Orbán: three-year wage increase programme could start for teachers and kindergarten nurses
2023 was a year of great struggles, Orbán opened his briefing. He mentioned war, inflation, migration and Brussels as challenges. The Prime Minister said that families had also struggled a lot, and that the value of pensions had been "protected", as had wages. He said real wages could fall by 1% by the end of the year for the year as a whole.
Working towards progress in 2024
The Prime Minister mentioned the new housing programme, the increase in the minimum wage and the guaranteed wage minimum. Orbán said that the real value of pensions could also rise if inflation is lower than expected. He also said that a three-year wage increase programme could be launched for teachers and kindergarten nurses.
Important election coming up
Brussels bureaucrats are living in a bubble, and the aim of the 2024 elections is for Brussels to "see reality" and correct the mistakes it has made this year, Orbán said.
EU migration package will fail, Orbán says
According to the Prime Minister, the Hungarian regulation is a "model regulation" and Brussels should follow suit rather than sue.
What will happen to support for Ukraine?
Looking analytically towards the February summit, the main question is whether and how much money to give to Ukraine. The Commission says let us give EUR 50 billion, but that money is not there at the moment. It can be taken out as a loan.
The Hungarian position is not to give money for several years in advance. We have to wait and see what the US says. A large sum could wreck the EU budget, Orbán believes.
The Hungarians do not want to borrow together with anyone else. We made this mistake in the Covid crisis,
he added.
Is Hungary under threat of Article 7 proceedings?
According to Orbán, we are currently subject to such a procedure, but the aim is not to take away any rights from Hungary. According to the basic treaty, another procedure is possible, the purpose of which would be to deprive Hungary of its voting rights, and
this can be launched if there is a continuing violation of the rule of law,
he added.
Such a procedure can be launched if there are problems with the rule of law, but the Commission has just said that these no longer exist.
"We do not want to tie any aid to Ukraine to Hungarian EU funds"
We don't want to tie any aid to Ukraine to Hungarian EU funds, we think the current budget is fine as it is, we just want it to be implemented.
The funds due to Hungary are in this budget. If they start to amend this adopted budget, then of course the Hungarian interest will also be reflected, the Prime Minister said.
Orbán says the European Parliament is blackmailing the European Commission
Orbán said that Hungary is being blackmailed in Brussels, with MEPs telling directly that Hungary should not receive any money.
He said that the Commission is being threatened by MEPs not to give money to Hungary. At the heart of the European institutional system is the Commission, and Hungary cannot do anything about the blackmailing of the Commission and its President.
Backdrop to the three-year teacher pay rise pledge
The background to the Prime Minister's announcement today is that, according to reliable information obtained by Portfolio, the government is close to meeting the thematic conditionality on the freedom of education in the framework of the negotiations with the European Commission, which could happen in the first half of January, until then this issue blocks the subsequent Brussels funding of the teachers' pay rise. The government also faces uncertainty over the fact that a previously agreed milestone was to start catching up teachers' pay to the average wage from 1 January 2023, but this has not been done, raising questions about how this can be subsequently settled with Brussels. If the thematic conditionality on the freedom of education can be settled, we understand that roughly €3 billion of catch-up funding will be opened up on top of the €10.2 billion that was released last week following the settlement of the horizontal conditionality on the judiciary. From this roughly €3 billion, the government could meet its wage increase commitment over 3 years.
The Hungarian Prime Minister cannot leave, he can only walk out
The German Chancellor or French President can leave.
The Hungarian Prime Minister can only walk out,
Viktor Orbán said, referring to his non-participation in the vote on Ukraine's EU accession.
In time, they will see that this decision is wrong and that Hungary is right. At the same time, Orbán said that the other 26 member states also had robust arguments.
However, Ukraine cannot be admitted to the EU without the authorisation of the Hungarian Parliament.
Loan to Ukraine can be agreed upon without Hungary
Orbán said that his aim is not to block any decision, but to get the "right decision". Giving Ukraine €50 billion 5 years in advance is not a good decision, he added.
No Turkish-Hungarian agreement on Swedish NATO membership
They will take a decision independently and it will be taken by the Hungarian Parliament, Orbán said. They
don't have much appetite to make this decision.
When they voted on Finnish accession, the Finns sued Hungary on a different matter.
