budget

Coronavirus – Vaccine to be voluntary, free of charge in Hungary

The Hungarian government is committed to providing voluntary and free vaccination against the coronavirus, swiftly and in an organised fashion, the Head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a regular press briefing on Thursday.

Gergely Gulyás called on all wishing to avail themselves of the vaccine to register at vakcinainfo.gov.hu. Registration forms will also be delivered by post from Friday, he said.

Gulyás said it was too early to tell whether the epidemic had peaked in Hungary. The government hopes, however, that it has at least “plateaued”, and case and fatality numbers will start to fall soon, Gulyás said.

Adhering to epidemic-related regulations is instrumental for that to happen, he warned.

‘Victory’ at EU summit possible

The government has chances to prevail at the European Union summit starting on Thursday, where the heads of state and government could unanimously approve a document with conditions set out by Poland and Hungary, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office also said.

Gergely Gulyás told that talks between the German chancellor and the Polish and Hungarian prime ministers had been successful, resulting in an agreement that was acceptable to Germany and at the same time fulfilled all Hungarian and Polish demands.

The government’s aim remained clear throughout the talks: EU support must not be made conditional on rule of law criteria, he said.

This is not the time to resolve ongoing debates about migration and they must not be linked to the budget, he added.

Hungary has made it clear that it cannot be blackmailed in these issues and demanded political and legal guarantees to ensure that Hungarian voters’ decisions should not be disregarded, he said.

In reference to the EU’s migration action plan, Gulyás said Hungary will refuse to host 34 million migrants at any cost.

hungary veto eu budget
Read alsoBreaking! Hungary and Poland withdraw from the veto on EU budget

Government spokesman: EU funding is not a “system of donations”

orbán very concentrated

Planned regulations tying EU funding to adherence to the principle of rule of law are an attempt to circumvent the EU treaties, which contain clear rules on distributing funds, Zoltán Kovács, the state secretary for international communication and relations, told the Austrian daily Kurier.

In an interview published on Thursday, Kovács said EU funding was a compensation for central and eastern European countries opening their markets to other member states, not a “system of donations”.

Regarding the rule of law mechanism, on which the EU is looking to make funding conditional for member states, Kovács said it was “part of a political game” and contained no clear definitions or criteria.

When asked why Hungary continued to link the debate regarding the EU’s 2021-2027 budget and its coronavirus recovery fund to the issue of migration, Kovács said financier George “Soros’s plans are becoming political reality in Europe and his plan says that Europe’s future depends on migration and that we should accept migrants out of solidarity.”

He insisted that Brussels saw free passage into Europe as a human right of migrants, and had prepared plans for their mandatory distribution. “Don’t think we’re idiots!”, he added.

Kovács called spectulations about Hungary leaving the EU “fiction”. No one in the Hungarian government entertains that notion, he said, adding that the idea is “a favourite plaything of the Hungarian opposition and the European left.”

hungary veto eu budget
Read alsoBreaking! Hungary and Poland withdraw from the veto on EU budget

Breaking! Hungary and Poland withdraw from the veto on EU budget

hungary veto eu budget

The Hungarian and Polish governments have accepted the German presidency’s proposal to settle the veto on the EU budget, and now the proposal awaits Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to accept the agreed framework, a Polish government source told Reuters. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reached a Hungarian government source, who also anonymously confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

According to Portfolio, Deutsche Welle shared the details of the German package offered in exchange for vetoes. Based on this, it is estimated that the Hungarian and Polish governments would make big concessions.

“We are preliminarily in agreement but there is some pressure … the aim is to have this done before the EU summit (on Thursday)”

– a government source requesting anonymity told Reuters. This pressure may indicate that the German presidency has already convened member states’ ambassadors in Brussels this afternoon for a conciliation on the EU budget. Now those involved in the case are waiting for the final confirmation in Brussels.

Bloomberg was informed by Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Gowin that an agreement had been reached, but he could not talk about its details. Portfolio also covered Gowin’s press conference this morning, in which he mentioned that “there is an agreement in the Warsaw-Berlin-Budapest triangle”, but it may also cover other European capitals. He also made it clear that he was very confident that an agreement would be reached.

Meanwhile, 444.hu reported that the news page of the Polish RMF radio presented the framework of the agreement. The point is that they do not resort to the rule of law mechanism, they adopt it by a qualified majority, but at the same time freeze its application. As has been the case for weeks, the Polish and Hungarian governments will have the opportunity to challenge the law in the European Court of Justice, and until there is a verdict, the mechanism will not be applied.

PM Orbán will certainly not have to face the withdrawal of EU funds before the next Hungarian parliamentary election, which is expected in the middle of 2022 at the earliest – suspects the newspaper.

According to the source, a detailed explanatory material will also be published on how and in what cases the rule of law mechanism can be used.

Meanwhile, the Polish domestic political situation also made the veto fragile. Also, Hungary could have lost at least € 4 billion net and Poland net € 65 billion if the recovery fund had really only been set up among the other 25 member states, in line with recent leaks.

Thus, the prospect of a significant loss of money also contributed to the eventual withdrawal of both the Polish and Hungarian governments’ vetoes.

