Speaking at parliament's judicial committee on Wednesday, Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, said that thanks to the government's Magyar Falu (Hungarian Village) program, the population of some 1,200 small settlements has started growing again.
Under the program, "nearly all" towns with fewer than 5,000 residents have received a subsidy in the past five years, Gulyás noted, adding that the "gap-filling" scheme was "extremely popular". He said 13,000 applicants out of 15,000 submissions had been awarded, adding that 2,400 civil organisations had received financing.
Some 1,200 villages have been supplied with minibuses worth 18 billion forints (EUR 43.4m) for communal services, and 381 billion forints have been spent on local infrastructure projects, Gulyás said, adding that more than 2,800 small shops have received grants worth a combined 7.5 billion forints. Under the program, 4,000 kilometres of roads connecting small villages to major routes have been renewed in recent years, Gulyás said.
Meanwhile, he said the National Cooperation Fund had increased considerably, amounting to 13.9 billion forints, noting that the government has spent some 100 billion forints on services for refugees from Ukraine since the war started. According to Gulyás, the number of refugees that have arrived since the start of the war will be over 1.5 million, and some 50,000-60,000 ethnic Hungarians from Transcarpathia are estimated to be living in Hungary. Fully 241,000 people have received temporary resident permits and 673,000 people have requested services at refugee aid facilities, he added.
Gulyás said the reconstruction projects in Buda Castle are underway, adding that the former Red Cross headquarters was complete and the building would be opened in January. The former Army Command Headquarters, Archduke Joseph's palace and the north wing of the Royal Palace are under reconstruction, he added.