylvania, gradually reducing it, in effect, to provincial status. Meanwhile, missionary efforts in the Habsburg section of Hungary won many people there back into the Roman Catholic Church. Under the influence of the Church, these Hungarians abandoned the nationalist fight against Habsburg overlordship and political reaction ensued. Increasingly repressive measures were adopted against Protestants. These persecutions provoked a new revolutionary uprising in the Hungarian dominions of the Habsburgs. Led by Count Imre Thököly, the rebels won a series of victories over the forces of Emperor Leopold I. Thököly obtained the military support of the Turks in 1682, but in the war that followed, the emperor’s armies succeeded in driving the Turks from most of Hungary. The collapse of Thököly’s insurgent forces followed swiftly. Besides taking severe reprisals against the rebel leaders, Leopold forced the Hungarian Diet to declare the crown of Hungary forever hereditary in the House of Habsburg. By the provisions of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, the Turks retained only the Hungarian Banat, a region they were to lose 19 years later. The Treaty of Karlowitz also secured Transylvania to the Habsburgs.

E.

Era of Habsburg Rule

In 1703 Francis II Rákóczy (1676-1735), taking advantage of Austrian involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession, incited a new uprising against Austrian rule. Rákóczy, who received substantial help from the French, organized a provisional government and held the Austrians at bay until 1708, when he met disastrous defeat at Trenčín. Resistance continued until, in April 1711, Emperor Charles VI offered satisfactory peace terms, which provided for a general amnesty, religious freedom, and a variety of political concessions. Relations between the Habsburgs and their Hungarian subjects continued to be generally tranquil for more than a century thereafter.

E.1.

National Revival

Throughout the tumultuous period following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the overwhelming majority of the Hungarian population remained loyal to Austria. Numerous Magyar nationalists, however, were influenced by revolutionary ideas, and their campaigning led to a resurgence of Hungarian nationalism, beginning about 1815. Among other things, this development resulted in the creation of the Liberal Party, which launched a vigorous campaign for constitutional government and other reforms. The Liberal movement, headed by such Hungarian statesmen as Count István Széchenyi, József Eötvös, Ferenc Deák, Lajos Kossuth, and Lajos Batthyány, was accompanied by remarkable activity in the field of literature. Overcoming repressive moves by the government, the Liberals secured the passage of a number of progressive bills, including a measure that made commoners eligible for public office and another that curtailed certain feudal restrictions on the peasantry.

E.2.

Revolution of 1848 and the Ausgleich

The progressive political groups of Hungary won a decisive victory in the diet election of 1847. At first the Austrian government ignored the voters’ mandate, but when threatened by revolution in Vienna the following year, it yielded to Hungarian nationalist demands and authorized the formation of a Hungarian ministry, with Batthyány as premier. By the terms of legislation enacted in March 1848, the ministry severed practically all ties with Austria. Extreme Magyar nationalism, expressed in part by a decree making Hungarian the official language of the state, rapidly alienated the non-Magyar portions of the population, and rebellions broke out among the Romanians and Croats. When the revolutionary movement in Vienna was defeated in November, the Austrian army tried to restore Habsburg rule in Hungary too, but was unsuccessful. In April 1849, the Hungarian Diet proclaimed the dethronement of the Habsburg dynasty and the independence of Hungary.

The following month, however, Austria’s Emperor Francis Joseph I succeeded in arranging a military alliance with Nicholas I of Russia. Austrian and Russian arms were uniformly successful against the outnumbered Hungarians, who surrendered in August 1849. On October 6, 1849, still a day of national mourning in Hungary, Batthyány and 13 other revolutionary leaders were executed. This and other severe reprisals inaugurated a period of centralized Austrian rule extending over more than a decade. After the Austrian defeat in 1859 in the Italian War of Liberation, the imperial regime suffered a succession of diplomatic and military reverses. Francis Joseph was consequently obliged to adopt a conciliatory attitude towards his Hungarian subjects. Magyar nationalism, ably guided by Ferenc Deák, gradually re-emerged as an important force in Hungary. In 1865 the imperial government sanctioned the draft of a new constitution for the Magyar nation. Before this document could be completed, Prussia defeated Austria in the Seven Weeks’ War, a debacle that vastly strengthened the position of the Hungarians. By the provisions of the compromise (Ausgleich) constitution, as finally adopted in March 1867, Austria and Hungary became dual monarchies, under one ruler. The constitution granted Hungary full sovereignty in the conduct of internal affairs and parity with Austria in the conduct of national defence, foreign affairs, and certain other matters. On June 8, 1867, Emperor Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary. The dual monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire endured until the defeat of Germany and with it the empire in World War I.

