At his regular Thursday “Government Info” press conference, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office János Lázár announced that the Government will organise an internal conference at the beginning of July – probably on 3 July – in order to determine the tasks for the next three years, based on the latest prognosis of the OECD and the working plans of ministries. He also announced the start of a consultation on public administration cost cuts and a new debt collection system from September.

Mr. Lázár said that by 30 June the ministries will have to prepare action plans on the tasks they consider necessary in the fields of education, health care, reducing bureaucracy, increasing competitiveness and tax procedures.

A number of institutions’ leaders will also be invited to the government conference in early July, including Governor of the Hungarian National Bank György Matolcsy, President of the Hungarian State Audit Office László Domokos and President of the Budgetary Committee Árpád Kovács.

Minister Lázár said that lessons must be drawn from the last five years of governance, and a new programme is needed to increase Hungary’s competitiveness.

He also told the press conference of more than two hours that a two-month consultation will start on public administration cost cuts to identify the fees charged for public services that should be reduced or abolished.

The Minister reiterated that the Government expects a HUF 10 bn loss in revenues as a result of the reduction and abolition of public administration fees.

The Government will conduct the consultation on the reduction or abolition of certain fees between 5 June and 6 August. People will be welcome to express their opinions in person in district offices or on government office websites, the Minister said, mentioning that the Government proposed to cut the fees of criminal record certificate applications, deregistration of stolen motor vehicles, and the replacement of stolen personal documents, among other items.

With respect to road development, Mr. Lázár said the Government will spend HUF 70 bn on the development of inferior roads. The programme will be funded by the EU.

Confirming Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s words the day before in Szolnok, Mr. Lázár explained the Government had closed the issue of the M4 motorway and decided to connect the M0 with Szolnok by a four-lane expressway along Main Road No. 4. The construction may start next year with an estimated budget of HUF 110 bn.

About the cancelled M4 project the Minister said the road will be built on the original route between Abony and Törökszentmiklós with simplified technical specifications. The technical content will also be revised for the section between Törökszentmiklós and Fegyvernek, and then the Government will announce a new call for tenders.

Mr. Lázár added that they would settle accounts with the three construction groups as these companies had received around HUF 28 bn of advance which they have to repay.

János Lázár also reported the convocation of a social consultation forum for 16 June with the Mayor of Paks about the preservation of the power plant’s capacity. The forum will be attended by mayors from 41 nearby localities, MPs and public figures from the region as well as professionals with the aim of keeping local residents informed in the next ten years. The social body will be convened every month to ask for and collect information and to prepare decision-making, spending HUF 1 bn of government subsidy to support local government developments.

The Minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office also announced a new debt collection system in place from September to help debtors in default. He said debt collection may not be inequitable and the Government will cooperate with local governments to give all assistance to the exposed debtors. He also said the Government would remodel the National Asset Management Company and consider a possible increase in the available funds to buy as many homes as possible. The Minister pointed out the Government’s ambition to make the prevention of family bankruptcy fully functional as soon as possible.

Speaking of the public employment reform, Mr. Lázár said the Government would guarantee 85% of the minimum wage to workers willing to undertake seasonal work and suspend their public employment status for a maximum of 120 days. He encouraged employers providing seasonal work to contact local governments or district offices to find workers for the job. At the same time, if a public worker is physically fit and healthy for a particular seasonal job but refuses the offer, his/her public employment status would be suspended for three months, the Minister warned.

János Lázár also informed the press about agricultural subsidies provided between 2007 and 2013. Specifically, a total of 4,400 bn were paid to 321,155 beneficiaries in the sector. 495 beneficiaries received more than HUF 1 bn, including 11 people who drew down more than HUF 10 bn, he said, adding that the defect in the system which calls for a reform is that nearly 75 percent of the funds were paid to only 5 percent of the beneficiaries, and an “even more alarming” figure is that 50 percent of the funds were received by the same 1 percent. He noted he disproved the amount of funds paid to the largest land owners but there was no room for changing the appropriation approved in 2007 within the programming period.

The Minister gave an account of his Tuesday visit to Brussels, emphasizing that neither Brussels nor Budapest expects Hungary to lose any fund appropriated for the 2007-2013 period.

In relation to the matter of Altus, he said he had sent the company documents to Brussels together with the documents presenting the finances of the Democratic Coalition (DK) and the asset declaration of Ferenc Gyurcsány, head of the DK, which Mr. Lázár thinks prove that “the DK was financed by Ferenc Gyurcsány, and Mr. Gyurcsány by Altus”, while Altus may have been financed by the European Commission.

Regarding the assignments of Altus by the European Commission, the Minister said, “I don’t assume that Mr. Gyurcsány received the money intentionally as a result of a conspiracy of the international labour movement, (...) it must have been a procedural mistake”.

In response to the remark that the Thursday issue of Magyar Nemzet reported on the reorganisation of Hungary’s permanent representation in Brussels, Mr. Lázár, who is in charge of the organisation, said he intended to carry out major changes in the representation. His aim is to make Hungary’s permanent representation at least as good as those of the country’s regional competitors.

At the same time, Mr. Lázár did not wish to comment on press information about the resignation of the current incumbent, Ambassador Péter Györkös. He said Péter Györkös is an excellent diplomat and Hungary will also need him in the next period.

With respect to the new trial opened this week by Budapest Metropolitan Court of Appeals in the Béla Biszku case, Mr. Lázár said Viktor Orbán requested information from Minister for Justice László Trócsányi in the matter. Mr. Lázár said, “I’m one of the people that are expressly outraged by the reasons set forth in the ruling”.

The Minister also said the police investigation supported his previous opinion that the President of the Hungarian Paralympic Committee should immediately resign. “If he refuses to do so he will cause damage every hour”, he said emphasizing the interests of paralympic athletes.

In response to a question about an interview where the President of the Budapest Bar Association talked about the telephone tapping of law firms, Mr. Lázár said he was sure László Réti had not been talking through his hat, so he asked him to contact László Trócsányi, who is responsible for both commercial chambers and for authorising secret data gathering.

(Prime Minister's Office/MTI)