The government welcomes Parliament’s decision in which it called upon the government to terminate the special legal order. The cabinet is asking for the promulgation of the law within the shortest possible time so that the government itself can decide soon and so that the special legal order can end at midnight on Wednesday, Gergely Gulyás, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office said at a press conference held on Tuesday in the Parliament Building.

The politician highlighted that everyone who took part in the fight against the epidemic deserves the highest praise and gratitude; national unity was forged even if the Left excluded itself from this joint effort.

Actors in the realm of politics failed to forge unity, he said.

He observed that the rules of the Hungarian Constitution are clear, in the present situation the government had legislative powers, but this is now coming to an end.

He stressed that the country is past the first wave, there is no way of knowing whether there will be a second one, but the Operational Group will remain in session and the provisions committed to law will remain in effect.

In the national consultation, members of the people will have an opportunity to state their opinions about the fight against the epidemic and its future directions, he stated.

He added that the state of danger will come to an end, but until the development of a vaccine the epidemic will remain with us, and certain measures will be required.

Head of Fidesz’s parliamentary group Máté Kocsis said Hungary had conducted a successful fight against the epidemic, and we had managed to avoid mass incidences. There are three reasons for this: the expertise of brilliant experts, the disciplined conduct of members of the public with which they complied with the requests of the Operational Group and the fact that the government adopted the necessary measures in good time, took swift action and so we avoided that which other countries could not.

He pointed out that the most necessary measures had been implemented much earlier than in other countries.

A state of danger was declared on 11 March, after the emergence of the epidemic in the country, but after the end of the fifteen-day time limit the opposition did not support its extension, he said.

He took the view that by doing so the opposition put the containment effort at risk, also later they continually attacked the measures adopted and the experts involved, refused to take part in joint actions, spread fake news about the supply of personal protective equipment and also attacked Hungarians beyond the borders.

This highlighted the fact that the Hungarian people cannot rely on the Left when in trouble, he stated.

The politician said the epidemic is still here, it can easily return, and yet, the Hungarian Left refused to support the maintenance of a state of disease control preparedness.

While the government-party majority enabled the passage of the necessary laws, we are one of the few countries in Europe where no unity was forged in the realm of politics due to the conduct of the Left, he said.

In answer to a question, Mr Gulyás said the government has not yet adopted a final decision about the 20 August events. If it is possible to hold such events, they could serve as a good opportunity for restarting tourism and would contribute to the restarting of the economy. They will decide later, based on the opinion of experts, whether the events can be organised without any risk; for the time being, there are only plans, he said.

He also mentioned that the government would continue to keep Parliament informed about the status of the epidemic.

The state of disease control preparedness is not in any way comparable to the earlier state of danger, it primarily involves technical measures, he pointed out, adding that the government has not yet decided about changing the rules relating to shopping.

In answer to another question, Mr Kocsis highlighted that during the fight against the epidemic, one could observe that not only the domestic left-wing media, but also a significant segment of international media seemed to be obsessively concerned with the fact that Parliament was allegedly not in session, when in actual fact it was the European Parliament and the Metropolitan General Assembly that were indeed not in session.

He took the view that in recent weeks several left-wing mayors have taken advantage of the situation in bad faith, and while the Left demand transparency, “in power they are the least transparent”. Today it is natural that a left-wing local government is not transparent, yet human rights organisations do not find this objectionable, he added.

Regarding the refurbishment of the Chain Bridge, Mr Gulyás said if István Tarlós were Mayor of Budapest today, the refurbishment project would be well under way.

The government maintains its earlier position and pledge; however, Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony is seeking to generate an unnecessary dispute in which the government does not wish to take part. Instead, the government would like to see the Chain Bridge refurbished, he said.

(Prime Minister’s Office/MTI)