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Read alsoHungary, Poland committed to cooperation in budget veto, says FM Szijjártó

Mayor: Budapest submits 2021 ‘budget of survival’

Budapest

The Budapest municipality has prepared and submitted its 2021 “budget of survival”, designed to face “the challenges all local governments are grappling with”, Mayor Gergely Karácsony told an online press conference on Wednesday.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Hungarian Association of Local Governments (MOSZ), Karácsony said Budapest’s plummeting revenues were due to the coronavirus pandemic, the economic crisis and government policy in equal measure.

Karácsony insisted that between falling revenues and government austerity, the 2021 budget had less funds at its disposal than in 2013.

Budapest has become a “net contributor” to the central budget, Karácsony said. He said that during the tenure of his predecessor, István Tarlós, the municipality’s revenues from government support and local taxes had left the city with an 11 billion forint (EUR 30.5m) surplus. By 2021, that has plummeted to a six-billion minus, he said.

Next year’s budget ensures “with great difficulty” that the city can provide basic public services, he said.

“In order to survive 2021 … we will have to use nearly all our savings,” Karácsony said.

Budapest will not be able to provide public services in 2022 “unless the government’s approach, or the government itself, changes,” Karácsony said.

Budapest flat real estate
Read alsoWhat’s next? Further price decrease can be expected in Budapest’s real estate market

Orbán cabinet spent a crazy amount on sports during the pandemic, but what about health sector?

puskás-aréna-stadium

The sports sector has been a priority for the Orbán cabinet since 2010 and not even the pandemic could change that. The industry received lots of money due to budget transfers. The church got a lot of financial support too, but what about the health sector?

Year by year, more money has been spent on the sports sector. The government has been funding the development of infrastructure, providing extra support for operating costs and so on. Even though the sports sector as it was before 2010 definitely needed help, and it also suffered a lot during the pandemic, the incredible amount of money that was transferred there (compared to other sectors) is difficult to justify – says Menedzsment Fórum. Based on the Hungarian Government Gazette’s publications, they researched how much money was transferred from the budget to what during these difficult times.

The sources of the transferred money include the Economic Protection Fund that was established to mitigate the pandemic’s negative impacts on the economy, emergency government reserves, and the Central Residual Fund.

Since the coronavirus outbreak in the spring, the Orbán cabinet has transferred 140.2 billion HUF (389.5 million EUR) to the sports sector, which is 541 million HUF (1.5 million EUR) per day.

The sector received 48.2 billion HUF (133.9 million EUR) during the first wave, 44.2 billion HUF (122.7 million EUR) during the summer when the restrictions eased, and 47.7 billion HUF (132.5 million EUR) since the beginning of the second wave.

Most of the money (104.2 billion HUF that is 289.4 million EUR) was spent on preparations and developments of facilities, for example, the Bozsik Stadium, Veszprém swimming bath, and the multifunctional sports hall in Tatabánya.

9.3 billion HUF (25.8 million EUR) was spent on competitive sports and Olympic preparations, 11.8 billion HUF (32.7 million EUR) on sports academies, 4-4 billion HUF (11.1 million EUR) on National Sports Centres, and 2.6 billion HUF (7.2 million EUR) on other expenditure including for example promotion.

Apart from the sports sector, considerable amounts were transferred to the church, too. Since March, they received 103.2 billion HUF (286.7 million EUR).

This was mostly spent on the protection of the church’s built heritage and “other investments”.

The health sector that faced a lot of challenges ever since the outbreak in comparison, received only 50.7 billion HUF (140.8 million EUR) from the budget transfers.

This is almost one-third of the amount that was spent on the sports sector, and half of what the church received.

2023 World Athletics Championships Budapest
Read alsoThe athletics stadium in Budapest to be built for 545 million euros

OSF George Soros
Read alsoOrbán cabinet: Soros calls for financial sanctions against countries that refuse migrants

Orbán cabinet: Payment of EU funds must not be linked to conditions at time of pandemic

EU Hungary flag

Hungary’s position in debates on the EU’s next budget framework and post-pandemic recovery package is clear: given the current pandemic situation, the payment of EU funds must not be linked to conditions and the money must immediately be paid to every member state, mostly to those in need, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’ Office, told MTI on Tuesday.

He said the time was not right for “unnecessary debates on immigration and gender issues” but aid must be granted to countries in need.

Gulyás said Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony was “trying to weaken Hungary’s position” in the debates on the next EU budget and the recovery package.

“Party disputes are an essential part of a democracy, but it is an unprecedented move from the mayor of Budapest that he is seeking to weaken Hungary’s position [in the talks with Brussels] and while we [the government] are fighting in Brussels representing European and Hungarian interests, we are getting stabbed in the back by the mayor,”

Gulyás said.

He said Karácsony should not confuse internal political differences with efforts aimed at representing the country’s interests abroad.

Gulyás responded to a proposal which was unveiled jointly by Karácsony and Rafal Trzaskowski, his Warsaw counterpart, on Monday. In their proposal 249 local councils in Hungary and Poland turned to the European Union asking Brussels to open the opportunity to local governments of applying for direct grants in case the EU’s recovery package is thwarted by Hungarian and Polish veto.

jakab-jobbik-parliament
Read alsoOpposition calls on PM Orbán not to veto EU budget

Hungary, Poland committed to cooperation in budget veto, says FM Szijjártó

rsz_szijjártó_eu_budget

Hungary and Poland are committed to cooperation in a planned veto of the European Union’s multiannual budget and coronavirus recovery package, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday.

