At a press conference in Budapest, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office János Lázár said that the Government sees the First National Utility Company as key to ensuring and continuing cuts in consumers’ utility bills.

He noted that the First National Utility Company has started operations recently, and people can sign up with the gas service provider at 300 post offices. At the same time, he confirmed that by the end of this year the company will be present in the electricity sector, and will also start operations in the district heating sector.

Mr. Lázár said that utility cuts must be protected from the “attacks” of the European Commission, as according to that body, cuts in Hungarians’ utility bills of 25–30 per cent contravene EU law. The Government’s planned response to Brussels will be on the agenda of next week’s Cabinet meeting, following which a dialogue can be started between the Cabinet and the Commission.

The Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office has proposed a wage increase of 30–50 per cent for those working in public administration (to take effect on 1 July 2016), which he will submit to the Government next week.

In his evaluation, the system of career models is clearly working: law enforcement employees will be paid an average of 30 per cent more from July this year, the teacher career model was launched last year, and from this year 6 400 general practitioners are receiving 130 000 forints more per month.

(MTI/Prime Minister's Office)