Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás held a press briefing on Thursday, 12 September, following the cabinet meeting that had taken place the day before.
Minister Gulyás led with the announcement that the government has delegated Minister for European Union Affairs János Bóka to negotiate with the European Commission about the €200 million fine Hungary had received for not fulfilling the migrant quotas. Gulyás stressed that there are certain principles that the administration is not willing to give up on, one of which is honouring the Hungarian people’s will expressed through a referendum. Here, the Minister was referring to a 2016 referendum, where the proposition barring the EU from imposing migrant quotas on Hungary won by a wide margin. He also reiterated Hungary’s offer to pay for the transportation of migrants to Brussels, Belgium; and pointed out that Hungary had warned that if the external borders were not properly protected, border checks would have to be reinstated in the Schengen area, which has already come true in the case of Germany and other EU Member States as well.
He added that the Orbán administration is willing to sue the European Commission for reimbursements for the cost of protecting the Union’s external border, which he estimates to be around €2 billion since 2016.
Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy has been tasked to take charge of another negotiation process: he is in talks with Hungarian employers about the raising of the national minimum wage. Minister Gulyás pointed out that raising the minimum wage tends to lead to increased wages as a whole.
State Secretary for Government Communication Eszter Vitályos informed all that in the last two weeks, government projects to the tune of 84 billion HUF were completed, such as kindergarten renovations and public transportation developments.
When the floor was opened to the journalists present, Minister Gulyás was asked if he thought it is beneficial for Hungary that President Trump brought up Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as a positive example at the recent US presidential debate, to which he answered, with a chuckle, that if Donald Trump wins, it is certainly beneficial. Multiple questions came from the press about the proposal for a 1,000 HUF ($2.80) appointment fee in the public health care system. Gulyás stressed multiple times that it is to discourage people from not showing up to pre-arranged appointments, which hurts other patients, not an attempt to charge people for using the public health care system, like the infamous ‘visit fee’ introduced by the socialist Gyurcsány administration in the mid-2000s. The 1,000-HUF fee could even be refunded if the patient shows up on time for the appointment.
Minster Gulyás was also asked about the ruling by the European Court of Justice which sided with the Dutch supermarket chain SPAR, and found that the Hungarian government’s price control measures went against the Union’s free competition rules. Gulyás replied that this just proves that had been up to the EU, Hungarian citizens would not have been given relief from the high inflation that plagued the country last year. Staying on the topic of the economy, he also said that the Hungarian government is expecting a GDP growth of a little below 2 per cent this year, and a growth of 3 per cent the next year.
The Minister also revealed that the government has no plans to organize an Olympic Games, it is leaving the issue up to the Budapest municipal government and the Hungarian Olympic Committee.
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