This report will encompass the current situation in respect of relations between the European Union and Hungary, he said. Under review will be such issues as EU lawmaking, cooperation within the Visegrad Group and the planned referendum on EU migrant quotas, he said.

Asked about planned wage hikes for general practitioners, Lázár said the government would spend an extra 10 billion forints (EUR 31.8m) on funding for GP surgeries. Talks are under way between the human resources ministry and the health workers’ chamber on the implementation of the wage hike as well as planned wage increases for dentists and district nurses working in state health bodies.

Responding to a question about potential wage increases for nursery workers next year, Lázár said they would be given supplementary pay, for which the government had allocated a total of 7 billion forints. He said the government will initiate amendments to around 80 different laws in the autumn in connection with cutting red tape.

He noted that last week the government had decided to merge some 40 support institutions into the ministries that oversee them as part of measures to cut red tape. Integrating these institutions into their respective ministries will be the big challenge of the summer, he said.

As part of the measure, the ministries will have to cut about 20% of their costs. Lázár said it will be up to the ministries to decide how to cut costs. He added that he preferred to achieve this by laying off around 3,000 people. Lázár said the simplification of the structure of government would entail ministries overseeing strategic decision-making and drafting legislation while their implementation would be left to “government agencies”.

One such agency is the state treasury, which is responsible for the transfer of pensions, EU funds and salaries, he said. Answering a question about Brexit, government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said Hungary’s budget reserves are sufficient to finance any emergency measures that may have to be implemented if Britain quit the European Union.

Lázár stressed that Hungary would respect the UK’s decision regardless of the outcome of the referendum. Meanwhile, Lázár said the government in September will submit to parliament a bill that will regulate how it spends revenues from farmland auctions. One of the options is spending the money on reducing public debt, he said.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.