Hungary currently has 10 million doses of vaccine, sufficient to provide “not only booster jabs but fourth shots to everybody”, Orbán said.

On another subject, the prime minister said that “nobody is happy” with a recent ban introduced in law enforcement and health services preventing staff from quitting their jobs, but argued that “now we have a situation in which certain positions must not be abandoned”.

Orbán said that the infectious diseases hospital in Kiskunhalas would not currently be reopened unless “some bigger problem occurs” or if other hospitals become overcrowded.

In another development, Orbán said that well above 80% of Hungarians welcomed the recently introduced cap on fuel prices.

Orbán said “we are in a fight with the Left about reducing public utility fees” recently expanded to include fuel prices.

“Changing petrol prices has been left to the market so far and it is best if the government does not need to interfere but there are certain situations when government involvement becomes necessary,” Orbán said.

“One must not sit idly when prices go sky high”, and when all experts project prices to remain high for a longer period, a government reaction is needed, he said. High fuel prices not only affect the cost of driving but also make their way in other prices, he added.

Calculations have been made about what the market can tolerate and the result was 480 forints per litre, so “we stepped on the break there”, Orbán said.

 The Left has always called for market-based utility fees but “we say that there should be fixed prices and not market prices in areas belonging to the subsistence of households”, he said.

“When the market cannot resolve problems, we need to interfere, keeping in mind that this can only be a temporary measure,” Orbán said.

A government decision could be made next week about “rescuing small businesses from the weight of higher utility fees” so that they, too, could get the lower prices, Orbán said.

He added that Brussels bureaucrats “vomit blood” from Hungary’s utility fee cut scheme because “multinationals dictate” in Brussels.

He said Hungary’s government was on the side of the people, whereas the left wing was on the side of multinationals.

Commenting on GDP growth, he said negative developments in global economy, especially disruptions in supply chains in car manufacturing, prevented Hungary from achieving 7-8% growth, or even 10%.

At the same time, Hungary’s good economic performance enables offering personal income tax exemption to people under 25 next year and paying a full 13th month pension in mid-February to pensioners, he added.


MTI Photo: Szilárd Koszticsák