Orban said Hungary's financial position was "untroubled".

He noted that Hungary's 24.5pc investment rate put it in fourth place in the EU, but said the top spot should be the goal. He added that 4,740,000 people were working in Hungary, while the average wage had climbed by 14pc, or 9.4pc adjusted for inflation, in the past year.

He acknowledged that state debt stood around 75pc of GDP, but reaffirmed the 50pc target. He said the budget was "doing well in pro rata terms" to achieve the 4.5pc-of-GDP deficit target.

Orban: New economic policy necessary

Prime Minister Viktor Orban pointed to the need for a new economic policy and new economic solutions to achieve economic success addressing lawmakers in parliament on Monday, at the start of the autumn session.

Orban said the first "action plan" containing government economic policy measures would be submitted to lawmakers with the 2025 budget bill. Rather than a "huge leap or a reform package reminiscent of the Socialist times," Hungary needed incremental measures in industry policy, company development and finance, he said.

Hungary's growth is in the first half of European Union countries', he said.

He said those measures could give impetus to Hungary's economic growth, adding that the country's GDP growth needed to reach 3-6 percent.

Without a new economic policy, Hungary can't preserve the results it has achieved so far, Orban said.

He added that the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and sanctions policies had accelerated the transformation of the global economy.

He also noted a growing division between the economies of the East and the West, and said the success of those initiatives would be the "worst-case scenario" for Hungary. Hungary's economy depends on being able to manufacture products for the global market, competitively, he added.

A smoothly working world economy and a world trade with a united structure is "vital" for Hungary, he said.

He said the government respected "100 percent" the central bank's independence and the interest rate environment shaped by its monetary policy.

Hungary's exports have reached 76 percent of GDP, putting the country 33rd in the world in that respect, Orban said.

Meanwhile, the new European Commission "is carrying on with a policy that divides and splits world trade," he said.

Brussels "is committing more and more" to dividing the world economy into blocs, "the tone and mentality of the Cold War is more and more prevalent".

"The EU... could choose to improve its own competitiveness ... it could enter the increasingly heavy competition and could take on the challenges from the emerging countries of the world economy. Unfortunately, it is not doing that, and the way leading to blocs being built is impossible for Hungary to tread on as it would lead to a narrowing of our economic independence, to vulnerability, dependence and economic stagnation, and to poverty," Orban said. Hungary will have to build a "neutrality policy", he said.

Hungary had a vested interest in maintaining economic ties with everyone, and follow the country's economic interests without "looking at the economy through the filter of politics", he said.

Hungary must reject everything that might lead to armed conflict or a trade war, he said. The new world order will favour those who don't allow themselves to be cornered, but will be able to keep their options open and preserve their activity.

Speaking about the flood protection efforts of recent weeks, the prime minister said that compared with the flood of 2013, the Hungarian state was now "more effective, more organised and better prepared", adding that the decision to extend the flood defence lines after 2013 had been the right one.

This past month's sudden flood wave was the second biggest this century, Orban said, noting that flood protection efforts were under way along the full stretch of the Danube, from Gyor in the northwest to Mohacs in the south. "The flood defence went well and we managed to avert trouble," he added.

Orban thanked those who contributed to the flood defence work for their efforts.

"We saw once again that if there's trouble, Hungarians show exemplary unity," he said. "Something from this should be carried over to peacetime."

Orban said Hungary's tourism sector had reached record highs this summer, adding that the number of Hungarians who took domestic trips and the number of foreigners who visited the country had never been higher. The number of Hungarians who travelled abroad also reached a new record, he said.

He noted that the government had repurchased the operator of Budapest Liszt Ferenc International in the summer and said passenger numbers at the airport were set to climb to 17.5 million this year.

Orban said 40,000 children had participated at state-funded Erzsebet summer camps around Lake Balaton during the year. They included over 3,000 from Hungarian communities abroad as well as a hundred Ukrainian children, he added.

The government has spent some 1,400 billion forints to build and renovate schools and kindergartens in recent years, he said, adding that 57 school swimming pools, 87 gymnasiums and 31 new schools were under construction.

He highlighted the inauguration of the country's biggest school investment, the Dunakeszi Student Quarter, north of the capital, in August. The gymnasium and vocational school, complete with gyms and a swimming pool, will have capacity for enrollment of 1,500, he added.

He said 13 million textbooks had been delivered to 1,200,000 students free of charge, while lower-income families had received 80,000 start-of-school packages.

Touching on the Digital Hungary Programme, Orban said a healthcare application had been launched in July allowing access to 80 healthcare institutions, and some 650,000 people had registered to get a home alert watch for seniors. Now, one in three Hungarians over the age of 65 have the home alert watches, he added.

The government has also launched the Digital Citizenship Programme, allowing users to make appointments at government offices with the touch of a button or access their personal or vehicle information, he said.

Orban said that state-owned energy group MVM had acquired a stake in one of the world's biggest gas fields. Hungary's solar capacity is third-highest in the world, after Chile and Greece, he added.

He said Hungary's economy was expanding at a rate 50 percent over the European Union average, but it needed to grow even faster. He added that Hungary's financial position was "untroubled".

He noted that Hungary's 24.5 percent investment rate put it in fourth place in the EU, but said the top spot should be the goal. He added that 4,740,000 people were working in Hungary, while the average wage had climbed by 14 percent, or 9.4 percent adjusted for inflation, in the past year.

He acknowledged that public debt stood around 75 percent of GDP, but reaffirmed the 50 percent target. He said the budget was "doing well in pro rata terms" to achieve the 4.5 percent-of-GDP deficit target.

