Fourth Conference of Honorary Consuls of the Republic of Hungary
Information for the press
Hungary’s Foreign Ministry will hold its traditional conference for honorary consuls this year at the Danubius Health Spa Resort (formerly Thermal Hotel) on Budapest’s Margaret Island on May 25-27. The previous three conferences were organised in 1996, 1999 and 2003. The conferences aim to provide first-hand information for participant consuls from the Prime Minister, heads of ministries which play a key role in developing international relations and officials from other related professional organisations. The areas cover Hungary’s current domestic and foreign affairs, economic, financial, cultural and environmental issues as well as tourism, consular and development-related plans.
Hungary is among the few countries that organise such events for their honorary consuls. While participants pay for their own travel and accommodation the Hungarian Foreign Ministry covers all other expenses. Tourism promotion agency “Magyar Turizmus Zrt” is a partner in the event and organises full-day excursions for participants to Lake Balaton, where they address domestic tourism development issues while taking a tour from Siófok via Tihany to Balatonfüred. The Elek Foundation for Honorary Consuls will welcome the consuls and their accompanying family members at a dinner on the evening of the first plenary session in the Buda Castle.
In line with the traditional protocol of earlier conferences, this year, too, the Foreign Affairs Minister will open the conference with a reception and the President of the Republic will host the closing event.
Honorary Consuls of the Republic of Hungary
At present Hungary has 207 honorary consuls securing a consular presence in 92 countries throughout the world, including 40 of them without an official foreign representation. There are 35 honorary consul generals, one honorary deputy consul and the others have the title of honorary consul. There are also several new appointment procedures under way.
Just under half (98) of our honorary consuls carry out their missions in Europe; next in line is the American continent with 50 honorary consuls, followed by Asia (27), Africa (25) and Australia and Oceania (7).
In many other countries of the world, well-known personalities of the local Hungarian community hold this distinction, so the majority of honorary consuls - 84 out of a total 207 - are native Hungarians or Hungarian citizens.
The honorary consuls play an important role in the recipient country’s economic, scientific, cultural life and tourism industry. The maintenance of honorary consulates - in line with common international practice - does not burden the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s budget. Honorary consuls do not get paid. They fulfil their tasks individually by relying on their extensive local networks but they are at all times under the professional supervision of one of Hungary’s official foreign representations.
At the same time, the number of honorary consuls working in Hungary is growing steadily, with currently 42 countries represented by 51 honorary consuls in the country.
Historical background
The office of the honorary consul, whose roots go back to ancient times, operated only by common law during the long centuries of its development, until on April 24, 1963 an international agreement on consular relations ratified in Vienna created a universal legislative framework. The office was originally created according to need and its first appearances can be traced back to the 8th century, especially to China, India and the Middle Eastern regions. The main task of consuls has always been to represent the interests of their sovereign and its people in the recipient state, especially by nurturing social and economic ties.
The official Consular Corps was first established at the end of the 18th century. France was the first state to employ official consuls, but other states soon followed.
After the demise of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, when Hungary became a sovereign state again in 1920, the independent Royal Hungarian Foreign Ministry started operations. In the 1920s it was an important and urgent task to create Hungary’s own diplomatic services; the independent Hungarian foreign representations. In addition to the royal Hungarian embassies and official consulates, often there were honorary consuls taking up office: their numbers rising to 89 by 1937. World War Two put quite a dent in diplomatic and consular services, then, in the 1950s, the office of the honorary consuls were completely abolished in Hungary and the opportunity by law and in practice only came about again in 1989/90.
Legal background
An international legal framework is provided by the Vienna Convention of 1963 on consular relations, which Hungary incorporated into its legal framework in the statutory law no. 13 of 1987. A foreign ministerial decree soon followed in 1988 to re-create - with new principles and political and economic guidelines - the network of honorary consuls which was practically eliminated in the 1950s.