Speaking after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Szijjártó said the two countries would “not bow to any intentions trying to drive a wedge” between them.

Hungary and Poland have called for further talks to find a solution that all countries can accept. As both countries are committed to the rule of law, an agreement is still possible, Szijjártó said.

Referring to the proposal to tie EU funds and its recovery package to adhering to rule of law regulations, Szijjártó said concepts “that have nothing to do with each other should not be tied together”.

The European Council has already achieved an agreement on its 2021-2027 budget at a July summit, Szijjártó noted. However, the European Parliament’s later decision runs afoul of that agreement, he said.

“It is clear to see that the debate will eventually be simplifyied to who is allowing migrants in and who isn’t,” he said.

Recently concluded talks on the Post Cotonou Negotiations, the EU’s agreement with Africa-Caribbean-Pacific states, described migration as a positive development, without word of the health or security risks it poses, or of “certain countries’ differing opninions”, Szijjártó said.

Szijjártó said the agreement opened the door to new migration waves into Europe. Countries who do not adopt the dominant view will be accused of not adhering to rule of law regulations, and “there will be attempts to stop their funding,” he said.

Tying funding to such conditions is contrary to the EU treaty,

Szijjártó said. Hungary has therefore strengthened its alliance with Poland and will stick to its standpoint, he said.

 

fidesz mep szájer
Read alsoWas the whole Szájer-case a trap?

Opposition calls on PM Orbán not to veto EU budget

jakab-jobbik-parliament

Parties of the parliamentary opposition on Monday called on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán not to veto the European Union’s next seven-year budget.

Representatives of the Párbeszéd, Jobbik, Socialist, Democratic Coalition, and LMP parties held a press conference after parliament’s EU consultation council attended by the prime minister and the group leaders of parliamentary parties.

Párbeszéd

Párbeszéd co-leader Tímea Szabó said that at the meeting, held behind closed doors, Orban had “repeated mean lies” concerning his plans to veto the budget, and insisted that “each Hungarian would be stripped of 250,000 forints (EUR 695)” through the veto, while the government “is taking out a loan which each Hungarian would service with 400,000 forints”.

Jobbik

Conservative Jobbik group leader Péter Jakab insisted that the government was following a scorched-earth policy, and said that Orbán was seeking to “paralyse Europe through the veto even if it kills Hungarians”. He warned that the EU’s recovery package was instrumental in driving Hungary out of the crisis. He also suggested that

Orbán “has started preparations to drive Hungary out of the EU sooner or later”.

Socialists

Socialist co-leader Bertalan Tóth said that the veto was “only about the financial security of the prime minister, his family, and friends.”

LMP

LMP co-leader Erzsébet Schmuck said that the government was “practically holding the EU budget to ransom” and was blocking the recovery package.

The prime minister has “declared war, but that war will only have losers”,

she said. LMP expects the government to withdraw its veto plans before the next meeting of the European Council, she added.

DK

Democratic Coalition deputy leader László Varju also called on Orbán to drop the veto. He argued that Hungary was “too weak to harm Europe with the veto, but it could cause serious harm to Hungary”.

Fidesz reaction

Ruling Fidesz said in response that

left-wing parties were “promoting the interests of Soros and pro-migration Brussels once again.”

The statement said Brussels “clearly wants to… blackmail countries not accepting migrants by tying monies they are entitled to to politically motivated conditions.”

While the European Commission’s latest migration action plan wanted to “implement the Soros plan” by accepting 34 milllion migrants, anti-migration member states were being “blackmailed financially”, he statement said. Hungarian left-wing parties “represent the interests of pro-migration Brussels in this debate,” it said.

jakab-jobbik-parliament
Read alsoOpposition calls on PM Orbán not to veto EU budget

Government spokesman: Europe ‘double-dealing’

hungary poland eu veto

“Double-dealing” has been going on in Europe ever since the migration crisis emerged in 2015, Hungary’s state secretary for communications and international relations told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio in an interview on Sunday morning.

Commenting on the current stand-off over the EU budget and recovery fund, Zoltán Kovács said the European parliament, commission and current holder of the EU presidency, Germany, were responsible for “the new situation”, not Hungary or Poland, adding that it was therefore the EU institutions that should “come up with a solution”.

Hungary and Poland stated their positions unambiguously during the July EU summit, and their positions have not changed since, Kovács said, noting that the Hungarian prime minister had negotiated based on a mandate handed to him by Hungary’s parliament.

The EP and commission then put forward the proposal on linking funding to rule-of-law criteria which, he insisted, had “nothing to do with” the rule of law.

“It’s about nothing other than enforcing a set of political conditions,” Kovács said.

Rules governing the allocation of EU funds are clearly defined in the EU basic treaty with no connection to any kind of political criteria, he said, adding that Hungary would reject any proposal with political conditions attached, otherwise the EU basic treaty would be contravened.

Commenting on recent criticism by EPP group leader Manfred Weber, Kovács said EU commissioners Vera Jourova, Didier Reynders and Frans Timmermans had “clearly picked on Hungary and Poland” over the past years.

“This is about the systematic execution of a plan masterminded not only by Eurocrats … who believe in a United States of Europe … but also by [financier] George Soros who has publically declared how Europe should receive and support migrants while arguing for sanctions against countries that refuse to take them in,” he said.

“We’ll resist this because we know exactly what’s at stake in the upcoming debate,” the state secretary said.