Ceasefire should be in place by "tomorrow morning" in Ukraine
First we need a ceasefire in Ukraine and time for peace negotiations. The former should be introduced tomorrow morning - Hungary will go that far, the Prime Minister said. Viktor Orbán said he feared that the Russians would agree with the US on the fate of Europe over its head. Hungary has a vision only for itself and that expands beyond its borders only to the extent that
Russia does not have a common border with Hungary.
Hungary does not want to be in an alliance with a country that is at war with someone. NATO says the same thing. They do not want to be at war with Russia.
Israel has the right to defend itself
Israel has the right to defend itself and has the right not to find itself in the situation it recently found itself in again.
There are some countries in that region whose stability is in both Hungarian and European interests.
"We do not know whether money from the European Union has been paid to any terrorist organisation. But we need to investigate whether humanitarian aid has been indirectly channelled to any terrorist organisation," Orbán said.
In the new national consultation questionnaires sent out to the public by the Hungarian government, there are explicit claims that the EU has given money to Hamas. The diplomatic echo of the questionnaires reflected the outrage over these allegations.
What is the V4 for?
The V4 brings together the countries that are between Germany and Russia. A common Central European cooperation was the goal.
Let us be together as big as France or Germany,
Orbán stressed. It has fallen apart and we must work to put it back together. "We want a new V4 summit," he added.
Sovereignty Protection Bill
In the last parliamentary elections in Hungary, a significant amount of money - millions of dollars - was raised by the "left".
According to Viktor Orbán, the Sovereignty Protection Bill closes these loopholes.
We have not found a better idea than the one we used to make this law,
he said.
What were migrants doing at the Slovak-Hungarian border?
Hungarian border protection is good, but sometimes migrants get through it, Orbán said, referring to the fact that migrants also crossed into Slovakia before the Slovakian elections. "I do not accept that the effectiveness of border protection has ever wavered," he added.
Orbán rejected the idea that border protection was being strengthened or weakened for political reasons.
The goal is to have Romania join the Schengen zone as soon as possible, he said.
It is not known when the so-called Child Protection Act will be decided
Work has been going on since the so-called child protection referendum to decide on the amendments.
It is not possible to legislate a CSOK Plus and a personal income tax relief at the same time
This term, they could decide that mothers with three children should not have to pay personal income tax, as mothers with four children already do not have to.
"Teachers' salaries will be around HUF 800,000"
We will break the wage increase programme into 3 steps, with a 32.2% increase from 1 January 2024, a smaller but significant increase in 2025 and then in 2026.
The average salary will be somewhere around HUF 800,000 at the end,
Viktor Orbán said.
"Let's forget the word Dubai" in relation to the Rákosrendező development project
Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár will clarify who can build the "mini-Dubai" in Rákosrendező. If there is an agreement, then it will have to be clarified whether Budapest even wants it. An international contract is close to being signed, but
let's forget the word Dubai.
Announcement on the airport buyback could come any day
The state must get involved in the airport race to keep up. The government does not claim to be capable of running an airport, so "we need a partner who is French and capable of doing the job."
An announcement may be made any day,
there are only technical details that need to be finalised.
No decision has yet been taken on free public transport for young people, the Prime Minister added.
What will happen to the overheads reduction?
We are constantly monitoring developments in the gas market.
The good news is that 90% of all gas consumers consume below average, for electricity the figure is 75-80%.
A significant proportion of Hungarian consumers remain in a protected situation. More consumers are also paying reduced prices up to the average consumption.
The reason why a separate ministry for energy was needed is that circumstances change very quickly.
Anyone who gets a bad deal with the current subsidies can exit into the market system.
János Lázár criticised President of the Republic Katalin Novák for rejecting the castle adoption law
The government shows respect to the President of the Republic, Orbán said in response to János Lázár's unusually strong criticism of the Office of the President of the Republic.
The background to this is that President of the Republic Katalin Novák has not signed a law passed last week that would allow state-owned castles and mansions to be privatised free of charge. Instead, she sent it to the Constitutional Court for a review. János Lázár announced on Sunday that large Hungarian companies, OTP, Mol and Richter, as well as other companies with international backgrounds, would be offered to adopt some of the castles.
