PM Orban: Changes to road toll system to benefit Hungarians

Budapest, December 12 (MTI) – The planned changes in the road toll system will work to benefit Hungarians and the introduction of optional e-stickers for individual counties will be an improvement on the whole, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.

Orban told public radio Kossuth that drivers would have the option to pay an annual 5,000 forints (EUR 16) for using the motorway within a county instead of the annual 41,000 forints charged earlier for the whole country.

Commenting on the introduction of a toll on the M0 Budapest bypass, he said the aim is not to impose a tax on the agglomeration. The move comes as a part of the introduction of the county-by-county toll system, he insisted.

Orban said he was in agreement with the mayor of the Obuda district in northern Budapest that the Megyeri bridge over the Danube was a city bridge and this stretch of the bypass could be handled differently.

Asked about the expected revenue from the new toll system, Orban said there are estimates but facts can only be revealed after the first year, when it becomes clear how people adapt to the changes.

A proposal to introduce mandatory drug tests in schools and elsewhere is aimed at curbing the drug mafia. The drug mafia is growing in Hungary and concerns have been raised over the use of new synthetic drugs, he said, adding that the government had decided to clean up the country’s drug cartels within this parliamentary cycle.

Those who consume drugs cannot be entrusted with the fight against the drug mafia, so the plan to extend the drug test to politicians, journalists and people holding public office is with the intent to clarify “who stands where”, the prime minister said. Meanwhile parents should be offered help so their children do not become victims, he said, adding that drug tests must be available at every school upon parental request.

Orban called it his “personal strategy” that gas pipelines should bring gas to Hungary from every neighbouring country.

It is not the first time that there is a gas crisis in Central Europe because of a crisis in Ukraine, and this must be addressed, he said. It is a “basic national interest” that gas should come to Hungary bypassing Ukraine.