This year’s budget deficit is planned to be 2.4% of gross domestic product. Whereas the special government measures will deplete reserves, financing from the National Protection Fund is still available.

One priority is to ensure that amounts spent on security and border protection will be increased while maintaining the stability of health care and pension schemes.

One red line is the state pension pot, which must not be raided, he said.

The minister said he trusted that Hungary would receive some external financing for measures related to handling the migration wave.

Varga said there was some spare capacity in Hungary’s labour market and this should, for the time being, solve the needs of the economy.

He added that often it became apparent during the registration of migrants that some of them are illiterate and do not speak any other language than their own.

So it is not manpower that the host country would be getting but an extra burden of social spending.

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MTI photo: Szigetváry Zsolt