Brussels wants to corner Hungary on the issue of immigration, but whether with allies or without supporters, the Government maintains its former position, János Lázár, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office said at the press conference Governmentinfo 73 which he held jointly with Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács.
The Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office believes that the pro-migrant forces are preparing for a breakthrough at the summit of the European Council next Friday, and two new terms have also emerged in EU documents: mandatory distribution and mandatory solidarity. In his evaluation, Germany and others will want to force a decision on these issues in the next few weeks.
The Minister stressed: the Government has neither the possibility, nor the intention to approve the mandatory distribution, the Cabinet’s hands are tied by the outcome of the referendum and the decisions of Parliament and the Constitutional Court, as well as by the decisions of 2,500 local governments. Hungary will also request the costs of the protection of the border amounting to some HUF 150 billion to be offset against solidarity.
Mr Lázár argued that while the EU’s proposal is about an automatic distribution mechanism which is seen as a solution for the future as well, Hungary takes the view that migrants must not be allowed into the EU, and those who are already in must be taken out and must undergo the relevant immigration proceedings beyond the borders of the EU. As he said, there is an unbridgeable gap between these two positions.
At its two-day meeting held in the countryside, the Government reviewed the risks and opportunities in detail, and favours a voluntary mechanism instead of a mandatory distribution scheme, he said.
With reference to the position issued by the Constitutional Court last week, he highlighted that the distribution of migrants affects sovereignty in its very essence, and Hungary is therefore unable to participate in such a scheme.
PISA results to be reviewed at educational roundtable discussion
The Government is requesting Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog to organise an educational roundtable where they are to review the results of the PISA 2015 survey together with the interest representations and professional organisations of teachers.
The Minister said: at the cabinet meeting, they reviewed the results of the education tests released recently.
He told the press that the Government does not wish to sweep the results off the table. They would like to review them in detail at a series of roundtable negotiations, and to engage in a genuine discourse on how to change the content and methodology of education.
Mr Lázár stressed: they do not wish to hold teachers solely accountable for the results, but the parties must sit down and talk about them, and the teacher community must take part in this debate. He added: schooling is not a political issue, and they wish to contribute to a meaningful professional dialogue in the capacity of moderator.
In answer to a question concerning the responsibility of the Government and the Minister, he said: it is not the Minister or the State Secretary responsible for education that teaches children, and the tests were not completed by the Government, but by children of schooling age.
He pointed out: the Government is able to create the necessary conditions and framework, and has done so. These are not issues concerning the operation of schools or financing. According to the EU’s latest report, Hungary spends more on education than the EU average, the Minister stated.
He also said that the average scores of the Central-European countries in the PISA survey were similar to those of Hungary. At the same time, the Polish results have improved dramatically in consequence of the content reforms implemented in recent years.
He remarked: the social debate of the national curriculum is expected to take place in January. In answer to a question concerning the introduction of nine-grade elementary education, he said: they can only talk about this in the next three years, but its implementation is not realistic.
The Minister further informed the press that they discussed the report on the good state which the Public Service University prepared for the second time. The several-hundred-page-long document contains local and international data, Mr Lázár said, who added: they selected a few issues which they discussed thoroughly. They reviewed the competitiveness indicators, he pointed out, adding: Hungary’s international competitiveness ranking is not improving which is absurd against the background of the significantly increasing GDP and the general economic growth.
New pay scale for mayors may be introduced as early as January
Mr Lázár announced that a five-party consensus had been reached regarding the pay of mayors. If they also manage to come to an agreement on the actual percentages, the new system may enter into force as of 1 January. By the Minister’s account, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér has started the consultations with the parties, and according to plans, the Mayor of Budapest would receive a ministerial salary, the mayors of county-ranked cities and district mayors would be eligible for the salaries of state secretaries, while the pay of the leaders of all other localities would be determined as a set percentage of this.
If a small locality is unable to pay the mayor’s salary, they will receive the required sum from the Ministry of Interior, while where finances permit, salaries will be paid from local tax revenues.
If an agreement is reached, Parliament may designate the relevant frameworks next week, while the specific decisions will be adopted by the local boards of councillors.
Ad hoc committee may be set up to monitor EU funds
The Government supports the opposition’s proposal to set up an ad hoc committee in Parliament which would monitor the absorption of EU funds between 2007-13 and beyond, Mr Lázár said.
According to his information, they further decided to initiate a consultation with the parliamentary parties regarding the simplification of the system of calls for proposals. He said: they will also seriously consider proposals which relate to the reinforcement of the normativity of the automatic grant system and the call system in the individual calls for proposals.
Mr Lázár told the press that they had released calls for proposals worth HUF 6,853 billion by 5 December, which represents 76 per cent of the available allocation. The Minister confirmed that a sum of HUF 1,600-1,700 billion is expected to be disbursed this year.
Residual funds only to be used for development purposes; there will be no bonuses
In answer to a question, the Minister said that the Government will only use this year’s residual fiscal funds for development purposes, and there will be no bonuses. The Minister for National Economy has not yet identified the size of the available allocation, but there are a number of grant requests concerning large projects on the Prime Minister’s table, he said. The Minister also informed the press that the workers of government offices raising minor children received a universal grant amounting to one billion forints in total on 6 December, as they did at Easter as well, but there were no individual bonuses.
Mr Lázár further highlighted that the reduction of public administration fees will leave HUF 1.6 billion with the people. However, digitisation in Hungary is still „struggling with a major handicap”, and the digital skills of education, the economy and bureaucracy must be developed. In his words, 20 cases out of 100 are processed electronically today, while in his view 70 to 80 would be ideal.
He was also asked about the delivery of the Erzsébet vouchers worth HUF 10,000 intended for pensioners. He said that (Mrs) Péterné Boros, the head of the Trade Union of Hungarian Civil Servants, Public Sector Workers and Public Service Workers cited valid and reasonable arguments against involving the district offices in the procedure. She cited human, rather than legal considerations which the Government accepted, the Minister explained, who also added that the district and government offices perform similar responsibilities on a daily basis. For instance, they are responsible for surveying remote farms as well.
Mr Lázár was asked several questions about the state of the Budapest metro. He pointed out that if the metropolitan mayor contacts the Government, they are ready to help. He also indicated that it is the duty and responsibility of the metropolitan municipality as operator to decide what qualifies as a crisis situation and when to stop a train. The Government will provide, however, every support.
In response to a journalist’s question, the Minister further commented on the reduction of the sentence of the man convicted of the murder of the taxi driver in Domaszék. With its Thursday judgement, the court of appeal significantly lessened the sentence of life imprisonment handed down to Roland Tóth, who is now forty years of age. Mr Lázár said: he found the judgement at first instance fairer. He argued: he is in favour of stringent sentences, even if he must respect the judgements of the courts as a power branch that is independent of executive power. He added: sentences were tightened in Hungary after 2010 in order to increase public security. In symbolic cases it is important for society to perceive that there is not only law in a country, but also administration of justice.
(MTI)
