The Prime Minister spoke during his party, Fidesz's conference on Saturday.Continue reading
The Government discussed the current situation in Brussels for more than 12 hours, as the most important news comes from there every day, and there will also be an EU summit in December, Gergely Gulyás said at the government briefing on Thursday. The minister informed that there are two central issues at stake: the amendment of the EU budget and Ukraine’s accession to the EU, reported Magyar Nemzet.
Both issues are unprepared, there is no justification for why the EU budget should be amended, while even the current EU budget is not being implemented, said the minister, pointing at serious delays in COVID recovery fund payments. There is a preparatory package for Ukraine, but the country does not meet the criteria for EU membership. The timing of this is difficult to understand, and we do not see what this would mean for the Union if Ukraine were to join. Hence Hungary cannot contribute to a joint decision on either issue, Gulyás maintained. He also pointed out that while Ukraine’s membership is being fast-tracked, the membership of Balkan countries is still pending, even though they are arguably better prepared than Ukraine.
Gergely Gulyás also announced that at yesterday’s marathon meeting the government also decided on interest rate freezes: the interest rate freeze for small and medium-sized enterprises will remain until 1 April, affecting 30,000 entrepreneurs. The interest rate freeze for households and the interest rate subsidy for student loans will remain in place until 1 July.
He also said that recipients should feel free to tear up and throw away the information letters sent out by banks saying that they would have to pay the original interest rate again from January.
The Minister spoke about the topic of green energy, informing that the government has decided to launch a tender for 70 billion forints for energy storage. The deadline for applications is 25 February, and successful projects must be implemented by April 2026.
Gergely Gulyás. MTI/Hegedüs Róbert
Regarding the proposed law on the protection of sovereignty, Gergely Gulyás said that left-wing parties were serving foreign interests, hence such a legislation is necessary. Since 1990, Hungary’s legal system has ruled out accepting money from abroad for election campaigns, a rule that the left had broken, said the minister, alluding to the foreign funds that supported the left-wing coalition’s 2022 election campaign. With regards to the proposed Office for the Protection of Sovereignty, he said its budget would be significantly less than that of the Constitutional Protection Office.
He also expressed the view that illegal migration should not be managed and legalized, but should be stopped and the corridors closed to migrants. According to Gergely Gulyás, Brussels can only turn around on the issue of migration if there is a turnaround in the EU parliamentary elections. He opined that there is no chance of the European left taking a different position on the issue, because despite all the failures of the past seven years, they maintain the same views on migration.
On Sweden’s NATO membership, the Minister maintained the view that the government supports Sweden’s accession, yet there are many concerns left that need to be clarified. In an earlier statement Prime Minister Viktor Orbán informed recently that Hungary will not be the last country to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership. However, Minister Gulyás could not specify how this will be achieved, while objections from a number of Hungarian MPs remain due to Sweden’s often controversial stance on political issues concerning Hungary.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured Image: MTI/Hegedüs Róbert