Fidesz: Sweden has lost our trust, we have not engaged in blackmail

Gulyás said the government supported Sweden’s NATO accession and had submitted the issue to parliament. At the same time, he said it was important that “the vote takes place when the necessary majority is at hand, and that requires strengthening trust.”

Sweden and Hungary

“Since trust was lost due to the Swedes, this is their job,” Gulyás said. “Hungary has not engaged in blackmail or set conditions,” he added. The Swedish prime minister has been invited to Hungary, he noted.

He said the decision was now in the hands of the ruling parties’ parliamentary groups, noting that they command a two-thirds majority in parliament.

If the government made a mistake, it was making a promise on ratification that it could not fulfil on its own authority, he said. Sweden’s accession would strengthen NATO but not to a significant degree, he said.

Regarding teachers’ wage hikes, Gulyás said teachers working in disadvantaged regions or with children in difficult circumstances were eligible for additional income and the majority of teachers were happy with the increase.

Responding to a question on the National Consultation public survey, Gulyás said the survey was a means to boost the government’s position in the EU, where it was in opposition “on countless issues”. He said a large majority of Hungarian citizens had responded, thereby underpinning the government’s negotiating position.

Asked about a town hall meeting in Sóskút, near Budapest, regarding a planned metal recycling plant using cutting-edge technology which would create 160 jobs, Gulyás said it was “unacceptable” that the mayor and the head of the company looking to build the plant nearby had had to be rescued from the room. Issues such as worries over excessive water demand, a usual objection in the case of battery plants, “does not arise in this case”, he said. The town hall meeting would have been a way for residents to be fully consulted on the project, he added.

Read also:

• PM Orbán got into serious trouble in the NATO: what will follow?
• FM Szijjártó shared when the Hungarian parliament might vote about Sweden’s NATO accession

Budapest

Meanwhile, Gulyás said Fidesz’s candidate for Budapest mayor in the local elections this year would be named by March. Fidesz will field its own candidate, but not necessarily a party member, he said.

On another topic, Gulyás said the government hoped the revamped Belgrade-Budapest railway line would be up and running in this government cycle.

Also, the government “is hoping to announce” the purchase of Liszt Ferenc International Airport “within weeks”, Gulyás said.

Regarding a possible tightening of Hungary’s child protection law, Gulyás said that enforcing current legislation “would put Hungary in a very good position in European comparison”. At the same time, he said all amendment proposals would be considered.

In response to a question concerning whether local governments could keep operating such services if they finance them, he said health services were not a state monopoly and if any local government wanted to set up a doctor’s surgery, it was free to do so, and it would not be part of the state service.

Commenting on temporary suspension of certain hospital services, he said there were 38 such instances in the whole of Hungary in January, of which 8 only applied for a few hours and 5 for one day. Only three services had been suspended for more than 2 months, he added.

About Péter Szijjártó

Commenting on Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó’s talks in Qatar, he said that until the final agreement was signed on LNG imports to Hungary he was unable to provide information on the possible routes or volumes. Hungary, he added, was ready to receive LNG but this is more expensive than piped gas.

He said the government was dedicated to diversification, but as long as several routes were available, Hungary must purchase the cheapest gas.

Gulyás welcomed Szijjártó’s recent talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, noting that the foreign minister had focused on demanding the restoration of the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia.

Commenting on the participation of Gáspár Orbán, the son of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in a military mission in Chad, he said it was the role of the defence minister to appoint people for certain tasks. In response to a question, he said the fact that a soldier who spoke a foreign language was a member of a negotiating delegation was unproblematic.

Far-right activists

Commenting on preparations for the day, February 11, when far-right activists mark the failed attempt by Nazi and allied Hungarian soldiers to break out of Budapest in 1945, he said the responsible authorities were working on it. At the same time, he added that the requirement to guarantee the freedom of movement made it difficult to prevent “far-right imports” from western Europe.

Regulations have already been amended to better restrict extremist gatherings, he said, adding that Budapest was “an island of peace in Europe” and the government was making every effort for this to remain the case. He said Hungary was cooperating with European Union allies concerning action taken against extremists.

Economy

In response to a question concerning potential plans to introduce caps on the price of fuel, he said the last time this had been done, the price of petrol would have been around 900 forints (EUR 2.4) per litre without the caps, which he said was currently far from being the case.

Commenting on a proposal by the Integrity Authority to amend the system of asset declarations, he said the proposal was worth considering. At the same time, he said Hungary’s asset declaration system was one of the most comprehensive in Europe.

In response to a question on solar panel tenders, he said no EU funding had been received so far except one advance payment. The left wing in Hungary, he said, was working to hinder EU payments for this project, adding that certain tenders had slowed down in order to see “if the monies can be acquired despite the efforts of the left wing”, he said.

Commenting on a question concerning the grandfather of pro-government publicist Zsolt Bayer, he said it was a reasonable expectation from anyone that if their parents or grandparents had committed crimes, they should make this clear. At the same time, “we must not punish the sons for the crimes of the fathers”, he added.

He also said that the grandfather of Klára Dobrev, the potential prime ministerial candidate of the Left, had been a “communist mass murderer”. Whereas Bayer has written a sincere article facing up to his grandfather’s actions, “no such thing could be seen from Dobrev”, he added.

In response to a question about “secret agent files”, he said there were no secret agent files, only state security documents, and “the government has done more than anyone else to make them public”. Some of these documents were stolen, he said, and others were counterfeit. Whereas some of the people called secret agents indeed deserved contempt, he said, others had been actually forced by blackmail to submit reports, and they would still not report anything, he added.

Source: MTI