He said the deadline for applying for prenatal baby support credit had been pushed back to July 1, 2026, while a new home renovation scheme had started on July 1. That programme is expected to allow homeowners to upgrade at least 20,000 homes, he added.

He said inflation had been brought down to 3.4 percent by the end of summer, while the central bank base rate stood at 6.5 percent.

Even though the government would like to see more favourable lending rates in the interest of supporting growth, Orban said it respected "100 percent" the central bank's independence and the interest rate environment shaped by its monetary policy.

He noted that Germany closed its borders, France's new prime minister announced to restore order at the country's borders, the Netherlands announced to draft its strictest ever anti-migration laws and the governments of Sweden and Finland are also discussing their own anti-migration laws. "The era of free travels will soon be over," the prime minister said.

"All it would have taken" was that those countries accepted Hungary's advice and barred migrants from entering the EU from the very start, Orban said.

He said numerous knife attacks had taken place in Germany, and some areas of the UK had been characterised by open attacks for weeks. "There are adverse circunstances in most western countries," he said. "We are not happy that we have proved to be right" but it is still not too late for them to come back to their senses, he added. However, it has become "trendy" that whoever protected its own and Europe's borders, and openly stated the truth was persecuted and punished, Orban said.

Hungary must pay because it had protected Europe, and Italy's deputy prime minister Salvini was facing prison because he had protected his country, Orban said.

"If Brussels continues to insist on the decision to punish Hungary for its stance on migration ... we will transport migrants who are banging on Hungary's doors to its main square".

"And as regards the war [in Ukraine], Hungary will be right, too, just like it was on the issue of migration. There is no solution to the war on the battlefield, where there are only casualties, human suffering and destruction. We need a ceasefire, negotiations and peace," Orban said.

The West had "jumped into" the Ukraine-Russia war hastily, based on wrong calculations and a mistaken strategy, he said. "The situation is increasingly worse, the fights are not decreasing but expanding," he added.

For the time being, Hungary is the only country in Europe that considers peace its mission, he said. A peace mission had been launched to visit Kyiv, Beijing and former US President Donald Trump, opening a debate about peace in Europe, which had been impossible earlier, he added.

An international group of countries dubbed Friends of Peace has been formed "which does not want to sit idly as they make humanity drift to the edge of world war three," he said.

Hungary's government will not hesitate to use all the tools at the state's disposal to protect the country's sovereignty and independence, Orban said.

"We will protect Hungary from any sanctions that threaten the interests, security, well-being and health of the Hungarian people," he told lawmakers.

Hungary's government, he said, was a nationally-minded one, which also made it a sovereigntist government. "International cooperation is an important and nice thing, but we know that we can only rely on ourselves," the prime minister said, adding that national unity and governance had been the answer in "troubling times" throughout Hungary's history.

"In certain European countries, including Germany, this happened the other way round, and that's why they're distrustful and at times even hostile to sovereign governments and sometimes openly and sometimes covertly seek to limit the sovereignty of national governments," the prime minister said.

Orban: Hungary has become stronger over a decade

Hungary and the Hungarian state have become stronger over a decade, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on the first day of parliament's autumn session on Monday.

The prime minister told lawmakers that compared with the flood of 2013, the Hungarian state was now "more effective, more organised and better prepared", adding that the decision to extend the flood defence lines after 2013 had been the right one.

This past month's sudden flood wave was the second biggest one this century, Orban said, noting that flood protection efforts were under way along the full stretch of the Danube, from Gyor in the northwest to Mohacs in the south. "The flood defence went well and we managed to avert trouble," he added.

Orban thanked those who contributed to the flood defence work for their efforts. "We saw once again that if there's trouble, Hungarians show exemplary unity," he said. "Something from this should be carried over to peacetime."

Orban: 'We will protect Hungary's sovereignty, independence'

Hungary's government will not hesitate to use all the tools at the state's disposal to protect the country's sovereignty and independence, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on the first day of parliament's autumn session on Monday.

"We will protect Hungary from any sanctions that threaten the interests, security, well-being and health of the Hungarian people," Orban told lawmakers.

Hungary's government, he said, was a nationally-minded one, which also made it a sovereigntist government. "International cooperation is an important and nice thing, but we know that we can only rely on ourselves," the prime minister said, adding that national unity and governance had been the answer in "troubling times" throughout Hungary's history.

"In certain European countries, including Germany, this happened the other way round, and that's why they're distrustful and at times even hostile to sovereign governments and sometimes openly and sometimes covertly seek to limit the sovereignty of national governments," the prime minister said.

Orban: 'We'll transport migrants banging on Hungary's doors to Brussels' main square'

Addressing parliament's plenary session, the prime minister said "if Brussels continues to insist on the decision punishing Hungary for its stance on migration … we will transport migrants who are banging on Hungary's doors to its main square".

The issue of migration fuelled heavy debates in the whole of Europe during the summer, Viktor Orban told the assembly.

He noted that Germany closed its borders, France's new prime minister announced to restore order at the country's borders, the Netherlands announced to draft its strictest ever anti-migration laws and the governments of Sweden and Finland are also discussing their own anti-migration laws. "The era of free travels will soon be over," the prime minister said.

He said "all that would have been needed was to accept Hungary's advice, follow Hungary's model of disallowing migrants to enter the EU right at the beginning".

"And as regards the war [in Ukraine], Hungary will be right, too, just like it was on the issue of migration. There is no solution to the war in the battlefield, where there are only casualties, human suffering and destruction. We need a ceasefire, negotiations and peace," said Orban.

MTI Stock Photo - for illustrative purposes only

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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