First day of parliament’s autumn session: We want a Hungarian Hungary and a European Europe, says Orbán

Hungary has succeeded in creating a labour-based economy, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told lawmakers on Monday, the first day of parliament’s autumn session. 

The economy is working and Hungary is a country that is capable of providing jobs to its citizens who want to work, Orbán said.

Listing Hungary’s economic accomplishments, the prime minister highlighted economic growth, a shrinking public debt, rising employment as well as falling unemployment.

“Full employment is just an arm’s reach away,” he said.

With wages rising, more and more people are finding that it is worth taking up a job in Hungary, Orbán added.

In his address, the prime minister said that family policy would continue to be high on the government’s agenda, with such focal points as family taxation, paediatric services, education, sports, home subsidies and the government’s job protection plan.

Orbán said the Hungarian economy was “sufficiently strong” to ensure free meals for 467,000 children at creches, kindergartens and schools. He added that 85 percent of all schoolchildren were currently provided with free textbooks.

On another subject, the prime minister voiced regret that Ukraine had decided to “strip Hungarian children of access to education in Hungarian” in secondary and higher education.