The government’s next “national consultation” survey to be launched next month will deal with issues that weaken Hungary’s security and go against the public’s sense of justice, a government official said on Sunday.
The issues to be addressed by the survey include the payment of compensations to prison inmates who had filed lawsuits over poor prison conditions and probation rules pertaining to violent criminals, Csaba Dömötör, a Prime Minister’s Office parliamentary state secretary, told Kossuth Radio.
A common thread in these issues is the presence of foreign-funded organisations as initiators, Dömötör said, adding that there was reason to suspect that apart from “ideological motivations”, the groups in question also had “a financial stake” in the matters.
The government wants to eliminate all practices that are unjust or weaken Hungary’s security, he said, adding that if the nationwide survey gives the cabinet a mandate to take action on the issues in question, it will take the necessary legal steps.
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On the topic of Ukraine’s controversial education law, Dömötör said Hungary was facing pressure concerning its vow to block Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. He said Ukraine’s new laws violate the right of the local Hungarian community to use its native language. He said it was possible to get all Ukrainian citizens to learn to speak Ukrainian while also allowing Transcarpathia Hungarians to preserve their native language, adding, however, that the laws currently in force were not in favour of this path.
Hungary has an interest in having good relations with Ukraine as well as its Euro-Atlantic integration, he said, adding, however, that if the government did not stand up for the rights of the local Hungarian community, no one would.
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Asked about a report in the daily Népszava that contrary to Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony’s earlier promise, only the poorest pensioners would receive a 20,000 forint (EUR 19) subsidy during the heating season, Dömötör said this was “a clear case of a violation of a campaign promise”. He said there had been tax increases in several districts “and they’re flirting with the possibility of introducing a congestion fee”.
“What we’ve seen so far points more toward austerity than toward an easing of burdens,” the state secretary said.
In the featured photo: PMO state secretary Csaba Dömötör. Photo by Attila Kovács/MTI