Government’s regular press briefing about Germany’s migration decision, land sales, mayors of small towns

Budapest, November 5 (MTI) – If Germany wants to let migrants into its territory Hungary will respect its decision, but it will not accept being told to do the same, government office chief Janos Lazar said on Thursday. By turning to the Constitutional Court over the government’s planned farmland sales the opposition is turning against farmers, Lazar said. Mayors of small localities could receive a 30 percent pay rise if they can generate the funds to finance it, government office chief said.

Hungary respects Germany’s migration decision but won’t be dictated to

In response to the German chancellor’s statement that immigration should be legalised, Lazar said Germany wants to force its own will on Europe.

“If Germany feels remorse about something and wants to settle people it is free to do so, but this should not become an obligation for Hungary,” he said.

The Hungarian government decided at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that the “state of crisis” due to mass migration declared for four counties in the south of the country should stay in place, Lazar added.

He said he did not want to comment on Austria laying a razor wire at its border with Slovenia because he wanted to avoid the mistake made by Austrian politicians who “talked down to” and passed judgement on Hungary and its prime minister for building a fence. “Our interest lies in restoring and strengthening Austrian-Hungarian relations”, Lazar said. Hungary will not demand explanations from Austria in connection with human rights issues and European values as Austria did with Hungary, he added.

He said the cooperation between Visegrad Four countries in the issue of migration was exemplary. Poland has now also sent off 43 border police to help Hungary, he added.

In response to a question about the possibility of migrants expelled from western Europe being send back to Hungary, he said around 40,000 requests had been received so far but Hungary “will not take anyone back”. It was not in Hungary where these people initially entered the European Union, he added.

Opposition attacking farmers by turning to top court over land sales

By turning to the Constitutional Court over the government’s planned farmland sales the opposition is turning against farmers, government office chief Janos Lazar said at his regular press conference on Thursday.
Lazar said it was a “shocking” development that opposition LMP, radical nationalist Jobbik and the Socialists had joined a coalition to “raise their voices in favour of foreigners getting hold of land and protecting the interests of aristocrats”.

Lazar said the National Land Fund has already received 100,000 inquiries about the farmland auctions and 60,000 indicated they were potential buyers. He added that the government will meet on Nov. 18 to discuss setting up a system of model farms which will affect, among other things, state-owned stables.

Lazar proposes mayors of small towns could earn more

Mayors of small localities could receive a 30 percent pay rise if they can generate the funds to finance it, government office chief Janos Lazar said on Thursday.
Lazar said the move would affect mayors of villages with a population of 1,500 or less. In some cases mayors now earning a net 75,000 (EUR 250) a month could raise their pay to 95,000 a month, he said, emphasising that this can only be paid for from their own sources.

He said conflict of interest rules for mayors in localities with a headcount of 3,000 or below could change so that these leaders can find other ways to earn income besides their mayoral office.

Photo: MTI

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