Here is PM Orbán’s extraordinary announcement

Hungary’s elderly will benefit from a pension supplement of “nearly half a month’s pension” in November, the prime minister announced on Thursday.

In a video uploaded to Facebook, Viktor Orbán greeted seniors on the occasion of the upcoming International Day for Older Persons and noted his government’s commitment to preserve the value of pensions.

“We have preserved the value of pensions each year, and if the economy was good, we could even ensure a pension premium,” he said. The government delivered on its pledge even at the time of the coronavirus pandemic and “now, at the time of the war in Ukraine”, he added.

“We want to build a country in which we weep together and laugh together, too,” the prime minister said.

Inflation has been higher than expected this year, which makes the pension supplement necessary, Orbán said.

Orbán suggested that “clear accounts” served to build “lasting friendships,” adding that “pensioners can rely on us.”

Gulyás: Brussels abusing its powers

“Brussels is abusing its powers, while the European Commission is playing for time,” the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a press briefing on Thursday, assessing the situation of the payment of European Union funds to Hungary.

Gergely Gulyás said the Commission is dragging its feet in order not to give teachers a pay increase, to prevent healthcare developments from taking place and to keep Hungarian students from getting the scholarships they are entitled to, primarily the Erasmus funds.

The Commission’s procedure has no legal basis whatsoever, they pose new questions after legislative amendments are confirmed in writing, he said.

The Hungarian government will answer the questions, the minister said, adding that, hopefully, the new questions were not asked because the money was spent on something else, “God forbid, given to a country that is not a member of the European Union”.

Gulyás calls for change in approach to migration

The European Union should “change its fundamental attitude concerning illegal migration”, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a regular press briefing on Thursday.

Gergely Gulyás said “Brussels seeks to manage migration rather than stem it.” Passing regulations concerning illegal migration is a national competency, he said, adding that “everybody is free to decide whom they want to live together with” while controlling the bloc’s external borders is the EU’s obligation. Neglecting the latter will lead to tensions “as seen in a number of places in Europe where parallel societies have emerged”, he said.

 A “changing position” of the German government “has removed a blocking minority in the EU, which has so far hindered progress on the Migration Pact”, Gulyás said. He added, however, that the pact would “only turn countries along the Schengen borders into Lampedusa, which the Hungarian government considers unacceptable”.

Gulyás: Ban on Ukraine grain imports working

The Hungarian government’s ban on grain imports from Ukraine “is working”, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, told a regular press conference on Thursday.

He praised the government’s measure aimed at “preventing cheap and inferior quality Ukrainian grain from flooding the Hungarian market”. The government, however, continues to be a partner in efforts to forward those products to countries in Africa, and will allow for their transit, he said.

Gulyás said the Hungarian government would not “support any progress for Ukraine” at international forums before that country restored the ethnic Hungarian community’s right to use their mother tongue. “If Europe still has values to be promoted by everybody, ethnic minorities’ rights to use their language, especially in education, are such values,” he insisted.

The Hungarian government continues to urge an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, Gulyás said.

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