Hungarian Hookers to Become EU-Compliant by 2008

The Hungarian government and the EU are teaming up to lure Hungarian sex workers into life on the straight and narrow by offering free basic finance, accounting and business courses to get them started as legitimate businesses, reports daily Népszabadság. As we know, prostitution is legal in Hungary in designated zones and örömlányok are required to carry a health certificate - although they cannot yet issue their customers with receipts.

The EU-funded Human Resource Development Operative Program (HEFOP) wants to change all that and is providing a pot of Ft 15.2 million (€62,000) for educating sex workers, said Ágnes Földi, president of the Interest Protection Association of Hungarian Prostitutes. The funds will be used to train a total of 110 female and male sex workers who want to go by the book in Budapest, Kecskemét, Pécs and Nyíregyháza. Once they have passed the one-year course, they will be able to apply for official self-employed status and be eligible for health insurance and a state pension, among other benefits of being 100% legal. Exam results permitting, the first tax-paying prostitutes will be on call from 2008.

"Sexual services" have already been assigned the personal income tax (szj) number 93.05.12.4 (which incidentally comes immediately after "babysitting"). Sex workers will be required to write this number on the receipt they give to clients. Meanwhile, employees will be able to put spending on prostitutes in their expenses tabs - as long as the boss doesn't mind...