Kovács said that instead of protecting Europe’s borders, EU institutions had been doing all they could to keep the community’s borders open for migrants.

“Europe still lacks a plan for protecting its borders, instead proposing taking over immigration matters that are the competence of member states,” he said.

“As if this weren’t enough, Brussels has launched several infringement procedures against Hungary in recent weeks, and over the past months and years,” he said, noting that the most recent one raises concern over the perpetual extension of migration-related rules.

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Read alsoOrbán to EPP head Weber: “You look at us like twits”

Justice minister: EU trying ‘to show Member States how to make democracy’

judit varga

Hungary’s justice minister on Friday slammed what she called “Brussels institutions with grave democratic deficits” for wanting “to show Member States how to make democracy”.

Judit Varga in a Facebook post said the European Action Plan for Democracy (EDAP) and the Media and Audiovisual Action Plan (MAAP) mirror Deputy Commission President Vera Jourova’s view that “in healthy democracies, the center of Brussels says what a fair election, a clean campaign and a balanced press market look like”.

“Which Commissioner will think first that the election results should also be sent from Brussels?” Varga said.

Hungary maintains position that passage of Sargentini report was unlawful

The Hungarian government maintains its position that the European Parliament’s launch of the Article 7 procedure against Hungary in 2018 was unlawful because its vote on the Sargentini report, which served as the basis for the procedure, disregarded the abstentions of 48 deputies, Justice Minister Judit Varga said on Thursday.

Varga insisted the voting procedure had been in conflict not only with the EU treaties but with the procedural rules of the EP itself. If abstentions had been taken into consideration, the EP’s “politically motivated position” could not have been adopted.

The minister was reacting to an opinion published by the advocate general of the Court of Justice of the European Union earlier in the day, in which Michal Bobek advised that the court should dismiss Hungary’s challenge of the Article 7 procedure.

Varga noted the EP had earlier claimed the Article 7 procedure could not be challenged in court.

The fact that Bobek declared Hungary’s claim admissible was welcome, she said, insisting at the same time that Bobek’s view on abstentions was unfounded. In his interpretation, an abstaining deputy “wishes to be treated as if they had not voted at all”, she said, insisting that an abstention was in fact a form of participation in the vote, “a clear declaration of support neither for votes in favour nor votes against”. Further, it was “irrelevant”, she said, that the deputies had been informed about abstentions being set aside since “that is against EU law”. The EP, she insisted, had failed to clarify those details before the vote.

The Hungarian government is “convinced that EU laws apply to all”, Varga said, adding that “agreeing with the EP’s overlooking rules in a procedure concerning the rule of law would be especially absurd.”

Orbán: EU working to allow 34 million migrants into bloc

migration unhcr

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has told public radio that the European Union wanted to allow 34 million migrants into the bloc, and planned to “give them housing, social benefits, citizenship and voting rights.”

Referring to financier George Soros, Orbán said the EU’s goals amounted to “implementing the Soros plan”.

In a regular interview with Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orbán said: “If leftists gave voting rights to 34 million people in Europe, they could count on their votes for a long time.”

Orbán said Hungarian left-wing parties were working to implement the same plan in Hungary, by bringing migrants to the country “who would then vote for them”.

“We can’t allow them to transform Hungary,” he said.

Orbán said that regarding the EU’s multiannual budget and its pandemic recovery package, Hungary insists that economic matters should be separated from the “politically controversial” rule of law conditionality.

“We could approve the budget and the recovery package swiftly and without ado, and put aside the decree stirring political debate, the so-called rule of law decree, to be discussed later,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary and Poland have agreed to represent that standpoint.

Orbán said that according to an agreement signed by the Hungarian and Polish prime ministers, the two countries would represent the same views in the debate, and neither would accept stances the other was opposed to.

Referring to reports that Poland was ready to give up the veto if the EU added a declaration to the decree to detail its implementation, Orbán said “adding some declaration … won’t cut it. Hungary is adamant that the two issues should be separated.”

Commenting on the suggestion that 25 of the EU’s member states could agree to set up the recovery package without the outliers, Orbán said he was not aware of such a possibility.

“But if that happened, what would be wrong with that?” The EU could agree on the budget later, and Hungary “would not lose money,” he said.

Regarding the recovery package, Orbán said Hungary would welcome a way to avoid taking out loans jointly with high-deficit countries like Italy and Greece, instead of whom the other countries might be forced to pay the debt. Hungary participated in the scheme “as a favour, a gesture of solidarity”, he said.

Commenting on a proposal by European People’s Party group leader Manfred Weber that decisions on issues concerning the rule of law should be left up to the European Commission while disputes should be settled by the Court of Justice of the European Union, Orbán said: “Everyone’s talking all kinds of nonsense and this is also true for Mr. Weber.”

“We’re not stupid, we weren’t born yesterday, we can put two and two together,” the prime minister said, insisting that Weber’s proposal meant that the EU wanted to “force anything onto member states that can be painted as a rule of law issue with a simple majority vote”.

Orbán said the EC’s migration-related proposal made “no attempt to hide the intention that they want to provide housing and welfare entitlements and grant citizenship to 34 million migrants”.

“They want to be able to shoot down Hungary and Poland’s opposition to migration with a simple majority vote,” he said. “That’s what this is all about, that’s what the so-called rule of law tool would be used for.”