The above legal environment provided the opportunity to appoint and receive honorary consuls again from 1989/90. Today, the appointment and reception, as well as the operations and supervision of honorary consuls, is augmented by the ministerial decree 2/1995 and the Foreign Ministry’s guidelines 4/1995.
The appointment of the honorary consul
The honorary consul is either a citizen of the receiving country, a citizen of Hungary or a third country with permanent residency in the receiving country. The consul carries out its mission in the receiving country with its official assent in the interests of another state, the “sending state” and its citizens. On top of traditional consular tasks such as the protection of interests, the consul plays a crucial role in advancing trade and economic relations, as well as cultural, education, scientific, sport and tourism-related ties.
The consul’s personal prestige, influence and integrity, as well as his commitment to the sending state generally form the basis of the appointment. In accordance with international practice, the consul normally receives no remuneration for his services.
There is a strict and universally applied procedure for the appointment and reception of the honorary consul. The diplomatic or consular representation of the sending country generally names a candidate for the post - in Hungary, the Foreign Ministry has this role - but the receiving state must on all occasions give its prior approval to the appointment.
The foreign minister controls the operations of the honorary consul via the head of the diplomatic mission or consular representation that it selects for this task. The honorary consul’s scope of authority may not be exclusive in his consular district because the sending state’s official diplomatic/consular representation may also have a branch there.
The honorary consul’s mission
It is important that the concepts of an official and an honorary consul should be separated in the public eye, as their tasks and qualifications are somewhat different. The relevant Vienna Convention of 1963 treats the categories of the official and honorary consuls separately and their legal status is also defined differently. Official consuls are state officials employed by the sending country, while honorary consuls are public dignitaries - either citizens or permanent residents of the receiving country - who take on the tasks as a secondary occupation besides their own, more or less as a favour and at their own cost. The tasks encompass the protection of the interests of the citizens of the foreign state - in our case Hungary - as well as building relations on a wider scale related to the economy, trade, culture, sport or tourism.
The honorary consul provides office space, furniture and equipment for the consulate at his own expense. The monitoring foreign representation provides the official seal while and the Republic of Hungary provides the official state flag, the coat of arms and plates containing the name of the consulate in Hungarian and in a foreign language. The honorary consul receives the consular guidelines and instructions as well as Hungarian laws pertaining to its operation and receives regular updates on Hungary’s current economic, trade, cultural, scientific and tourism-related affairs.
The importance and future of the consular network
The office of the honorary consul is once again experiencing a renaissance in the 21st century, due partly to the continuous development of communication encompassing all areas of life and partly to the oft-witnessed decline in the financial resources made available to the foreign services. Honorary consuls on many occasions are able to take some, or all, of the burdens away from official consuls. Today, there is a vast need for their work and their networking, which is reflected by the ongoing expansion of the Hungarian honorary consular services. With this peculiar kind of civil diplomatic service, which is regulated both by international and domestic laws, Hungary can firmly and continuously increase its far-reaching network of liaisons.
The commemorative medal
The foreign minister established the Certificate of Merit “Pro auxilio civium Hungarorum” in May 2003 with the ministerial decree 9/2003. The certificate may be awarded to those Hungarian honorary consuls who have successfully served for more than ten years or those who have made an outstanding contribution to the interests of Hungarian citizens. The foreign minister decides on awarding the certificate on the basis of the nomination and recommendations of the foreign representation which supervises the honorary consul. The certificate was first awarded at the 3rd Conference for Honorary Consuls on May 26, 2003, at which 51 consuls were recognised. The following year, the certificate was awarded through the foreign representations. This year there is also the opportunity for the foreign minister to present the award personally during a ceremony to 11 of the 18 consuls awarded who are able to attend this year’s conference.
Further information, background material, legal documents and the list of honorary consuls is available by clicking on the conference logo on the Foreign Ministry’s website at www.kulugyminiszterium.hu, www.mfa.gov.hu
(May 14, 2008)