Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the European Commission had “no answer as to why they did not help with the blockade of crude deliveries”. As Ukraine is under attack, “the fashion in Europe these days is to stand by Ukraine,” he said. While that is understandable, “it is wrong and a mistake to think that Ukraine can do anything.”
Hungary’s digital citizenship program will be launched in September and “will be fleshed out by next summer”, enabling Hungarians to conduct their affairs on the internet, “instead of the current complicated and out-of-touch state systems,” Gulyás said.
Asked about the state of Hungary’s budget, Gulyás said liquidity was ensured for “months, years”. He acknowledged that consumption had fallen behind expectations in the past few months, and said the bad economic environment in Europe, especially stagnation in Germany, was hobbling Hungarian growth. While the Hungarian economy is not growing at the expected pace, it will still be in the top third of European economies, he said. A 3.5-4% GDP growth is expected, he added. Commenting on the arrest of the mayor of Budapest’s 3rd district on suspicion of graft, Gulyás said the scandal was further proof that “the left is riddled with corruption cases.” Noting that the nominating parties were standing by the mayor, who is now in pre-trial detention, Gulyás said those parties would have to ensure leadership in the district. For further developments, the procedure will have to be conducted “to see whether he can carry on leading the district,” he said.
Commenting on remarks by Péter Magyar, the leader of the Tisza party, on the state of Hungary’s healthcare system, Gulyás said that Magyar was attempting to “smear the performance of healthcare workers.” He said those “working under such circumstances” deserved thanks, adding that it was a credit to the “resilience” of Hungarian health care that the extraordinary heat had led to a mere 5 thousandths of operations being postponed. Gulyás said air conditioning was not effective in heat above 36°C as it could only reduce temperatures by 10 degrees. Since extreme temperatures were expected to become regular, the minister said hospitals needed special protocols to deal with the situation, noting that Mediterranean countries routinely rescheduled non-vital operations in extreme weather. At the same time, Gulyás said hospital AC systems had been assessed and faulty equipment was being repaired or replaced, “although that doesn’t happen from one day to the other”. In other places, the hospital’s electric system could not cope with the increased demand, he said, but added that increasing the capacity of those systems would require “incredibly high sums”. The aim is to air condition all rooms where care is carried out, he added, however. The government had ploughed significant funds into repairing and installing air conditioners in hospitals, and will continue to do so, Gulyás said. Health care remains a priority for the government, as mirrored in the wage hikes for doctors and nurses, and their increasing numbers, he said. The government paid all debts of Hungarian hospitals in June, and has allocated a 12.5 billion forint surplus to health-care spending to avoid further accumulation of debts, he added.