PM Orbán: Hungary would see an influx of 31 billion euros net in the next 7-10 years – UPDATE

Hungary has successfully represented the expectations of parliament at talks on the next European Union budget period, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Monday opening the autumn session of parliament.

Orbán said that Hungary would see an influx of 31 billion euros net in the next 7-10 years, which he said would significantly reduce the country’s capital deficit.

The prime minister said that

the German presidency of the European Union had not promised to conclude Article 7 procedures against Hungary during its term at the helm of the bloc, but Chancellor Angela Merkel said every effort would be made to do so.

Commenting on plans to make financial resources dependent on political considerations, Orbán said Hungary had made clear that the country was dedicated to the rule of law. He added that

the European left’s idea of the rule of law, however, was actually “the rule of blackmail”.

• Profit for silence: this is why the German industrial and political elite cooperates with PM Orbán

Orbán: Hungary better prepared than in spring

Hungary is better prepared to face the coronavirus pandemic now than when it first emerged in the spring, Orbán said in parliament.

Orbán said the country had built up a bank of experiences from the previous wave and also had the outcome of its National Consultation public survey at hand, indicating that “people clearly want to see Hungary functioning”.

He said citizens had entrusted government to ensure that “lives are saved and jobs are protected, and everyday life is not paralysed by the virus.”

The prime minister said that

in spring “there was no other choice” but to slow down the epidemic for “the lack of a vaccine against the virus, which is still the case today”.

At that time, the country managed to switch over to a new mode of operation within a week, starting prevention earlier than most European countries, he added.

He said the first few weeks of the pandemic in Hungary had been “shocking” but the country had “stood the test” and “won the first battle”. The country’s health-care system had been able to “protect the people”, he added.

Read alsoNewest changes in Hungarian travel restrictions

Hungarian health care ready for worst-case scenario

Hungarian health care is equipped to face twice the number of coronavirus infections as that modelled in worst-case scenarios, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told lawmakers on Monday.

Orbán said

“doctors and mathematicians” estimated, at the severe end of the scale, that Hungary may contend with 200,000 coronavirus infections, with 16,000 requiring hospitalisation and 800 patients on ventilators.

The government has made preparations to accommodate twice that number, with 66,000 hospital beds available, he said.

The health-care system continues to operate under a chain of command so that when certain hospitals reach maximum capacity others are activated, Orban said.

Government successful protecting jobs, households

The Hungarian government’s economic measures have successfully protected jobs and households in the country against the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic while strengthening businesses with a view to relaunching the economy, PM Orbán said.

Speaking ahead of the agenda at the first meeting of parliament’s autumn session, Orbán noted that the government had pledged to create as many jobs as those destroyed by the pandemic.

By August, the number of jobholders exceeded that in January, and nearly one million were benefitting from some sort of employment or job support, Orbán said.

To protect households, the government has extended a loan moratorium on mortgages for families, pensioners, jobseekers and fostered workers to July 1, 2021, Orbán added.

Companies operating in Hungary can benefit from a 170 billion forint (EUR 470.6m) investment funding scheme designed to protect jobs, he said.

The prime minister said that

after the “disastrous job of Leftist governments”, the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats had succeeded in “getting the economy back on its feet” between 2010 and 2014.

This spring, the first wave of the pandemic was successfully thwarted in cooperation with Hungarian citizens, Orban added.

“A difficult autumn is ahead of us. But we have succeeded together before, and will do so again,” Orbán said.

Source: MTI