The Hungarian government will be responding to Brussels' unjustified attack on the National Consultation, according to government sources.
The European Commission has criticized Hungary over a number of issue including immigration, energy prices and their stance on NGOs.
“The government is taking Brussels’ attacks on the National Consultation seriously and will be responding to the issues raised in detail." Bence Tuzson, the minister of state for Government Communication, said.
“The European Commission’s letter concerning the National Consultation includes distortions and untrue allegations," he stressed.
Among the distortions, the minister mentioned that with relation to immigration Brussels is “forgetting” the fact that a permanent resettlement quota is included among Brussels’ plans, and has already been decided on by the European Commission.
Tuzson also said Brussels is claiming that energy competition would reduce prices, whereas it was precisely an investigation performed by the European Commission on energy prices in the EU between 2010 and 2015 that indicated electricity prices increased by 20 percent during this period, while gas prices went up by even more.
“This is not the road that Hungary would like to take in the upcoming period, we must choose a different path," the minister said.
With regard to organizations that are funded from abroad, Tuzson pointed out that a report by the European Parliament (EP) also recommends that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be examined more strictly.
“The goal of the Brussels attacks is for fewer people to sign the National Consultation," he said, adding that despite this interest is high, the people of Hungary realize that these are important issues and around 900,000 people have already returned their filled out National Consultation questionnaires.
“A government’s politics can only be successful if it has the backing of the people, and this is also what necessitates the National Consultation. The opinion of every single Hungarian counts," Tuzson emphasised.