F.

World War I and the Republic

The Hungarian political leaders supported the Austrian war effort largely because they feared that a Russian victory would lead to the defection of Hungary’s Slavic minorities and the dismemberment of the country. As the conflict continued, however, war losses, food shortages, and other privations engendered profound dissatisfaction among the people. The death of Francis Joseph on November 21, 1916, and the succession of Emperor Charles I weakened the ties between Hungary and Austria. Internal unrest increased steadily, and on October 25, 1917, Count Mihály Károlyi established a national council, which intensified the struggle for general suffrage, dissolution of the parliament, and the conclusion of peace with the Allies. The empire was officially dissolved on November 11, 1918, and five days later the national council proclaimed the Hungarian Democratic Republic, with Károlyi as its first president.

Social and political unrest continued, however, and in March 1919 Károlyi’s government was overthrown by the Communists under Béla Kun. The new government confiscated all industrial and commercial enterprises as communal property. Banks were expropriated and a number of newspapers were banned. Meanwhile, the Czechs had invaded Hungary from the north and the Romanians invaded it from the south. Unable to cope with foreign intervention and confronted by growing counter-revolution among the peasantry, Béla Kun resigned on August 1, 1919, and fled to Austria. Three days later Budapest was occupied by the Romanians, who retained control until November 14.

G.

The Regency

Under Allied supervision, an interim government, representative of the various political parties of Hungary, was formed on November 25, 1919. Dominated by Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya, a former Austro-Hungarian admiral who had organized a counter-revolutionary army and government during the brief Communist period, the government immediately instituted severe reprisals against leftists and liberals. On Allied insistence, general elections for a national assembly were held early in 1920. The national assembly officially dissolved all Hungarian affiliations with Austria, proclaimed the country a monarchy, and named Horthy as regent. On June 4, 1920, the Hungarian government accepted the Treaty of Trianon, which imposed the peace conditions of the Allied powers, depriving Hungary of Transylvania, Croatia, and Slovakia. Horthy thereafter retained his dictatorial hold on the country for more than two decades.

During the premiership (1921-1931) of Count Stephen Bethlen economic distress and desire for revenge inspired by the humiliating terms of the Trianon treaty provided an incentive for resurgent Hungarian nationalism. After Horthy appointed the neo-fascist Gyula von Gömbös as premier in September 1932, this nationalism was characterized by an aggressive foreign policy towards neighbouring democracies, and close relations with the totalitarian regimes of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Collaboration with Germany brought substantial rewards following the partition of Czechoslovakia, when Hitler agreed to the allocation of part of Slovakia and all of Ruthenia to Hungary. The country subsequently withdrew from the League of Nations, and in January 1939, it became a signatory, with Germany, Italy, and Japan, of the Anti-Comintern Pact.

H.

World War II

At the outbreak of World War II the Hungarian government officially proclaimed neutrality, but its subsequent actions indicated complete sympathy with Axis objectives. Nationalist demands for the return of Transylvania were partially satisfied in 1940, when Italy and Germany awarded Hungary the northern portion of the Romanian province. In April 1941 the Hungarian regime, taking advantage of the German attack on Yugoslavia, ordered its troops into the territory awarded to Yugoslavia by the Treaty of Trianon. On June 27, 1941, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union and on December 13, on the United States. The Hungarian army suffered heavy losses on the Russian front, and in August 1943 the government unsuccessfully directed peace overtures to the Allied powers. In March 1944 German troops occupied the country, and, with Horthy’s consent, installed a puppet regime. This regime immediately embarked on a campaign of terror against all dissidents and against the Hungarian Jews, several hundred thousand of whom were either put to death or deported. The Soviet armies invaded Hungary on October 7. Horthy, who by this time wanted to surrender, was deposed by the Germans a few days later.

On January 20, 1945, representatives of a Soviet-sponsored provisional government signed the armistice terms of the Allied nations, and on February 13 Budapest fell to Soviet troops. The provisional government instituted large-scale land reforms in March 1945, confiscating vast feudal and ecclesiastical holdings. In the campaign preceding the election of a national assembly, the re-established Communist Party, one of the most influential parties in Hungary, vigorously attempted to win majority status. The elections on November 4 were, however, won by the Small Landholders’ Party, led by Zoltán Tildy. A republic was proclaimed, and Tildy was elected president. A coalition Cabinet was formed, with Ferenc Nagy, a prominent member of the Small Landholders’ Party, as premier and Mátyás Rákosi, the General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist party, as vice-premier.