Asked if the case of long-time Fidesz MEP József Szájer, who this week quit the party after violating lockdown rules in Brussels and a motion by EPP members for a vote on expelling Fidesz MEP Tamas Deutsch from the political family’s European Parliamentary group were Brussels’s way of turning up the pressure on Hungary, Orbán said this was a malicious interpretation of these developments, “especially when it comes to the Germans, but we can’t rule anything out”. The prime minister added, that he saw no evidence that the two issues and the budget debate were related.

Concerning the pandemic, Orbán stressed the importance of making a safe coronavirus vaccine available to the public as quickly as possible. “We mustn’t let political considerations or the interests of pharmaceutical companies get in the way of this, which is why we have to negotiate both with the East and the West,” he said.

Commenting on the UK’s approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and preparations for a mass vaccination programme, Orbán said: “Those who quit [the European Union] now follow their own path, they’re looking for a solution of their own and are able to protect the health and lives of their citizens quicker than those of us who stayed.”

The prime minister reaffirmed that health-care workers and patients in the most critical condition would be the first to be administered a vaccine when it becomes available.

As regards the status of coronavirus-related restrictions in Hungary beyond Dec. 11, the prime minister said the government would decide on the next steps at a meeting of the operative board coordinating the response to the epidemic on Monday. He added that it had been made clear at earlier meetings that scientists and doctors firmly oppose any major relaxation of restrictions.

Concerning this Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Romania, Orbán said Romania was an important economic partner for Hungary. “We’ve tied ourselves to the Hungarian community there and whenever we go there, it means money for Romania,” he said.

Orbán said Hungary and Romania had a shared interest in both countries having stable governments and urged the Hungarian community to back the ethnic Hungarian RMDSZ party on Sunday.

Orbán: Hungary’s EU membership is not costing Germany money, they are profiting from us

orbán merkel meeting

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Monday said Martin Schulz, the former head of Germany’s Social Democratic party and President of the European Parliament between 2012 and 2017, “had been attacking Hungary for years” for defending its borders and not accepting migrants.

Schulz, in an interview with German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, accused the Hungarian government of oppressing the media, of anti-Semitism and of profiteering.

Orbán in response said in a letter that media outlets in Hungary enjoyed more freedom and represented more varied viewpoints than their German counterparts.

As regards the charge of anti-Semitism, Orbán said

“openly anti-Semitic abuse and harassment of Jewish persons, as it still happens in Germany,” was inconceivable in Hungary.

Orban said Schulz’s “greatest fib” pertained to European Union funding. “Schulz and many other Germans pretend Germany is giving money to poorer countries and are net contributors,” he said. In truth, those countries are the net beneficiaries of the European single market. “They give some of their profit [from the single market] back to other member states through the EU budget, much of which then ends up with them again,” Orbán said.

It is “hypocritical to expect us to be grateful for that,” Orbán said.

Richer countries of the European Union, “with Germany at the top”, take some 6 billion euros out of Hungary annually, “under various titles”, Orbán said. Meanwhile, Hungary annually receives an average of 4 billion euros from the EU budget, he said.

“The situation is clear. Hungary’s EU membership is not costing Germany money, they are profiting from us,”

he said.

Germany’s advantage is due to [Western Germany’] being able to amass capital for 45 years “while Hungary was constantly plundered by Soviet communists,” Orban said.

But the West’s competitive edge is dwindling, and — partly due to the EU’s convergence policy — will disappear with Central Europe catching up by the end of the 2020s, Orban said. “Until then, we would like to ask Mr Schulz and his comrades for a little more restraint,” Orbán said in his letter, a copy of which was sent to MTI.

Read alsoOrbán called “goulash with ears” on German TV – PM criticised for EU budget veto

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Orbán takes a loan – is it the end of Hungary’s economic stability?

Orbán

Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

Last week I discussed the potential political consequences of Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán’s veto on the European Union’s next seven-year budget and economic recovery plan. This week I want to post my remarks on the considerable economic risks.

Although most critics are right about the authoritarian tendencies in Hungary’s political system or Orbán’s skirmishes in Europe, one thing has never been questioned: Hungary’s economic stability.

Of course, the people of Hungary are fully aware that they were the ones to pay the hefty price for the macroeconomic balance since Orbán carried out a full-blooded neoliberal economic agenda and saved as much money on welfare in the last 10 years as he possibly could. In the meantime, the outside world was hardly interested in such factors as the social system teetering on the brink of collapse or the Hungarian wages being constantly ranked among Europe’s lowest and even if such concerns were raised, Orbán could conveniently point back at the negative example of the Socialist governments of the 2000s who spent the loans on welfare and fell under the impact of the 2008 economic crisis.

Orbán’s slogan was: no matter what it takes, avoid the political and economic dependence that comes with loans. In return for the economic stability, the Hungarian PM was forgiven for such occasional symbolic steps as writing in the Constitution that Hungary’s currency is the Forint.

However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have undermined the Hungarian economic stability very quickly.

The premonitions proved to be right: people ran out of their reserves in no more than a few weeks in the spring, unemployment immediately skyrocketed and the end was nowhere in sight. It was clear that Hungary was going to need financial assistance, just like all the other European states.

The €750 billion recovery plan, of which Hungary could get approximately €6 billion as non-refundable and an additional €8 billion as refundable assistance, would have provided the best ever financing conditions for Hungary as the money would have been raised from the market and jointly guaranteed by the 27 EU Member States.

