Addressing the Summit, the third in a series of major events related to family and demography issues organized by the Hungarian government, PM Orbán reiterated that migration, as a solution to demographic issues, has to be avoided.
Population decline “is almost exclusively a European problem in today's world,” he said, adding that there are several reasons for this, two of them being the First and Second World Wars, in which Europe lost 50 million people.
This is why, PM Orbán said, politics should take the initiative in addressing such a sensitive issue as demography. “This is why the Hungarian government decided to pursue a strong demographic policy.”
Global migration is not a solution to Europe’s population decline, the prime minister said. “Policies are being built in Europe that support the idea of population exchange,” he warned and added that “if we want to carry out demographic policy, then migration as a solution must be avoided.”
Speaking about the importance of families, Prime Minister Orbán said that “we [Hungarians] protect the traditional family model and think in national frameworks. If there are no families, then a national community can disappear.”
Welcoming his counterparts from the V4 and neighboring countries, PM Orbán concluded that from Serbian, Czech and Hungarian perspectives, there is a real danger that these populations could shrink so small that it would become impossible to maintain national identity. He said that Hungary respects Australia as a model country, especially for its courageous, straightforward and Anglo-Saxon consistency on the issue of migration and protecting the Australian nation.
There are, however, economic prerequisites to a good family policy. “Successful family policies also require money,” the PM said, highlighting that “since 2010, the resources allocated to families in Hungary have doubled.”
Photo credit: kormany.hu