Orbán government announces action plan with 21 measures, Magyar’s Tisza Party only 2% behind Orbán

The government approved an economic policy action plan with 21 measures at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at a weekly press briefing on Wednesday.

Gulyás said the pillars of the new economic policy action plan prioritised boosting the purchasing power of working Hungarians, ensuring affordable housing and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.

The minister said it was necessary to introduce new economic policy tools, and while there was “growing willingness” in Brussels to interfere in such areas, the government rejected such attempts, noting that the cabinet has decided to launch a National Consultation public survey, at the request of the governing parliamentary groups, on the main elements of the new policy.

Hungarian voters will thus get the chance to weigh in on new policy tools aimed at boosting economic growth, he said, adding that such decisions should not be taken in Brussels.

Gulyás said the foundation of economic growth was Hungary’s policy of trade neutrality rather than joining trade wars, adding that Hungary would not comply with “Brussels diktats” on doing business exclusively on an ideological basis.

He declared that Hungary welcomed investments “from everywhere, from the West and the East”, adding that it was of prime importance that technologies emerging in the Hungarian economy “are among the best in the world”. “If it’s American, it’s American, if it’s German, it’s German, if it’s Chinese, then it’s Chinese,” he said.

The government’s economic action plan targets economic growth of 3-6 percent in the coming years, with growth benefiting the broadest possible swathe of society, especially Hungarian families and small enterprises.

Also, the government wants to conclude a wage agreement, preferably for 3 years, with employee and employer interest representatives, and it targets a big increase in minimum wage levels in line with the goals of the Hungarian economy, he said.

An employee loan program will be launched, and the personal income tax discount for employees with children will be doubled, by 50 percent on July 1 next year and by another 50 percent on Jan 1, 2026.

Other measures include building more dormitories for students in higher education, launching a national housing programme for young people and one for home renovations in rural areas. In addition, savings from voluntary pensions will be opened up for use in housing on an optional basis.

A tax discount on housing support provided by the employer will be maintained until the end of 2026, he said.

Meanwhile, Gulyás warned that Budapest faced a “serious a housing problem”, and the capital was responsible for solving it. Budapest’s administration, he added, had inherited reserves of more than 200 billion forints from former mayor Istvan Tarlos but had so far failed to “deal with this problem”.

Airbnb regulations will be tightened

The government has plans to tighten regulations of Airbnb, he said, though before a final decision was taken, it would be necessary to assess the extent to which Airbnb contributed to growing rents in the capital. And whereas flat rentals and related contracts were also in the government’s sights, there was no desire to follow “communist practices” seen in some western European countries, and the government fully respected property rights, he added.

The minister also listed new measures such as a capital financing and stimulus schemes for SMEs and financial support for digitisation. Further, Eximbank will relaunch its loan scheme aimed at incentivising exports, while a new investment programme will also get under way in cooperation between Eximbank and National Capital Holding, he added.

Meanwhile, the government wants to speed up EU programmes and payments aimed at SMEs and curb red tape with such measures as raising the value threshold of mandatory audits and dropping audits for micro companies. He called SMEs “the backbone of the Hungarian economy”, and boosting them would aid the goal of increasing wages, boosting the economy and protecting jobs.

Moreover, Hungarian economic growth should be outstanding in the region and in the EU as a whole in the coming years, the minister said.

In response to a question, Gulyás said the new National Consultation survey will have 11 questions, and the government will start announcing them this week. The questionnaires themselves will be sent out in the first half of November and people will have until Dec 20 to send them back, he added.

Gulyás said he would “surprised” if the left welcomed the public survey, arguing that they had “attacked” all of the past National Consultations.

Fines imposed on Hungary

Asked about the progress of Hungary’s talks with Brussels on the fines imposed on the country for its refusal to take in migrants, Gulyás said the government has appointed János Bóka, the European affairs minister, to conduct the negotiations. He said the talks were “a bit difficult” given the ongoing change in EU leadership. Gulyas said Hungary wanted to reach an agreement as soon as possible, “but it’s not yet clear as to what the commission is open to in this regard”.

Asked to comment on an image the European People’s Party (EPP) shared recently on social media featuring Prime Minister Viktor Orban in front of a red background with text that reads “Time to go”, Gulyas said only Hungarian voters had the right to decide who should be in government, as they had in 2022. He added that Hungarians last expressed their opinion on the country’s political parties in the European Parliament elections.

Gulyás said none of the EPP’s member parties had achieved a result as strong as Fidesz’s in the EP election, adding that the EPP party leaders had more of a reason to quit than the Hungarian prime minister.

He said the EPP and the European Commission had announced that they wanted a different government in Hungary, but the Hungarian electorate disagreed. Hungary, he added, had been a democracy governed by the rule of law since 1990 so that the question as to who governs it was not decided in Brussels, Washington or Moscow.

Gulyás said the EPP and the EC president had launched “a direct attack” against Hungary, adding, however, that Hungary maintained “constructive cooperation” with the commission’s president in a number of areas. Hungary’s responsibility, he said, was to observe and enforce the EU treaty and to remind the EC that it could not take any negative measures against Hungary in the event of any legal proceedings.

Asked to comment on two Dutch parties having proposed the suspension of Hungary’s Schengen membership, Gulyás said this was “not realistic in any way”.

He said there were far fewer Russian citizens working in Hungary than in Western European countries, and Hungary only issued visas after conducting national security screenings.

Albania should be EU member

Concerning migration, he said the number of attempts at illegal entry on the southern border were down 30 percent so far this year.

As regards Albania’s EU accession, Gulyás said Hungary has long been an advocate of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans, adding that it was in the bloc’s interest to ensure the possibility of EU membership for the whole of Europe. He said Hungary welcomed that it could facilitate progress on accession talks and close and open accession chapters as the president of the Council of the EU. Hungary’s interest lay in Serbia and the other Northern Balkan countries becoming EU members as soon as possible, he added.