At the most recent cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Orbán provided information about last week’s EU summit, where migration was the central topic, Gergely Gulyás said at the beginning of the government press briefing on Thursday, 6 July.
According to the Minister leading the Prime Minister’s Office, the decision reached by the Council of Ministers regarding migration is contrary to the earlier agreement that unanimous decisions would be required on the matter. Therefore, Hungary did not consent to the decision being made, the minister announced. As he stated, this legislative proposal would compel Hungary to process asylum applications and establish reception centres for migrants, which, according to EU rules, cannot be closed facilities.
‘This idea is equivalent to dismantling the fence. The regulation imposes the intake of migrants on Europe and Hungary, which is why we believe that governments of EU countries should do everything they can to reject this insane regulation,’ Gulyás emphasised.
He also stated that, on top of all this, Brussels is requesting an additional €98 billion in contributions from member states. Hungary does not approve of this contribution. As Gulyás pointed out, this request raises the question:
how have Ukraine and the EU spent their funds so far?
‘Where is the money?’, he asked. He also stated that Hungary is firmly against the cancellation of its energy price reduction programme, as requested by Brussels.
In response to a newspaper’s question regarding Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, the minister stated that, since the leadership of Budapest claims that the country’s richest city is in a state of financial crisis, it would be worth considering for the assembly if the city would be better off with a new ‘bankruptcy supervisor.’
‘The current city leadership received the Budapest municipality in a good financial condition. Yet, by today, we have reached the point where, according to its own left-liberal leaders, Budapest is bankrupt’,
the minister pointed out.
He went on to state that the government does not yet know what ‘near-bankruptcy’ means exactly for the city, and it wants to refrain from speculating until the situation is precisely defined. ‘The government expects the capital city not to go bankrupt. If it does, then the state will…determine where and how they can provide assistance’, the minister said.
As for the campaign financing scandal involving Mayor Karácsony’s 99 Movement, the minister claimed it is clear that Karácsony has been involved in a money laundering case. The fact that someone has received 500 million forints worth of campaign support, and some of the payments were made in euros despite clear money laundering rules, already indicates that some campaign finance rules were not followed. However, the case needs to be clarified before drawing conclusions, Gulyás emphasised.
In his opinion, in light of these events, the main question should be where the money is, and how it was spent. If it was done in violation of the law, there may be legal consequences, but that will be decided by the courts.
However, Minister Gulyás also believes that the Mayor should provide testimony. He found it strange that there is a person with minimal income and no significant savings who deposits 500 million forints, mostly in euros. ‘The question is, where did the money come from? We hope it did not come from criminal activities,’ he said.
Gulyás on Budapest Airport Acquisition, Teachers, Paks II, and More
Answering a reporter’s question, Gulyás also announced that the government continues to negotiate the acquisition of the Budapest Airport. However, what stake the government would hold depends on the ongoing discussions. He also mentioned that according to a new amendment, MR and CT scans will be nationalised, and the outsourcing of hospital pharmacies is also being prepared.
The aim is to have these tools available in public healthcare and to examine as many people as possible, which will lead to shorter waiting lists,
he added.
When asked whether Justice Minister Judit Varga’s resignation was initiated by herself or Viktor Orbán, Gulyás stated that while PM Orbán tried to persuade Varga to stay, she wanted to leave her post.
The administration will commit between 6–7 trillion forints to teacher salary increases until 2030, of which 800 billion forints will be covered by EU funds, the minister said about the contentious issue of the state of public education workers. The government is doing everything possible to solve the problem and raise salaries as quickly as possible.
As for Paks II, the construction of the partition wall has begun, as Péter Szijjártó has informed the government about it, Gulyás stated in response to a question. The construction of Paks II could be completed as early as 2030.
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