In his state of the nation address this afternoon, PM Orbán announced his government’s seven-point plan aimed at reversing Hungary’s demographic decline. With the economic achievements of the last eight years, Hungarians have begun to believe again in their future, he said, but warned that much is at stake in the coming EP elections. Brussels has become the stronghold of a new internationalism and they stand ready to impose their own seven-point plan.
During the address held this afternoon at Budapest’s Castle Garden Bazaar, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced the Government’s long-anticipated family policy package, aimed at correcting Hungary’s negative demographic trends. The package includes expanded subsidies for home and automobile ownership for families, increased child credits, mortgage relief for child-bearing families, income tax exemptions and more. (See a list of the seven points below.) Protection of the family, including support for home ownership and assistance to couples bearing children have long been a priority for the Orbán Government.
According to PM Orbán, today we’re living in a Europe with birth numbers on a steady decline, so countries in Western Europe adopted migration as their path towards resolving the problem. However, the prime minister said, Hungarians are a different kind, “we don’t just want numbers, we want Hungarian babies.” Referring to the above package, he added that “this is Hungary’s response to demographic decline, not migration.”
If we continue down this same road, paved with disastrous demographic trends, then we may arrive at a point where there are no more Hungarians left. In PM Orbán’s words, “it isn’t inscribed in humanity’s ‘big book’ that there must always be Hungarians.”
Turning to Brussels’ pro-migration agenda and the upcoming European Parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Orbán said that there is a “new internationalism” with a stronghold in Brussels, and their gravest tool is migration. They call for a world without nations, he said. They want open societies and supranational global governance.
“Their seven-point plan has already been prepared and is ready for action,” PM Orbán said adding that should the pro-migration forces prevail in the May EP elections, they will set their plan in motion and transform Europe into an immigrant continent. He said that parts of this plan include reviving the quota system, handing out migrant visas and debit cards loaded with EU money to immigrants, and increasing funding for groups that support immigration.
“This is what’s at stake during the EP elections,” the PM said, “this is what’s cooking in Brussels.”
On the economy and other factors, PM Orbán listed numbers to compare today’s Hungary with the Hungary of 2009. “We raised employment to 70 percent from 55 and cut unemployment to a third,” he said. The number of marriages has grown, infant mortality has declined, incomes are continuously growing, and the minimum wage has more than doubled. “As a result of ten years of joint work, Hungarians again believe in their future.”
“Over the last ten years our nation put the country back on its feet, switched from going downhill to uphill,” the prime minister said and asked, “What is this if not a story of ascent?”
However, to keep ascending, he said, Hungary should keep annual GDP growth at 2 percentage points higher than the EU average.
Approaching his closing remarks, PM Orbán said that while Hungary has come a long way, “the greatest journey for Hungarians is yet to begin, the biggest victories are yet to come.”
Here are the details of the Orbán Government’s seven-point plan:
Young married couples are now eligible to apply for a 10 million HUF childbearing loan with a discounted interest rate.
1. Young married couples are now eligible to apply for a 10 million HUF childbearing loan with a discounted interest rate.
2. The family home ownership subsidy program, known as CSOK, will be expanded to include used homes as eligible for the financial subsidy.
3. The government will deduct over 1 million HUF per child from the mortgages of young, married couples and 4 million for the third child.
4. Women who have given birth to at least four children will be granted life-long exemption from personal income tax liability.
5. Families with three children or more can apply for a 2.5 million HUF, non-repayable grant toward the purchase of a new car.
6. The government will provide complete creche coverage through the construction of 21,000 nursery places over the next three years.
7. Grandparents can now go on maternity leave (GYED, GYED extra).