“The attack on the family support programme is yet anther reason for us to force a change of direction in Brussels in May”, the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Sate Secretary declared in an interview on Kossuth Radio’s “Sunday Paper” show.
Csaba Dömötör spoke about the fact that Brussels primarily has questions about the programme relating to competition law, but “this is in fact an attack against the Hungarian family support system in legal guise”.
He said this legal bullying is yet more evidence of double standards, since the tens of thousands of migrant cards are being financed from Brussels in such a way that not even the most fundamental security standards are being enforced. “In contrast, as the example indicates, they are trying to “mow down” measures aimed at encouraging the birth of children, which is absolute nonsense”, the State Secretary said.
“The issue is an excellent indication of the difference in approach, since Brussels wants to handle demographic problems through migration, whleh Hungary wants to handle them through the targeted support of families”, he added.
He stressed that reinforcing families is one of the Government’s priority targets, and accordingly the Cabinet is insisting on launching the programme on the first of July.
Mr. Dömötör also pointed out that the solution applied with relation to the ‘baby shower’ subsidy had previously also been chosen for the distribution of family home creation sceme (CSOK) subsidies, and Brussels had raised no objections at the time.
“The Government hopes that the baby shower funding can provide tangible assistance to hundreds of thousands of young couples in future”, he highlighted.
In reply to a question on why Prime Minister Viktor Orbán rejected an invitation to take part in a television debate with the Socialist European Parliament group’s top candidate for the post of President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, Mr. Dömötör declared: “The European top-candidates must debate each other, not Prime Ministers”.
“The Prime Minister has a clear position on issues relating to the future of Europe”, he said, adding that this will be the first European Parliament election at which “not five years are at stake, but several decades, and at which economic issues will not primarily be the determining factor, but security and civilizational issues”.
According to the State Secretary, the dilemma surrounding the elections is whether Europe will remain in its current form. Meanwhile, it is a long time since the European political stage has been so divided, he added.
With relation to migration, “we would not like to come to a compromise” with those who would only offer Europe self-surrender”, Mr. Dömötör stated, stressing that tough debates are needed, rather that “surrendering” the achievements we have realised over centuries.
Mr. Dömötör said the fact that the nongovernmental organisations funded by George Soros had taken action in the interests of having the Article 7 proceedings against Hungary launched before the European Parliament elections was “part of the usual application of pressure”.
“The advantage of the procedure is that it will most certainly involve facts, and it will transpire by the end of the proceedings that we have already resolved the vast majority of the disputed issues with the European Commission years ago”, he added.
“We will, however, give no quarter with relation to some of the disputed issues, because we believe that nobody has the right to have a say in who we should or should not live with, for instance”, declared Mr. Dömötör, according to whom the fact that so many people are taking part in Fidesz’s campaign rallies is a clear indication of the fact that the people are aware of how much is at stake at the elections.
“We believe that 26 May will be a great day for democracy, because we have been talking for years about the issues that affect the future of Europe, such as the consequences of the migration crisis, and have fought hard, but this will be our first opportunity to decide at a pan-European election on what politics should be practiced”, he said.
“Every vote counts. This is the time to give a red card to those who would squander away the future of Europe”, the State Secretary pointed out.
(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)