If Orbán had been consistent in his economic policy or would have had the Hungarian interests at heart, he should have been the loudest advocate of the recovery plan. However, he took a rather different course because it was obvious, right from the beginning, that the EU was going to link the allocation of these monies to rule of law criteria. Orbán’s fondness of strict measures to save money on welfare or public institutions is only comparable to his love for feeding his clientèle and the operators of his regime from the incoming EU funds.

So he made a move that is contrary to his economic line followed so far: he took a €2.5 billion loan with 10- and 30-year terms, from a third-party source. At one fell swoop, he lost everything he had been slowly building up for ten years. 

He made this move to sufficiently secure his position in case his dispute with the EU drags on too long or in case they fail to come to an agreement. The plan seems to have worked, at least as far as Orbán’s personal position is concerned. On the other hand, Hungary will lose its exemplary student status in the one single area where it has been successful so far.

Furthermore, the secretly taken loan, which Orbán casually mentioned in a radio interview, also means that Hungary is beginning to drift dangerously apart from the European Union not only politically but now economically, too, because most EU countries are thinking along the lines of a joint project when it comes to reigniting the economy.

The EU policies of the upcoming years are likely to build on a joint recovery plan, which Hungary will now be left out of due to Orbán’s fear for his power.

Instead, we now have another debt we need to repay under much less favourable terms by 2050.

And why does the Hungarian PM think such a risky economic move can pay off for him? Probably because he fully understands that his position is becoming more and more indefensible. The last two years have brought a dozen fiascos for Orbán. The politician, who has so far relied on communication as his main and unstoppable weapon, seems to be failing ever more obviously in the fight against the coronavirus. The inconsistent, ever-changing decisions and the complete lack of economic assistance packages so abundantly granted to citizens of other European countries have led to a critical unemployment rate. According to the polls, Fidesz’ failed crisis management began to erode the party’s formerly unparalleled popularity. In addition, after last year’s municipal elections, the governing party is no longer facing a weak and fragmented opposition but a united one with serious chances in the 2022 national elections. 

In the meantime, Orbán has almost run out of foreign friends: the illiberal breakthrough did not take place, in fact, the American election may mark the beginning of quite the opposite trend. 

All he has left to rely on are the Hungarian oligarchs but he has to feed them if he wants to stay in power. Apparently, no price is too high for him anymore: just look at the machinations with the electoral law going on in Hungary in the past weeks. But that’s a topic for another post.

ORBÁN Viktor; MORAWIECKI, Mateusz
Read alsoDeclaration by Hungary, Poland prime ministers – EU budget

Opposition: Government’s EU budget veto would strip country of EUR 39 bn

orbán viktor press conference

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s planned veto of the European Union’s next budget would deprive Hungary of at least 14,000 billion forints (EUR 39 bn) in community funding, “or that much money could be jeopardised”, Democratic Coalition head Ferenc Gyurcsány said on Friday.

Speaking at an online press conference, Gyurcsány said that the prime minister’s remarks made earlier in the day constituted a “declaration of war”, and insisted that Orbán “is thinking in terms of war rather than having straightforward talks, and he seeks to use his own nation as hostage”.

“Orbán is saying that if the EU wants to know how we spend its money or it wants to see if the Hungarian people are free in their everyday life, he will strike back at another point… this is called blackmail,” Gyurcsány said.

“The prime minister’s veto is in fact aimed at Hungarians rather than the EU,” Gyurcsány said, arguing that the economy, heavily impacted by the coronavirus epidemic, could not be revived without community funding.

Hungary would “not receive the EU development funds which have been the source of financing all investment projects (in Hungary) in the past seven years”, he insisted.

Gyurcsány warned that “the EU budget will continue somehow” and “the remaining 25 or 26 EU members will set up the coronavirus recovery fund in some form” but “Hungary will be left out”. “Hungarians will either march with Europe or face an end,” he said.

Ruling Fidesz said in response that “this war was started by [US financier George] Soros and Gyurcsány against Hungary, to enforce the settlement of migrants because the Hungarian people and the national government had said no to migration.”

Gyurcsány knows very well that by tying the payment of EU funds to political conditions Brussels wants to force Hungary let migrants enter the country, the party said in a statement. “Soros has given orders to Brussels not to give EU money to countries that refuse to let the migrants in,” it said.

If Gyurcsány and the Left were in power there would be no dispute about this issue “because they would easily let the migrants enter Hungary and make Hungary a migrant country”, Fidesz said.

The party said it firmly rejected any blackmail and was ready to defend Hungary in any debate.

ORBÁN Viktor; MORAWIECKI, Mateusz
Read alsoDeclaration by Hungary, Poland prime ministers – EU budget

Declaration by Hungary, Poland prime ministers – EU budget

ORBÁN Viktor; MORAWIECKI, Mateusz

Joint Declaration of the Prime Minister of Poland and the Prime Minister of Hungary:

With respect to the MFF/Next Generation EU financial package including the draft Regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget we agreed on the following principles and objectives which we are going to pursue during the negotiations within the European Union:

1. We are committed to our common values as enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union. We recall that the procedure for the protection of those values is stipulated by Article 7 of the Treaty. We stand on the basis of legality and therefore defend the status quo as contained in the Treaties.