According to the explanatory memorandum, the concept itself is supportable, but the provisions of the law allow for private ownership without "the legislator having fully defined the guarantee rules to ensure adequate protection of national property". Reacting on Facebook, János Lázár wrote: "Even if I interpret the move in good faith, I do not understand its purpose. The lawyers of the Sándor Palace say: change without changing anything. [...] But if I interpret it in bad faith, I understand today's decision: cowardice and old communist reflexes are behind it. I hope I am wrong and that the President's lawyers have simply not read the law or do not understand its essence."
Fidesz will have a candidate for mayor of Budapest by March
Orbán did not go into any personal details.
Viktor Orbán says the Russia-Ukraine war is a "military operation"
As long as there is no declaration of war, it should be called that,
the Prime Minister said. He added that the term "war" could also be used, but since there is no declaration of war, it is formally a "military operation". He himself uses both terms.
Excise duty on fuel must be increased because of the EU
"The rate is irrelevant," he said, referring to the fact that the government is raising the tax above the minimum.
The issue has been covered by Portfolio on several occasions. The rate of increase expected by the EU depends, among other things, on the forint-euro exchange rate, which in principle could be based on the exchange rate level in autumn this year. For some reason, the government has not used that exchange rate, but last year's much weaker forint exchange rate, to determine the rate of increase, so the increase will be much higher than the EU expects.
Interior Minister Sándor Pintér is doing his job well
Orbán also said that a Prime Minister can never be completely satisfied with the state of the country.
Record inflation was caused by high energy exposure
The government is working to reduce this. This includes solar panel developments.
The shift economy in European politics is over
The Hungarian government wants the right-wing parties to really look to the right and not to the left. The Hungarian government is leaning towards the Italian Prime Minister's party group.
The Hungarian government has experience of the European Presidency
This is a mediator role for Hungary, the difficult question is how they will be able to defend national interests.
What will happen to hospital debt?
There have been many discussions on the issue over the days.
The problem is that the Hungarian health system is neither private nor public, but a mixture of the two. It is not good to move towards private, because poorer Hungarians cannot afford it.
We need a better regulated state system that does not ban the private system, but we don't want the two systems to mix,
because the profit always goes to the private system,
he said.
Referendum will decide what to do about euthanasia
Orbán has wished Dániel Karsai, the terminally ill constitutional lawyer who initiated the Strasbourg case for the legalisation of euthanasia, much strength, and added that he "keeps him in his prayers".
Under Russian law, the Russia-Ukraine war is not a war
Orbán says he is only adapting to himself, and the next time he meets Vladimir Putin he will be happy to use the word "war". He could have avoided the meeting if he wanted.
I do not behave under duress in foreign policy and I do not choose my words accordingly,
Orbán said.
Earlier, Orbán reported on his meeting with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, that he had indicated to Michel that he could not avoid the meeting with Putin, he was obliged to do so, and Michel accepted.
State ownership of MBH Bank should be sold
We should have sold the state ownership of MBH a long time ago, there is no point in maintaining it, it should be put on the stock exchange as soon as possible, but Márton Nagy does not agree with this, said the Prime Minister.
Why has Viktor Orbán's salary tripled?
Since 2010, wage improvement programmes have been launched by occupational sector, leaving politicians for last. If wages do not rise at home, politicians' wages cannot rise either. This is linked to the average wage by a multiplier. They waited 11 years and
now we have a transparent and fair system,
Viktor Orbán said.
It is not true that the increase in teachers' salaries is tied to EU funding
Hungary has not tied the increase in teachers' salaries to EU funds, Orbán said. If they have to do it from their own resources, they can raise salaries in 5-6 years, and with EU funds they can do it in 3-4 years. In other words, according to the Prime Minister, it is not true that the increase is linked to EU funds.
In a statement accompanying its March draft law, the Interior Ministry explicitly said that the increase in teachers' salaries will happen "as soon as Brussels pays the EU funds due to Hungary."
Why are businessmen close to the government getting really rich?
In response to a question on why the wealth of businessmen close to the Hungarian government is rising, Viktor Orbán said that he wished
all Hungarian capital owners every success.
New immigration law will be more transparent
There is no threat that guest workers will drive us out of the country. A big advantage of the new immigration law is that it will be more transparent, said Orbán.
Viktor Orbán would not vote for Zsolt Borkai
"I'm not from Győr, but even if I were, I would look for another opportunity for myself," he said when asked whether Zsolt Borkai is also running for mayor of Győr, Orbán said in his closing remarks.
