Hungary’s pro-family policies yield positive demographic results, highlighted at COSAC conference
The government’s pro-family policies have achieved real results, with a turnaround visible in most indices, a government official told the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC) in Budapest on Tuesday.
In a session on European demographic processes, Zsófia Koncz, the state secretary for families, said the government’s pro-family policy had contributed to an additional 178,000 children born in Hungary since 2010.
Hungary’s birth rate was ranked last among EU member states prior to the current government’s efforts, and it has since advanced to sixth place, she said.
During its EU presidency, Hungary wants to draw attention to the demographic challenges and the importance of family policy. “The EU can be strong and successful only if it is made up of strong families,” she added.
Péter Sztáray, a foreign ministry state secretary, said the EU should spend more on defence, adding that the community should also reinforce its crisis management capabilities.
He said NATO was “the ultimate guarantee” for Europe’s defence. Collective defence is a “primary consideration”, he said, adding that “it is not good if NATO members give up all their reserves to a third country; Ukraine in this case”. Doing so would weaken their own defence and “indirectly, protection for the whole of NATO” unless they have sufficient production capacities.
Concerning the war in Ukraine, he said “everybody agrees that Russia has committed an act of aggression against Ukraine, and so Hungary recognises Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The concepts for a resolution, however, are different.”
“It has become clear that there is no military solution to the conflict,” he said, and reiterated Hungary’s position that “the sides should be convinced that they must sit down and start talks”. Unless they do so “a whole generation will disappear in the war,” he added.
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