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Gazprom began delivery of 700 million cubic meters (cm) of extra natural gas to Hungary, State Secretary Tamas Menczer announced on Facebook last weekend. This follows Foreign Minister Peter Szijjartos controversial trip to Moscow in July to request the gas over and above the long-term gas agreement signed last year for 4.5 billion cubic cm/y, or roughly half of Hungarys demand. With Western gas markets drying up, the Hungarian government became highly concerned about the winter and rushed to secure more gas from Moscow, despite the EUs consensus on reducing gas dependence on Russia. Menczer stated that in the first phase, until the end of August, 2.6 million cm of additional gas will arrive from the south via the Turkish Stream pipeline, and negotiations are already underway for September deliveries. It was not revealed how much the Hungarian government is paying for the gas.

Unsurprisingly, the government-controlled media this week launched vicious character attacks against Csaba Vasvari, a senior judge, after he criticised the governments approach towards the judiciary. The judge told The Observer: He and his colleagues on the bench have been witnessing external and internal influence attempts. He cited cases where court officials discussed firing or making life uncomfortable for judges who are too autonomous or had expressed concerns about nepotism when relatively unqualified friends or family members of high-ranking politicians were appointed to senior positions of the court system. The revelation is a massive blow to the Hungarian government, which is trying to convince the European Commission that it is not interfering in the judiciary as it pleads to unlock frozen EU funds. Among the attacks were that Vasvari served during the terror of the previous social-liberal government and sentenced innocent protesters to several years in prison. The government-affiliated daily Magyar Nemzet claimed that the paragraph containing this bit of info had been removed from his Wikipedia page in order to whitewash his reputation. In 2006, violent protests erupted following the leaked internal speech of then prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who admitted he lied during the election campaign to secure victory. Right-wing media see the 2006 events as the original sin of the leftist government and proof they cant be trusted, and it is a typical strategy to associate people with the 2006 events to undermine their credibility.

Hungarys National Ambulance Service (OMSZ) announced it was conducting a pilot project for cycling ambulances. The electric bikes would be deployed primarily in cities, especially in areas with the most calls, such as Budapest. Tamas Kramarics, the first Hungarian paramedic on an e-bike, explained in a video that in England paramedics on bikes have been deployed for 20 years and help 17,000 people yearly. Nobody is going to substitute traditional ambulances with e-bikes, but all the necessary equipment to save lives can be transported on bikes, he says. Paramedics can apply voluntarily and receive extra pay for their e-bike shifts. Kramarics said he will mostly bike on the pedestrian streets of Budapest. The OMSZ confirmed the program will officially start in the spring of 2023.

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