Coronavirus – Orbán: Hungary ‘won’t hesitate’ to act in event of second wave
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If there are any signs of a second wave of the novel coronavirus epidemic “we won’t hesitate to take the necessary legal and economic steps,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.
Hungary’s successful response to the epidemic saved tens of thousands of lives, Orbán said in an interview to public broadcaster Kossuth Radio, adding that this was “a major feat”.
On the subject of the planned EU recovery fund, he said the idea of a joint loan went against the grain of Hungarians’ “instincts”, but Hungary would not be able avoid giving its consent “due to the dire financial situation of many countries”. Borrowing, he added, presented both a danger and an opportunity.
Whether it turned out to be one or the other depended on how smartly the funds were spent, he said.
The prime minister said a working group has been set up under the leadership of the innovation and technology minister to prepare schemes that the EU recovery plan can finance. Electricity transmission, water management and restructuring university finances are possible areas of developments, among others, he said.
As regards the pandemic, the prime minister insisted that the Hungarian health-care system had done a better job of managing the epidemic than those in western Europe. Hungary’s preparations for possible mass infections was built on “military logic” and this scenario was avoided as a result, he said.
Orbán attributed Hungary’s successful handling of the epidemic to discipline and unity, saying that these practices would be needed again in the event of a second wave. He said Hungary’s level of preparedness in terms of the tools needed to combat an epidemic was satisfactory.
Orbán said he had spoken on Thursday with his Slovenian counterpart Janez Jansa, who had said Slovenia was reintroducing certain entry restrictions. “This is an important warning,” Orbán said. “We’ve got to be careful.”
Concerning Western criticisms levelled against the emergency powers handed to the goverment in March in response to the coronavirus outbreak, Orbán said the map of Europe today presented a “shocking revelation”.
“During the days of communist rule, we only attributed positive meanings to the word ‘Western’ and used to laugh at Soviet progapandistic claims . that ‘black people are getting beaten up in America’ and that Western youth are ‘lost in the ecstasy of Coca-Cola’,” he said. But in reality, Orbán said, people in western Europe today were dying because of a lack of care, large economies are having to be saved from financial ruin and “there is a wave of violence, gang warfare and statues are being toppled”.