2. We are seeking solutions which make the necessary financial resources available as soon as possible for all Member States.

3. The present situation that prevents the quick conclusion of the legislative process is created by those who established a link between the Rule of Law and the EU budget. Our position has been clear from the beginning of the negotiations starting with the proposal of the Commission in 2018. That linkage was known to carry risk of blocking the process of approval of the MFF/Next Generation EU financial package.

4. The outcome of the negotiations between the Council Presidency and the European Parliament does not conform to the agreement reached among the Heads of State and Government at the July European Council.

5. Our objective is to prevent a mechanism which would not strengthen, but undermine the Rule of Law within the Union by degrading it to a political instrument.

The proposed conditionality circumvents the Treaty, applies vague definitions and ambiguous terms without clear criteria on which sanctions can be based and contains no meaningful procedural guarantees.

6. Our countries have been acting and continue to act on the basis of loyal cooperation and solidarity. We remain ready to contribute to a solution to the present situation. We maintain that it requires a substantial modification of the currently proposed mechanism.

Our common proposal is to facilitate the speedy adoption of the financial package by establishing a two-track process.

On the one hand, to limit the scope of any additional budgetary conditionality to the protection of the financial interests of the Union in accordance with the July conclusions of the European Council. On the other hand, to discuss in the European Council, whether a link between the Rule of Law and the financial interests of the Union should be established. If it is so decided, then the appropriate procedures foreseen by the Treaties, including convening an intergovernmental conference, should be considered in order to negotiate the necessary modification of the Treaties.

We have decided to align our positions on these issues. Neither Poland, nor Hungary will accept any proposal that is deemed unacceptable by the other.

Budapest, 26 November 2020

Prime Minister of Poland                                                Prime Minister of Hungary

orbán
Read alsoOrbán: Europe ‘must not succumb to Soros network’

Jobbik MEP Gyöngyösi: Can a despot become a loose cannon in the EU?

orbán task force

Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

I find it a little odd that the European Union is so surprised by Hungarian Premier Viktor Orbán’s announcement that if funding is linked to rule of law criteria, he is ready to veto the EU’s seven-year budget and the economic recovery plan, thus putting millions of people in grave danger. 

For ten years now, Hungary has been living in a political system where Viktor Orbán single-handedly decides about everything and everybody as he pleases, and Europe has been watching it with a considerable indifference for exactly the same time.

Of course, there have been some major battles between Fidesz and the EU institutions but they have rather been considered as parts of the show so far because the truly scandalous acts have always stayed within the confines of Hungary’s borders until now. The members of the international anti-Orbán camp had their platforms to sulk, complain and loudly reassure their own voters that they were really going to draw the line this time, but Orbán was nonetheless allowed to do whatever he wanted in Hungary because the German politicians and big business always protected him. 

Here’s what their deal was: Orbán supplied cheap labour and huge tax discounts to meet the German industry’s needs in his country but when it came to decisions made at EU level, Fidesz always toed the line after some grumbling. 

In return, they forgave him for the borderline anti-Semitic nationwide smear campaign against George Soros as well as the hatemongering propaganda against the leaders of the European People’s Party or the daily defamation of the EU. Those who had always been urging for some sort of “pacification policy” to handle Orbán apparently failed to realize or simply ignored the fact that Orbán’s train had no brakes on it because Fidesz’ increasingly aggressive hatemongering propaganda always needs refuelling again and again. If Orbán backed down just once, he would lose his credibility with his own fanatic voter base.

So it was just a question of time when Orbán was going to knock the European chess table over, too. In addition, criticisms regarding the rule of law and corruption certainly cut deep into Fidesz’ flesh since corruption and the constant stretching or bending of legal-political limits is not just a glitch in the system, it’s the very essence of it. At present, the foundation of Hungary’s political system is loyalty to Orbán, which he repays by hand-feeding EU monies to his people. In return, they always “deliver” the results in each election, typically by blatantly strong-arming the vulnerable provincial population and buying the votes of the Roma held in slavery-like conditions.

Although the CDU-CSU party alliance didn’t seem to be quite bothered about it, the news eventually got to the people of Europe in ten years.

No wonder the European leaders are now under unprecedented political pressure to put an end to the practice of dribbling the taxpayers’ money to eastern despots. However, Orbán has now made a move which, for some mysterious reason, seems to have surprised Europe: as a last-ditch attempt, he promised a veto. European decision makers, welcome to the little Hungarian reality!

I believe that each system can grow stronger by learning to handle certain challenges. The European Union now has to answer the following question: under the urging financial pressure, does it yield to the policy of open violence and set its own principles aside? If it does, it will open the path to self-destruction since all value- or solidarity-based policies will immediately become pointless while Europe will be reduced from a democratic welfare community to a battleground of populists fiercely fighting over money, just for the short time until the organization becomes totally insignificant. That’s exactly why I trust that when it comes to the decisive moment, they will refuse to yield under Orbán’s blackmail.

The other, more likely scenario is that they simply let go of Orbán’s hand and say that if he doesn’t want to participate in building the European community, then they will go on without him, which also means that Hungary would be left out of the economic recovery plan. This can be done because, unlike other EU funds, the recovery plan’s €750 billion would not be collected from the member states according to the rules laid out in the EU treaties. Instead, it would be raised in the market through bonds issued by the EU and guaranteed by the member states, which in turn requires the approval of member state parliaments. If the Fidesz majority of the Hungarian Parliament rejects it, Hungary will be left out of the programme. Not only would such a move deprive Hungary of a highly favourable financing structure but it would also pave the way for a process that I already pointed out back in 2019: leading Hungary out of the European Union.

