State Secretary of International Communication and Relations, Zoltán Kovács has clapped back at criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s family policy.
Economics professor Karl Heinz Hausner wrote in a column for German conservative daily Die Welt that PM Orbán’s family policy is reminiscent of the National-Socialist era.
The editorial prompted a sharp response from Kovács, who tweeted that “we appreciate getting Nazi parallels from a professor in Nuremberg, but it would be helpful if he first learned the facts”, and provided a link to an article praising the Hungarian government’s “stunningly successful” family policy.
Faced with a slow but steady decline in population, PM Orbán announced earlier this year a multi-tiered family and child policy aimed at increasing birth rates. The package consists mainly of financial incentives designed to offer young families the stability required for raising children.
The measures announced by PM Orbán include a HUF 10 million preferential loan for the first child, delayed repayment after the second child and a full write-off of the loan after the third child. Mothers with at least four children will be exempt from income tax and the state will fund a HUF 2.5 million rebate to families purchasing seven-seater family cars.
The measures – in contrast with Western Europe, where the mainstream looks at migration as the solution for its demographic problems – Hungary wants to solve it with domestic resources. Hausner’s column represents an all-out criticism against these.
“With this, Orbán’s ruling Fidesz financially imposes the Christian family model – or what it considers to be it – on all citizens, in order to preserve a homogenous Hungarian nation without annoying immigration. The nationalist family policy of Viktor Orbán is not only a step backwards, it is reminiscent of the Germany of 80 years ago. An open society does not look like this,” Hauser concludes.
Photo credit: origo.hu