Economische crisis dwingt Hongarije wereldwijd ambassades te sluiten (en)
Hungary, severely hit by the economic crisis, has said it is to close four embassies worldwide to save money, including one in Europe.
Budapest intends to close its representations in Luxembourg, as well as in Malaysia, Chile and Venezuela.
It will also shut down eight consulates – in Lyon (France), Dusseldorf (Germany), Krakow (Poland), Chicago (US), Toronto (Canada), Sao Paolo (Brazil), Sydney (Australia) and Hong Kong, Hungarian foreign minister Peter Balazs announced on Tuesday (16 June).
"With the reorganisation, the ministry will save two billion forint (around €7 million) annually," Mr Balazs said at a press conference in Budapest, French news agency AFP reported.
In addition to the closure of embassies and consulates, Hungarian delegations to several international organisations will move to shared offices in Vienna, Paris and Geneva, he added.
After the closiures, Hungary will still maintain 102 representations in 80 states worldwide. But the opposition in the country criticised the move and said it was a form of "self-destruction."
The announcement comes as part of a bid to get Hungary out of its economic turmoil. Hit badly by the global crisis, it was the first EU country to obtain an International Monetary Fund-led €20 billion bail-out last year to avoid bankruptcy.
In exchange, Budapest has committed to save €4.6 billion in 2009 and 2010.
It has already announced sharp spending cuts to government programmes, a bank deposit guarantee and delays to planned tax cuts.
Latvia announces massive cuts
Meanwhile Latvia, another country with a troubled economy that in December secured a €7.5 billion bail-out from the IMF, the EU and other lenders, on Tuesday announced austerity measures that Riga said would help it avoid bankruptcy.
By a large majority (63 to 30 votes) the Latvian parliament backed cuts worth 500 million lats (€714 million), or around 10 percent of total expenditure.
"Parliament made a difficult decision, one that allowed the state to avoid bankruptcy," Latvian premier Valdis Dombrovskis told journalists after an eight-hour debate in the parliament
"We think it's a good basis for continuing to receive international support," he added.
The EU welcomed the adoption of the measures, while calling on the Latvian government to seek long-term solution to cut the country's budget deficit.
"The [EU] presidency and the commission welcome the new fiscal package for 2009 and 2010 adopted by the Latvian parliament today, which is a courageous and ambitious step forward to address fiscal imbalances," the Czech EU presidency and the European Commission said in a joint statement.
"While the urgency to act in the current situation may warrant to some extent the recourse to one-off measures in 2009, work on permanent measures to reduce the budget deficit in a sustainable way and improve the competitiveness of the economy in 2010 and the following years should start immediately," they added.
The Latvian finance ministry expects the Baltic country's economy to contract 18 percent this year and finance minister Einars Repse on Monday warned that the public deficit - the gap between a government's spending and revenues - could still hit 11.6 percent, despite the new cuts.
Under its bail-out terms, Latvia has said it would ensure that its deficit would not exceed five percent of GDP.
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