I.

The Communist State

For many months after the creation of the republic, Hungary was on the verge of bankruptcy. Lack of foodstuffs, inflated prices, the damaged transport system, and other economic dislocations severely impeded national recovery.

I.1.

Consolidation of Power

In January 1947 some of the leaders of the Small Landholders’ Party were charged with conspiring to overthrow the republic and were arrested by the Communists. Nagy was forced to resign in May; he was succeeded by another member of the Small Landholders’ Party, Lajos Dinnyés. Officers suspected of disloyalty to the Communists were purged from the army. In July the national legislature was dissolved and in August elections for a new parliament were held. Although the Communists won only 22 per cent of the votes, they dominated the coalition government formed by Dinnyés. Under coercion, the Social Democratic Party in 1948 amalgamated with the Communist Party, forming the Hungarian Workers’ Party. A purge of the new party early in 1949 further consolidated the Communists’ power. In May 1949 parliamentary elections were held again, and this time the voters were presented with a single slate consisting only of Communists and their supporters. In August the assembly adopted a constitution, establishing the Hungarian People’s Republic.

I.2.

Economic Transformation

Meanwhile, the transformation of Hungary in accord with Communist policies had begun. Treaties of friendship and cooperation with the USSR and other Communist countries were concluded. Most Church schools were nationalized, and hundreds of priests and nuns who opposed the action were arrested; Cardinal József Mindszenty was arrested, tried, and early in 1949 sentenced to life imprisonment. Many industries were also nationalized. Peasants who could not be persuaded to collectivize had their lands confiscated and turned over to the collective farms. Thousands of opponents of the Communist regime were sentenced to labour camps.

Following the death of the Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in 1953 the Hungarian government liberalized some of its policies. Mátyás Rákosi, who had become prime minister in 1952, retained his position as Communist Party Chief, but was succeeded as premier by Imre Nagy. A new, less rigid economic programme was launched, and the government granted amnesties to some political prisoners and abolished internment camps. Relations with other Communist countries remained close, however. Hungary joined the USSR and other Eastern European Communist countries in forming the Warsaw Pact for mutual defence and in enlarging the functions of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).

Indications that the period of liberalization was coming to an end appeared in April 1955, when Nagy was dismissed from the premiership and expelled from the party because of alleged anti-Soviet nationalism and failure to follow the pattern of the Soviet Union in his policies. He was succeeded by András Hegedüs, a protégé of Rákosi. Ernö Gerö, another pro-Russian, became party secretary. But following the denunciation of Stalin by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1956, government policies were again softened.

I.3.

Revolution of 1956

Popular discontent was mounting, however, and opponents of the government drew encouragement from the Polish defiance of the Soviet Union, which manifested itself in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Students demonstrated against compulsory courses in the Russian language and in Marxism-Leninism and, together with the Writers’ Union, expressed their sympathy with the anti-Soviet movement in Poland. Workers joined these groups in demanding the reinstatement of Nagy as Premier. On October 23, Prime Minister Hegedüs, unable to control the demonstrations, called for help from troops of the Soviet occupying force. The Workers’ Party stepped in and replaced Hegedüs with Nagy, and Gerö with János Kádár, who had previously been jailed as a nationalist. Nagy sided with the demonstrators, announcing that the one-party system would be discontinued and free elections held. He promised economic reforms, freed Cardinal Mindszenty, demanded the withdrawal of Soviet forces, and, denouncing the Warsaw Pact and mistakenly confident of Western support, proclaimed Hungary a neutral state. The USSR promised concessions, but demonstrations continued. In early November Soviet troops and tanks brutally suppressed the insurgents, who were sending urgent signals for help to the West. Hundreds of Hungarians were executed, thousands more were imprisoned, and nearly 200,000 fled the country into Austria.

I.4.

The Kádár Regime

A new Communist dictatorship was set up, with Kádár as Premier and head of the renamed Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (HSWP). Moscow promptly promised US$250 million in aid and full support. Punishment of insurgents continued through 1957 and 1958, and thousands were deported to the USSR. Nagy and many of his associates were executed. Cardinal Mindszenty took refuge in the US legation in Budapest, where he remained until he was permitted to leave the country in 1971. Nagy’s promise of free elections was repudiated.

