The advent of renewable energy is changing the world beyond merely making it cleaner, more efficient and sustainable. The new paradigm also threatens to change the way business is done in the energy sector, even in Hungary. Transparency, accountability and cooperation are part of the credo for the emerging sector of renewable energy, with comparison to the early days of the internet well-deserved. Shorter cycles of business development; new business relationships that combine the talents of for-profit, not-for-profit, academic and governmental spheres; and a new understanding of business opportunity as it relates to corporate responsibility each stand as hallmarks of success in the new sector.
While the international financial world and the European Union in particular, perceive the draconic austerity programme of the social-liberal government as the instrument needed for the correction of the Hungarian fiscal deficit, the programme lacks provisions designed to increase employment. However, constraints alone - albeit necessary - would only yield transitory results: a lasting equilibrium in the fiscal budget cannot be guaranteed without an increase in employment. The rate of employment in Hungary is 7% less than the average in other European countries, i.e., 470 thousand work places. If these were provided by the private sector, the revenue from taxes and other contributions would be nearly 800 billion Ft-worth of extra income for the fiscal budget, which amounts to 40% of Hungary's expected budget deficit for 2006.