Minister: Even Hungary’s opponents pay attention to us

Even those opposing Hungary’s family policy are paying attention to it, as shown by attacks from “Brussels where they think we should spend on supporting migration rather than on supporting families”, Culture and Innovation Minister János Csák told an interview published in the weekly Magyar Demokrata on Wednesday.

The government aims to support families in raising as many children as they like by ensuring that families are not worse off financially than single people, by supporting home purchases and offering options for parents to stay home with the children or return to the workplace, he said.

Families are now eligible for HUF 15, 30 or 50 million (EUR 40, 80 or 132 thousand) in government-supported loans for home purchases, he said.

As a result, the fertility rate in Hungary rose from 1.2 in 2010 to 1.52, and reached 1.59 before the coronavirus pandemic, he said. Japan, South Korea and other countries have shown great interest in the Hungarian model, he said.

Commenting on the recent sacking of the director of the National Museum, Csák said “leaders of state institutions are especially expected to fully adhere to the law.”

The government has also restructured higher education, innovation and research, and the universities participating in the reforms have seen their funding increase 2.5-fold, Csák said. At the same time, the government also set strict requirements to those institutions, he said.

As we reported earlier, Csák also said that Hungary aims to be among the top 10 most innovative countries by 2040 in the world – read more HERE.