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PM Orbán: 'Hungary will not allow Brussels to increase our energy prices'

The Hungarian government will not allow Brussels to phase out statutory fixed energy prices which would mean an end to reductions in household utility bills

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that the Hungarian government will not allow Brussels to phase out statutory fixed energy prices which would mean an end to reductions in household utility bills.

In his view, if there is no price regulation in Central Europe, pensioners, families and the disadvantaged will have to pay much higher energy prices.

The government will defend the reductions in household utility charges, and while this will be a difficult struggle, “we stand a chance”, PM Orbán stated, adding that in Brussels he expects the opposition position of Hungary to further strengthen.

The prime minister also said that unemployment is now below 5 percent, effectively meaning that whoever wants to work is able to do so. The situation, however, is not yet ideal, he indicated, as there are regional differences.

PM Orbán said that the economic situation in Hungary is more promising today than at any time since 1990.

“We cannot say that we have arrived, but we can say that we are well on the way, and our direction of travel is promising," the prime minister said, stressing that “we are one of the winning countries”, and this is something which the country has not experienced for a long time.

“Hungary has slowly but surely turned from a black sheep into a success story," which its opponents are also gradually beginning to recognize, “even if they do not like it”. Nevertheless, he noted, the Hungarian opposition has not supported the Cabinet in a single one of its measures.

If world economic growth is slowing down, the Government, the Chamber of Commerce and trade unions can be expected to chart a course which protects and maintains economic growth even alongside such external economic conditions, he said, adding that “we shall not lay down our arms, as we want higher growth”.