Orbán said that in a document sent to the Hungarian government the European Commission demanded that Hungary change its child protection laws.

Although family and child protection laws are a national competency, Brussels has “put enormous pressure on us”, Orbán said.

“They will blackmail, threaten and launch infringement procedures, delay payments, but we cannot give in because the future of our children is at stake,” he said.

“The government alone will not be strong enough in that fight,” Orbán said.

“We need support from every Hungarian.” Orbán said Brussels wanted Hungary “to let LGBTQ activists into schools, and the EC thinks that some rights at school will precede parental rights”.

The EU expects this to “contribute to the fulfilment of the ideal of European freedom” but “children are not part of the freedom of adults and this is not an issue of freedom but of child protection”, he said.

“They want to take the education of children away from us,” he said, adding that “things may be different in Western Europe but the education of Hungarian children is up to Hungarians.”

PM Orbán: Boycotting Child Protection Referendum 'Pointless'
 

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in a regular interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Radio, encouraged voters to participate in the planned referendum on child protection issues, arguing that “staying away is boycotting the vote and leaving it to the majority to decide”.

He said the aim of the referendum was “to protect the law” already in place, “therefore a boycott is pointless”.

The prime minister rejected allegations that the government was aiming to divert public attention from other issues by way of the referendum, saying that the vote could be held in January or February next year.

Concerning the Pegasus spyware case, Orbán said that the interior minister “has already said everything there is to say”.

On another subject, Orbán said that the government had decided to set up its own post-pandemic recovery fund within the state budget’s economy protection fund and pre-finance projects that would be paid for by the European recovery fund.

The prime minister said that the European Union was seeking a two-month delay in the talks on Hungary’s recovery plan.

The most important aspect of the European recovery fund is that it is fast, the prime minister said, adding that delaying the payments called into question the essence of the fund.

Hungary is entitled to the recovery funds, Orbán said.

“They can delay them, but can’t withhold them, so the government has decided to pre-finance the programmes that Brussels has already approved,” he said.

“We’ll pay for those projects whether we get money from Brussels or not,” Orbán added.


MTI Photo PM's press office: Zoltán Fischer