Kádár remained firmly in control for more than three decades, his power base being the general secretaryship of the party, although he held the premier’s office intermittently. The strict controls imposed after the 1956 uprising were relaxed somewhat beginning in 1967. In the general elections held in March that year opposing candidates were permitted to run in certain parliamentary and local contests, although they had to be approved by the regime. The government remained committed to Moscow, joining in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.

In 1968 the New Economic Mechanism (NEM) was introduced. An important new departure, the NEM called for much less central control of the economy and greater freedom for individual plant managers. Profitability, rather than the attainment of quotas, was made the chief criterion for judging the performance of a factory. After five years the NEM appeared to be a success, although a slight slowdown had occurred in the industrial growth rate.

In the early 1970s Hungary increased its trade and cultural contacts with non-Communist countries. In 1972 Hungary signed a consular convention with the United States, and in 1973 it began negotiations with West Germany that aimed at establishing normal diplomatic relations. Relations with the Roman Catholic Church also improved; in 1974 the Vatican officially removed Cardinal Mindszenty as Archbishop of Esztergom.

Relations with the West continued to improve and trade to increase throughout the 1970s. The economy was allowed to operate partly according to free market forces to the evident gain of the general populace. By the early 1980s, however, inflation was rising, prompting Kádár to express public concern and to effect some changes in the political leadership. The regime remained careful not to antagonize the USSR, however, and fully supported the Soviet hard line against liberalization in Poland in 1981 and 1982. An economic downturn in the mid-1980s led to the imposition of an austerity programme, a mass demonstration for freedom of speech, and civil reforms, and, in May 1988, to the replacement of Kádár as general secretary. The new general secretary, Károly Grósz, had been prime minister since June 1987; in that post he had initiated a tough economic programme that included levying new taxes, cutting subsidies, and encouraging the small private sector. As further signs of liberalization, the government relaxed censorship laws, allowed the formation of independent political groups, and legalized the right to strike and to demonstrate. In 1989 the leadership provided a hero’s burial for Imre Nagy, eased restrictions on emigration, revised the constitution to provide for a democratic multi-party system, and changed the country’s name from the People’s Republic of Hungary to the Republic of Hungary. In March and April 1990 a coalition of centre-right parties won a parliamentary majority in the nation’s first free legislative elections in 45 years. After a referendum providing for direct presidential elections failed because of a low turnout, the National Assembly chose a writer, Árpád Göncz, as head of state.

J.

Post-Communist Hungary

In 1990 Hungary became the first central European nation in the Eastern bloc to join the Council of Europe, and in 1991 and 1992 the government signed declarations of cooperation with Poland, the Czech and Slovak republics, Russia, and Ukraine. Relations with Romania and Slovakia were strained because of the treatment of Hungarian minorities in those countries, including some 1.7 million in Romania. By mid-1992, about 100,000 refugees from the former Yugoslavia had fled to Hungary, and the government appealed for assistance from Western European nations. In April 1994 Hungary applied for membership of the EU. In parliamentary elections in May, the Hungarian Socialist Party (formerly the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party) regained a majority of 72 per cent of parliamentary seats, and named its leader, Gyula Horn, as its choice for prime minister when the new parliament convened in July. It introduced stringent budget cuts in an attempt to reduce its foreign debt of US$28 billion. A further austerity package was introduced in March 1995, and a law aimed at revitalizing the stalled privatization programme was introduced in May.

In April, Eastern Europe’s first Roma minority governing body came into being in Hungary. The 53-seat National Autonomous Authority of the Romany Minority was given responsibility for the administration of funds disbursed by the central government. A Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation with Slovakia was ratified in June. A bill was passed in November to abolish exchange control regulations, which had been in place for over 60 years, and thus make the forint fully convertible. In the largest privatization programme seen thus far in a former Communist state, foreign consortia took majority holdings in the telecommunications and gas distribution companies, and minority holdings in the electricity, and the oil- and gas-producing industries, in December. Austerity measures continued to be an area of controversy, resulting in the resignation of finance minister Lajos Bokros in February, over attempts to cut the social security deficit. In July 1996 Hungary became the first country in Eastern Europe to acknowledge its role in the Holocaust, when the establishment of a fund to administer confiscated property and compensate survivors was announced. A scandal involving illegal payments resulted in the resignation of the minister for privatization, trade and industry, Tamas Suchman, and the entire board of the Hungarian State Privatization and Holding Company (APV), in October.

