With relation to Hungary, the International Religious Freedom Report for 2011, issued on 30 July 2012 by the United States Department of State, objects to the registration requirements included in the Act on Churches and to the rise of the "openly anti-Semitic" Jobbik party. However, the document also points out that Hungarian laws and measures protect religious freedom.

In response to the document, the Prime Minister’s Office told MTI that the report commends the fact that the state provides significant financial support and further benefits for registered religious groups as well as facilitating the restitution of religious properties confiscated by the state during the communist dictatorship.

The report specifically mentions the fact that the State Secretariat for Education supported a seven-day Holocaust education seminar for teachers to the Jad Vasem institute in Jerusalem, the announcement by Minister of Defence Csaba Hende that the Hungarian Defence Forces would renovate the tombs of those who had died in combat during the First World War, in the Jewish Cemetery in Kozma utca, and the international conference on Christian-Jewish-Muslim interfaith dialogue organised by the government during Hungary's term as President of the EU.

With regard to the report's comment that suggests a rise in anti-Semitism, the International Communications Office stresses that the government is committed to combating anti-Semitism and is doing its utmost to quell any such tendency.

For precisely this reason, consultations have already begun regarding the possibility of setting up a monitoring system that is capable of providing an internationally credible and authentic picture on whether there are anti-Semitic or anti-minority phenomena in Hungary, and if so of what kind and what the social approach and institutional reactions are in relation to this – they pointed out.

They also stressed the fact that this had already been communicated to Hannah Rosenthal, special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, by Hungarian government commissioner András Levente Gál during her recent visit to Budapest on July 20. At a press conference held during her visit to Hungary, Hannah Rosenthal praised the government's approach and stressed that a great number of government measures were being realised in 2012 in the spirit of tolerance, such as the Wallenberg Year commemorations, the office wrote.

They also mentioned the fact that Ambassador of Israel to Hungary Ilan Mor announced in a declaration on July 25 that the fight against anti-Semitism was important for both countries and he welcomed the fact that Viktor Orbán advocated the principle of zero tolerance against anti-Semitic manifestations.

When representatives from the United Hungarian Israelite Community (EMIH) and civilian leaders of the Congregation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz) held negotiations with US government officials on the suppression of anti-Semitism, EMIH Chief Rabbi Slomó Köves told the US version of the paper Algemeiner that Hungary is not a bad place to live as a Jew and the anti-Jewish atmosphere experienced here was no worse than anywhere else in Europe - they recalled.

Source: Prime Minister's Office - kormany.hu