“The 2019 budget adopted by Parliament on Friday is a forward-looking one in view of the fact that the Government is providing more funding for all priority areas”, the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary State Secretary, Csaba Dömötör said on Kossuth Radio’s “Sunday Papers” show.

“Parliament is completing a busy session following the elections, as a result of which the Constitution now stipulates the ban on forced resettlement, organising illegal immigration has become punishable, the Fundamental Law now includes the fact that state institutions must protect Christian values, and we have already adopted next year’s budget, which is the budget of security and growth”, he said.

Mr. Dömötör highlighted the fact that the Cabinet’s goal is a strong Hungary that is growing, while being able to guarantee security, without which economic growth is not sustainable.

“This is supported by the further increase in funding for families, as a result of which families with two children will be able to deduct 40 thousand forints-a-month from their taxes next year, while employer contributions will also be decreasing, which in turn provides an opportunity for further wage increases”, the State Secretary said, listing some of the measures included in next year’s budget.

He stressed that in addition to the private sector, law enforcement employees and nurses will also be receiving further wage increases. “Jobs represent the shortest route out of poverty, and this is why it is important that over 700 thousand new jobs have been created since 2010”, he said.

“Meanwhile, it seems the opposition hasn’t even bothered to take a look at the budget’s figures, because in contrast to their claims the 2019 budget includes over 100 billion forints more funding for healthcare, some 150 billion forints more for public safety and defence, and over 200 billion forints more for local governments than is available this year”, Mr. Dömötör explained.

The State Secretary mentioned that one socialist MP submitted an amendment proposal, but then didn’t even bother to attend the vote on his own motion, and according to reports several members of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) leadership have gone on holiday prior to the end of the current session of Parliament. Furthermore, Jobbik has requested funding for a settlement that doesn’t even exist, except in a television series, he added.

Mr. Dömötör also spoke about the fact Hungarian diplomacy has completed an offensive, the likes of which has not been seen for a very long time. “The Hungarian Prime Minister has held talks with a large number of world leaders, which also indicates the fact that Hungary’s voice is now better heard around the world”, he said.

The State Secretary pointed out that Hungary is not the only country battling against the fact that “organisations that are financed from abroad and that operate in a non-transparent manner are supporting and organising immigration”. “The goal of the ‘Stop Soros’ legislative package is the introduction of laws that serve as a deterrent to such activities”, he highlighted, adding that this has absolutely nothing to do with the provision of humanitarian aid, because the legal framework for that already exists.

According to Mr. Dömötör, the new legislation is aimed at groups that, for example, help illegal immigrants acquire refugee status who are otherwise not eligible for it.

The State Secretary repeated that the Government regards the infringement proceedings launched in Brussels with relation to the legislative package as the application of political pressure. “Sometimes they attempt to break Hungary via legal procedures, and sometimes using financial means”, he said.

According to the Cabinet representative, the draft of the budget for the upcoming seven-year EU programming period, in which more would be spent om migration, while emphasis is not being placed on the correct areas, is not reassuring. “Instead of border protection, the EU is taking about border management, which could also mean immigration becoming permanent and the introduction of a new legal framework for it”, he pointed out.

“In addition, Brussels plans to harmonise asylum procedures, which represents a danger of them taking the right to determine who is a refugee and who counts as an economic migrant out of our hands”, he added.

Mr. Dömötör said that in his opinion, although Brussels did not succeed in having the mandatory resettlement quotas adopted at the last attempt, “this does not mean that they will not be trying again in future, meaning we must stay on our toes”. “From this perspective it is very important that the Constitution now declares that foreign populations cannot be resettled in Hungary”, he noted.

The State Secretary confirmed that Hungary can only remain strong in the long-term if in the meantime Europe also does not become weaker. “It is definitely not a good response to demographic and economic problems for Europe to give up its cultural values and make the development of multicultural societies irreversible”, he declared.

“We would like to continue to envisage Europe based on nation states in future”, he said, stressing that nation states must make the strategic decisions that determine their lives, because that provides greater accountability. “The Hungarian position is also an endeavour that reinforces democracy”, he added.

The Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary State Secretary declared that the Hungarian Government has sufficient social support to be able to make a stand with relation to these issues. “It is for this reason that it is important that the 8 April elections ended with a clear result, and that Hungarian society has confirmed during the course of several National Consultations that it would like to take action against illegal immigration and would like to retain its national identity, and that it has given the Government a mandate to take action within these fields”, he underlined.

(MTI)