Minister Gulyás: Government very optimistic about economy, Trump follows Orbán’s policies

The government is optimistic as the Hungarian economy is set to grow markedly, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at a weekly press briefing on Thursday. Gulyás said an assessment in an analysis presented by the national economy minister at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday gave “reason for optimism”. On another subject, Gulyás said the government “is ensuring security at schools”, adding that an investigation had started concerning multiple bomb threats at schools earlier in the day.

Higher domestic consumption

Concerning the economy, Gulyás pointed to “tangible” indications of an economic turnaround and said chances for the war in Ukraine to end within the foreseeable future were “much greater than at any other time in the past”. He noted that the employment numbers hit a record 4.7 million, while real wages were on the rise, consumption and retail sales were increasing, and retail lending stock was growing.

Growth trends will be reinforced by the government’s new economic policy action plan, he added. Gulyás said real wages had increased by around 10 percent in Hungary last year, though he noted that the final figures were not yet available. The three-year agreement between the government, employers, and employees ensures another 5-6 percent increase in 2025, he added. He also noted that “the middle class and the poorest” had benefitted the most, with an increase exceeding 15 percent.

Higher domestic consumption, Gulyás said, also gave rise to optimism: in the first three quarters of last year consumption increased by 4.1 percent, the fifth highest ratio in the EU. Retail trade has been on the increase for 13th months in a row, and domestic tourism “broke all records”, he added.

Trump follows the policies of the Orbán cabinet, said Gulyás

The number of mortgages increased by over one third in 2024, while the sales of new and second-hand cars also increased, the minister said. Once the war in Ukraine is over, not only would energy prices improve but “a number of other areas” in the economy would also benefit, he said, adding? “We have good reason to be optimistic.” Meanwhile, Gulyás said the executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump were in line with the steps taken by the Hungarian government over the past decade.

“What Trump is doing in the United States is what we’ve been doing over here for years,” he said. Gulyás said Hungary and the US now shared the same positions on the issues of border protection and immigration and gender policy.

According to Gulyás, Hungary is in a better situation than the US in terms of migration, because “we have not had a long Democrat government and the country did not allow just anyone to enter; neither does Hungary need to find ways to remove those people from the country.” Hungary’s border controls “ensure that migrants cannot come into Hungary,” he said, adding however that “Brussels is punishing Hungary” for its border control system.

Meanwhile, commenting on “gender policy”, Gulyás said its number one advocate in Hungary had been the US ambassador in recent years. He added that the new US administration, however, planned to enact “the biological principle that humans are either male or female”.

Slovakia shares the same position as Hungary

Regarding NGOs, Gulyás said the US no longer supported “Soros organisations and networks” and could suspend their financing. Gulyás said that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has briefed the cabinet of his Tuesday visit to Bratislava. Not only are Hungary and Slovakia good neighbours, they also share the same position on major issues affecting European politics, he said.

The two governments were “a sober voice in European politics”, especially regarding enlargement policy, he said, adding: “Hungary stands in solidarity with Slovakia.”

Regarding Ukraine, Gulyás said that as an EU membership candidate, the country “cannot deliberately take measures that make the energy supply of EU member states impossible”. Accession is also conditional on respecting national and minority rights, he said. “Ukraine is either misinterpreting its own position or it does not really mean to join the EU,” he added.

US-Hungary ties expected to be better than ever

Asked about the government’s expectations after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Gulyás said bilateral ties were expected to be better than ever.

The US government, he said, placed protection of its own economy in first place and would want to change “all economic cooperations where it is in the red”. That can happen by agreements or tariffs, Gulyás said, adding that Hungary would prefer an deal since tariffs on the EU would harm Hungary, too.

Europe must negotiate an agreement with the US and find ways to reduce the US deficit, he said. “I’m not saying we should be blithely optimistic … but let’s hope we can achieve an agreement with the US, as President Trump wants a deal first and foremost.” Asked whether the fact that Trump had already started expelling illegal migrants would have an effect on EU policies, Gulyás said: “I hope it will.” The majority of EU governments had changed their stance on migration lately, he said.

Agreement with Russia on the horizon

Regarding the war in Ukraine, Gulyás said the US aimed to broker peace and an agreement with Russia. Europe should be a part of that work as the results would directly affect its own security, he added. At the same time, “whenever Europe follows US instructions slavishly, it betrays its own interests,” he added.

Gulyás said Trump was looking for a way to end the war as quickly as possible and wanted to negotiate with the Russian president. “[Trump] said that if there is no agreement, there’s another way, through more conflict.”

So far “Europe has done the opposite”, Gulyás said, adding that the EU had refused to negotiate with the Russian president. “Neither did it make an effort to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table”, but issued sanctions, he said. Gulyás said the Hungarian government long held the view that sanctions had harmed Europe more than Russia, and argued for the policy of sanctions to be abandoned.

Trump-Orbán meeting comes

Gulyás said that now the EU would have to reconsider its policies in view of the new US approach. So far sanctions were extended automatically, “but it is different this time”, Gulyás said. Regarding a future meeting between Orbán and Trump, Gulyás said a meeting was planned but no date has been set as yet.

Responding to another question, Gulyás said he expected Antal Rogán, the minister who heads the cabinet office, to be removed from the sanctions list of the US soon. In response to a question, Gulyás said the US entry ban on Rogán was not on the agenda of this week’s cabinet meeting, adding that the government knew for certain that the cabinet office chief was not accused of anything. He said Rogán did not have any assets in the US, “so there wasn’t even a risk that he’d incur any loss”.

Gulyás slammed Budapest’s leadership

Asked about the project to transform the area around the Rákosrendező train station and rail yard in Budapest’s 14th district, Gulyás said it was justifiable to want to know what would be built there, adding that the construction and transport minister had spoken about this.

He said the Budapest metropolitan council had not expressed an opinion on how this area should be put to use, and had never made an offer to buy it or engaged in talks about it. The city council, he added, had not even offered to help move the waste from the site.