In March 1997 proceedings were initiated at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in order to resolve the dispute between Hungary and Slovakia concerning the Gabcickovo-Nagmaros hydroelectric project and diversion of the Danube. In September the International Court of Justice ruled that both sides had been in breach of international law during the project to construct dams and hydroelectric installations on the Danube, and both countries were required to negotiate compensation payments. More than 85 per cent of votes cast in a national referendum on the question of the proposed accession of Hungary to NATO were in favour of the proposition. The two leading opposition parties, the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and the Federation of Young Democrats-Hungarian Civic Party (Fidesz), announced an electoral pact in December, when they pledged to offer joint regional candidates in the 1998 legislative elections. In March 1998 Hungary was one of the ten applicant nations to the EU to benefit from the £1.8 billion-per-annum pool of grants made available to help them prepare for entry early next century. Following the second round of voting in the general election Fidesz-MPP took 147 of the 386 seats in the National Assembly. An agreement was signed in June, to form a coalition of three parties, Fidesz-MPP, MDF, and the Independent Smallholders' and Peasants' Party (FKGP), which between them commanded 213 seats in the National Assembly. Viktor Orbán, the chairman of Fidesz-MPP, was sworn in on July 6, and two days later the new 17-member Cabinet took office. In March 1999, Hungary joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the biggest expansion of the organization's 50-year history. Hungary's participation in NATO was almost immediate: within a month of joining NATO its airspace was being used by alliance planes taking part in air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In the worst environmental disaster since the Chernobyl nuclear leak in 1986, on January 30, 2000, more than 100,000 cubic metres of water contaminated with cyanide burst through a dam at a mining works in northern Romania. The water travelled 1,000 km (620 mi) through Yugoslavia and Hungary where it entered the rivers Danube and Tisza, polluting drinking water in all three countries. A flow of toxic cyanide that measured 40 km (25 mi) in length wiped out the Tisza's entire ecosystem in a matter of days—everything from microbes to otters.

Political, social, and economic strategies in 2000 and 2001 were designed to facilitate Hungary’s prospective membership of the EU. Nevertheless, the country had to struggle with catastrophic floods in both years and with other pressing environmental challenges. Hungary made considerable progress toward recognizing and promoting the rights of disabled people and received, in May 2000, an award of the World Committee on Disability and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. The ongoing goal of endorsing and encouraging reconciliation and cooperation within Hungarian society was reaffirmed by the new president, Ferenc Mádl, who was elected to the post in June 2000 to succeed Árpád Göncz and took office in August. Mádl also pledged to continue to build good relations with neighbouring countries and to support Hungary’s participation in international organizations.

In 2001 a controversial law, granting Hungarians living in Romania and Slovakia special privileges, including the right to temporary legal employment, threatened to block the country’s membership in the EU. Passed in June, the legislation was severely criticized by the EU in November. After the dispute with Romania had been settled and while negotiations with Slovakia continued, the government started implementing the law in early 2002.

K.

Medgyessy’s Term of Office

A closely contested parliamentary election in April 2002 resulted in a victory for the MSP. The Fidesz-MDF coalition came second . A new government led by Péter Medgyessy, was appointed in May. Shortly afterwards it was revealed that the new prime minister had been a counter-espionage agent in the finance ministry in the 1970s. This revelation was followed by one from the president of Fidesz, Zoltan Pokomi, who announced that his father had been a police informer under the communist regime; Pokomi subsequently resigned his post. Combined, these disclosures led the government to investigate links between Hungary’s communist past and its political leaders of today.

In December 2002 Hungary was formally invited to join the European Union. In a referendum in April 2003, 84 per cent of voters backed EU membership; however, the turnout was very low at 46 per cent. In June 2003 the parliament amended the controversial Status Law, which since 2001 had granted ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring states temporary rights to work, study, and claim health benefits in Hungary. The dispute was further resolved by the signing of treaties with Romania and Slovakia. In May 2004 Hungary became a member of the EU.

L.

The Gyurcsány Era

Ferenc Gyurcsány became the new prime minister after the resignation of the government of Medgyessy. The Hungarian parliament ratified the new EU constitution in December 2004. In August 2005 the country’s new president, László Sólyom, was sworn in. Gyurcsány’s socialists led the governing coalition back to power in the April 2006 legislative elections, the first time in Hungary’s post-communist history that a government had been re-elected.