In the next few years we will continue to have to engage in extended international debates in a number of areas, and also for this reason it is not irrelevant who will take charge of the country between 2018 and 2022, the Justice Minister stressed at a Budapest forum organised for members of the public on Monday, highlighting that today Hungary has a strong international reputation.
László Trócsányi stressed that only those can earn the latter “who have an opinion”. In answer to a question, he indicated that EU membership is “crucial”, but that “does not mean that we have to say yes to everything".
Exiting the EU is out of the question, the Minister stated in answer to another question, mentioning that with Brexit Hungary has lost an ally as Britain likewise did not share the vision of a United States of Europe.
He stressed that in the campaign they must render an account of the government’s activities during the period between 2010 and 2018 when they seek to secure the trust of the electorate for the next four years. He observed that in 2010 Fidesz took over the leadership of a country which was “in an incredible state of economic, political and moral crisis”.
He cited as an example that the budget deficit at 9 per cent was more than triple the current rate, there was corruption, an ongoing struggle between the head of state and the prime minister and a state of uncertainty as regarded the government. In the context of the latter, he mentioned that there were three prime ministers and five justice ministers over eight years.
Mr Trócsányi contrasted this with the fact that “we have managed to put the economy back in order” by reducing the deficit of the budget, raising the number of people in employment by 800,000, moving the economy from a services-oriented phase to a production-centred one, and building a workfare society.
He highlighted that on economic issues we also had to engage in battles abroad, fighting the strong interest representation capabilities of multinational corporations. Meanwhile with its family policy measures the government has moved demographic trends in a positive direction and has reunited the nation in a constitutional sense by granting Hungarians beyond the borders citizenship and voting rights.
Migration poses a major challenge for Europe, he stated, observing that “Hungary honours its international obligations at all times, but has a marked opinion on the issue of migration”.
He took the view that we must prevent those desiring a better life from setting out for Europe by channelling funds to the conflict zones.
According to Mr Trócsányi, these days we are observing the “crumbling” of the Schengen system, despite the fact that the right of the free movement of persons is one of the most important achievements. Quite evidently “many EU governments disagree with us” on this matter but a considerable percentage of their citizens agree with the Hungarian policy related to migration, he added.
(MTI)