This would create a two-speed European Union which, by the way, already exists in terms of the Schengen cooperation and the common currency but this time Hungary would risk complete isolation within the community.

This process will not be completed overnight but while the EU will keep walking the common path, Hungary will be stuck where it is today and after a while it will no longer matter if Hungary officially leaves or stays because our country will not be sitting at the table anyway, therefore it will get no money, either.

The fact that this process would lead to Orbán’s complete political isolation is hardly any consolation because the Prime Minister would pull down the masses of Hungarian people with him. As a Member of the European Parliament, I feel I must emphasize that there is no other feasible way for Hungary than the one offered by the European Union. This concept is supported by the majority of the Hungarian people, too. Respect for the rule of law and the fight against corruption are both indispensable parts of the model offered by the European Union.

If Orbán doesn’t like it, he’s free to leave the ship. But he must go alone because the people of Hungary don’t want to go with him.

Orbán-coronavirus-mask
Read alsoBREAKING NEWS – Orbán: Hungary to veto EU budget, recovery fund

Jobbik: Threatening with EU veto harms Hungary

BALCZÓ Zoltán Jobbik party

The conservative opposition Jobbik party has demanded the government “stop dangling the threat of a veto” of the European Union’s multiannual budget. Jobbik said on Friday the government’s stance was “dangerous and could inflict enormous harm” on Hungary.

The veto harms Hungary’s “already tattered” reputation, Jobbik lawmaker Zoltán Balczó told an online press conference.

At an EU summit in July, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán already accepted the EU’s seven-year budget and its coronavirus recovery package, Balczó said. That document contained an “unequivocal reference” to the funding conditionality based on the rule of law, which Hungary and Poland now object to, he said.

The sanctions laid down in the agreement clearly apply only to states committing “rule-of-law violations that pose immediate and grave harm to the EU’s financial interests,” he said.

Member states will be penalised only if their institutions handling EU funds are operated irregularly, if their judiciaries are not independent, or if the public prosecutor turns a blind eye to the fraudulent handling of EU monies, Balczó said.

The only solution is to adhere to those regulations, “even though EU monies are clearly essential to maintain Orbán’s feudal regime,”

he added.

Read alsoOpposition parties vow to settle on joint PM candidate by Oct 2021

Orbán cabinet: Soros calls for financial sanctions against countries that refuse migrants

OSF George Soros

George Soros has called for financial sanctions against countries that refuse to take in migrants, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.

Gergely Gulyás told a regular press briefing that Hungary “cannot accept any form of lecturing” from the American-Hungarian financier.

Hungary insists that it has the right to decide whom to live with and whom not to live with, Gulyás said.

“It has the right to decide whether to reject migration or not, and its citizens gave an unambiguous response in the referendum and the general election,” he added.

Gulyás said Hungary’s opposition had published a position “strikingly similar to Soros‘s” on this issue. The opposition now sees a chance to “force migration on Hungary” with the help of Brussels after it failed in the elections. “Hungary will not give in to blackmail,” he said.

On the topic of the EU budget and recovery fund, Gulyás said Hungary could not approve them in their current form because the rule of law criteria that are conditions for receiving funding were unclear. He insisted that only those countries that allow immigration are regarded as upholding the rule of law.

He said Hungary was dedicated to the rule of law and considered freedom of speech, opinion, assembly and the press, as well as the independence of the judiciary, as important.

Meeting these requirements is at least as much guaranteed in Hungary as in western Europe and much more than it used to be during left-wing governments when for instance in 2006, peaceful demonstrators were attacked and the EU’s reaction was that it was a domestic issue, he added.

Gulyás said that in principle Hungary disagreed with the idea of raising joint debt since if any one country went bankrupt, Hungary would also be liable. Even so, Hungary approved the package in the spirit of European solidarity, he said, adding that the fund had become a further means to “blackmail” Hungary to force it to change its migration policy.

In response to a question, Gulyás noted that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had already vetoed the EU budget and recovery package. He said that in its current form, the chances of the recovery package being implemented were “zero”.

In the EU’s history spanning more than seven decades, never before has funding been linked to any interests other than financial protection, he said.

Gulyás called charges against the government of corruption “a lie”, adding that the Hungarian government would be prepared to back significantly stricter rules on how EU money is s spent.

He said helping southern EU states was a priority. “The money could be handed to the southern states even tomorrow,” he said, adding that in this way Hungary would not be open to blackmail because of its immigration policy.

“If there’s a technical solution whereby payments are not linked to lax immigration, then we’d gladly be on board.”

Gulyás said the Hungarian economy was on a strong footing to see out the crisis. The deficit will be high due to the pandemic fallout but the public debt declined by 20 percent over ten years and there are now sufficient resources to take out credit, he added.

Asked about a statement by European People’s Party (EPP) President Donald Tusk and whether Fidesz may be expelled from the EPP, Gulyás cited a 2018 statement in which Tusk said making Poland’s EU funding conditional on the rule of law was risky and went in the wrong direction.

If Tusk were consistent, Gulyás said, “then we know he’d be among the supporters of the current Hungarian position”.