PM Orban: Hungarians Have No Interest in New Cold War

Budapest, November 19 (MTI) – Hungarians have no interest in a new Cold War, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in Budapest on Wednesday.

As a member of NATO and the European Union, Hungary “will be loyal to its allies” even if it disagrees with certain measures, Orban told a session of the Hungarian Diaspora Council.

“Hungary should be loyal to its allies but make all steps to defend its economic interests stemming from its geopolitical situation,” he said.

Orban said he would not contribute to any policy aimed to bring back the Cold War to Central Europe.

Describing Hungary as pro-Russian is “nonsense as Hungary is pro-Hungarian,” the prime minister said.

The protection of Hungarian interests and sovereignty are the guiding principles for the government’s work, Orban said.

The two-thirds victory in 2010 has authorised the government to reform the system of public law and the rules of the political game, he added.

The new basic law that Hungary passed is “the only constitution screened by the EU”, Orban said, describing it as a “kosher constitution”. Hungary has also successfully established economic self-governance and “re-buttoned the EU coat”, he said, adding that a good European is not one who “swallows anything” but who stands up for national interests.

Hungary has regained its energy sovereignty, Orban said.

Making Hungary economically successful is vitally important because it is the only way to counterbalance the negative international assessment resulting from our intellectual approach, he added. Hungary must preserves these achievements, he said.

Orban said it would be a hopeless effort to try to recover Hungary’s “dented international reputation” by way of ideological debates because the Hungarian government sees many things differently from the western mainstream.

In the years ahead, the government plans to implement the largest economic development programme of all time, as a result of which every Hungarian home will be connected to broadband internet and by the year 2018, all motorways will be extended to the border. The programme dubbed State Reform II will be started and chances are good to achieve full employment by 2018. Orban also promised to develop the most flexible labour market in Europe and stabilise the tax system.

He added that demography issues would remain in focus. He cited next year’s tax laws that strengthen family support and the introduction of benefits encouraging marriage.

In order to reduce the public debt in absolute terms, Hungary must aim at zero budget deficit, he said, referring to Germany’s example.

Orban said the system of national consultation in Hungary enabled citizens to have a word in the government’s programmes even in the period between elections. This has been the case in connection with voting rights granted after children and preliminary voter registration. He added that the government withdrew plans to extend the telecoms tax to the internet after the people had turned against it.

Orban promised that the Sandor Csoma Korosi programmes for a national register and to help diaspora Hungarians would continue. A total of 1 billion forints (EUR 3.3m) has been allocated in next year’s budget for strengthening Hungarian cultural organisations in this area and 500 million forints for the Mikes programme to rescue cultural assets in the diaspora, he said.

Orban said that resources spent on refugees should be used to strengthen the continents where these people flee from. Immigration should not be used as a way to resolve the demographic decline. Instead, there exists a family policy that attempts to counter negative trends, he added.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters