“It is important to stress with relation to the current migration crisis that Hungary is relying on its own domestic resources; the Government would like to support the Hungarian people and Hungarian families”, the Ministry of Human Capacities’ Minister of State for Family, Youth and International Affairs declared at a press conference held in the recess of the World Congress of Families in Budapest on Friday in Budapest.

Katalin Novák told reporters that at its meeting on Wednesday the Cabinet had adopted a family protection programme that will introduce further measures to assist families from next year.

Providing further details with regard to the measures, Ms. Novák said that starting on 1 January 2018 116 thousand women with student loans will be affected by the opportunity to suspend the repayment of their loans for a period of three years beginning in the third month of pregnancy in the case of their first child. With the arrival of their second child, loan repayment will not only be suspended, but in addition 50 percent of their student loan will be waived, while in the case of a third child the loan will be written off entirely.

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The Minister of State added that existing children will also count towards this opportunity, meaning that if a woman with a student loan already has a child, and the second is on its way, then half of their student loan will be waived.

“The Government would also like to reduce burdens on people with mortgages, in the interests of which from next year families will be able to deduct 1 million forints each from their mortgages with respect to their third and all consecutive children”, Ms. Novák told the press, noting that this opportunity does not include preferential loans taken on within the framework of the Government’s family home creation scheme (CSOK).

Childcare benefit for university students and women with higher education degrees will be made available for two years instead of one year beginning in 2018, she told the press.

The Minister of State also spoke about the fact that a new nursery school development programme will be launched in the interests of ensuring that there will be some kind of nursery school in or in the immediate vicinity of every single settlement in Hungary. “Next year’s budget will be providing an addition ten billion forints in funding for this purpose, over and above the resources already supplied”, she added.

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Ms. Novák also told reporters that two of Hungary’s current forms of family support will also be opened to families to whom children of Hungarian citizenship are born abroad, meaning that from next year they too will be eligible to receive the 64,125 forint maternity benefit, in addition to which they will also be able to apply for “baby bonds” and will receive the related 42,500 forints of starting capital.

In reply to a question on the new measure, the Minister of State said the Government was also thinking about how these benefits could also be provided to cross-border Hungarians who are unable to take on Hungarian dual citizenship.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)