The government discussed the current situation in Brussels for more than 12 hours, because the most important news comes from there every day, and there will also be a European summit in December, Gergely Gulyás said at the briefing of the government on Thursday. The minister informed that there were two central issues at stake: changing the EU budget and Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Magyar Nemzet.
Ukraine’s accession to the EU
These two issues are not prepared, there is no justification for the EU budget to be changed, even though the current EU budget is not implemented, the minister said, emphasizing serious delays in COVID recovery fund payments. There is a preparatory package for Ukraine, but the country does not meet the criteria for EU membership. The timing is difficult to understand, and we fail to see what it would mean for the Union if Ukraine were to join. Hungary therefore cannot contribute to a common decision on any of these issues, Gulyás argued. He also stressed that even if Ukraine’s accession is accelerating, that of the Balkan countries is still pending, even if they are undoubtedly better prepared than Ukraine.
Interest rate freeze
Gergely Gulyás also announced that during yesterday’s marathon meeting the government also decided to freeze interest rates: the freezing of interest rates for small and medium-sized businesses will remain in force until April 1, affecting 30,000 entrepreneurs. The freeze on interest rates for households and the interest rate subsidy on student loans will remain in effect until July 1.
He also said beneficiaries should feel free to tear up and throw away the information letters sent by banks stating that they would have to pay the original interest rate again from January.
The minister touched on the topic of green energy, informing that the government has decided to launch a tender for 70 billion forints for energy storage. The application deadline is February 25 and successful projects must be implemented by April 2026.
Gergely Gulyas. MTI/Hegedüs Róbert
Draft law on national sovereignty, migration
Regarding the draft law on the protection of sovereignty, Gergely Gulyás said that left-wing parties served foreign interests and therefore such legislation was necessary. Since 1990, the Hungarian legal system has excluded the acceptance of money from abroad for election campaigns, a rule that the left has broken, the minister said, referring to foreign funds that supported the 2022 election campaign of the left coalition. Concerning the proposed Office for the Protection of Sovereignty, he declared that its budget would be significantly lower than that of the Office for Constitutional Protection.
He also believed that illegal migration should not be managed and legalized, but should be stopped and corridors closed to migrants. According to Gergely Gulyás, Brussels will only be able to change course on the migration issue if there is a turnaround in the European parliamentary elections. According to him, there is no chance that the European left will adopt a different position on the issue, because despite all the failures of the last seven years, it maintains the same views on migration.
Sweden in NATO
Regarding Sweden’s membership in NATO, the minister maintained the view that the government supports Sweden’s membership, but many concerns remain to be clarified. In an earlier statement, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently said that Hungary would not be the last country to ratify Sweden’s membership in NATO. However, Minister Gulyás could not specify how this will be achieved, while objections from a number of Hungarian MPs remain due to Sweden’s often controversial position on political issues concerning Hungary.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured image: MTI/Hegedüs Róbert