HUNGARY EXPECTED TO COMPROMISE ON CHANGES - Hungary's government has been given an ultimatum by the European Commission, and legal action has been threatened against the country, over contested reforms of its judiciary, central bank and data protection authorities.
The Commission said the new laws violate EU rules and need to be changed within a month if Hungary wants to avoid being taken to the European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court.
Mark Griffith, a Budapest-based journalist and publisher, said the new government had a two-thirds majority and had started transforming the constitution.
He said Hungary was in a reasonably strong financial position at the moment - with about €10 billion from new taxes on pensions and banks - and had political reasons to defy Europe. But Mr Griffith said the government would eventually compromise, as the EU stance was hurting Hungary on the markets, with the forint weaker and borrowing costs rising.
Mr Griffith said there was resentment in the country that previous governments had been too good about repaying debt to creditors.
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30% DROP IN NUMBER OF NEW BUILDINGS - GeoDirectory figures show that there was a 30% fall in the number of new buildings built last year over 2010.
In 2011 just over 12,000 new buildings were built in the Republic, bringing the total number of buildings to 1.88 million.
Dara Keogh, GeoDirectory's managing director, said the biggest surprise was that five counties showed growth in the number of new buildings.
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CURRENCIES - On the currency markets, the euro is trading at $1.2750 and 83.21p sterling.
