Fate of 10 ministerial support institutions still in the air

Budapest (MTI) – A decision on the future of ten out of 73 state institutions that give background support to Hungarian ministries has yet to be made, the government office chief said on Thursday.

The ministries are prepared to integrate the rest with a view to cutting red tape, János Lázár said.

The government is considering bolting on an administrative structure to ministries, government offices and county offices. Ministries will have to decide in the coming days or weeks which institutions do not fit into this system, Lázár told a weekly press briefing.

Lázár said that after the integration, the number of managers employees will certainly decline. Those transferring to the ministries will have lower pay. Even state secretaries earn less than the current top managers of support institutions, he said. The salary grading of state company leaders is still under way and the grades will be matched to Visegrad Four averages.

Meanwhile, Lázár said dairy producers can rely on special state subsidies this year and the cabinet has already authorised the farm minister to submit a proposal on how the sector should be helped.

The go-ahead to connect the Budapest M0 ringroad connected to the M40 highway and expand it to include four lanes up to the town of Abony, 85kms southeast of Budapest, has been given, he said.

In response to a question about the Museum of Fine Arts lending artwork, he said the museum currently has about 3,000 loan contracts, including 1,200 with state bodies and the rest with private individuals and companies. In connection with press reports concerning artworks lent to Árpád Habony, an informal advisor to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, he said “let’s be happy that in today’s world, in the 21st century, there are people who are interested in 18th century art”.

In connection with fresh reports about the possibility that a statue to Bálint Hóman, associated with WW2-era anti-Jewish laws, may indeed be built, despite the outcry at home and abroad, Lázár said that in line with the constitution, people who collaborated in actions that resulted in Hungary losing its sovereignty between March 19, 1944 and May 1990 must not be endorsed.

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