Orbán: Polluters should pay for climate protection – Interview

The price of climate protection must be paid by those destroying the climate, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview published by daily Magyar Nemzet on Tuesday.

The largest, richest states and the largest international companies are primarily responsible for the climate crisis, Orbán said in his interview. “They must be given the invoice rather than the poorer countries.” “We cannot accept their raising fuel and food prices citing climate protection, exacting another ransom from Hungarian families,” he said.

Climate protection, Orbán said, “is not a matter of party affiliation or ideology” and added that “empty, political slogans will do more harm than good”.

On another subject, the prime minister spoke about the government’s family policy, and said that the family protection action plan offers “unprecedented support to Hungarians, an opportunity to plan for their future”. Support for families is crucial for a nation’s survival, he said, and argued that “if a nation is unable to sustain itself biologically, it will not be capable of preserving its cultural and spiritual community either, and will disappear”.

He added that

the government’s programmes have helped some 500,000 people to own a home, and Hungarian families had been able to save a total of 2,250 billion forints (EUR 6.8bn) through support schemes between 2011-2019.

Hungary has “Europe’s most comprehensive family support system” including a proportionate income tax, extensive home buying plans, incentives for young mothers to take up employment, as well as programmes to build kindergartens and creches, Orbán said. He added that the Hungarian economy is on an upswing, but warned that “this level is not enough to take further family protection measures”.

Orbán said that

2020 would be a difficult year for Europe, and said that Brussels had made “two grave mistakes: it allowed migrants in and mismanaged Europe’s economic policy”.

He argued that the EU’s competitiveness continued to deteriorate and the euro zone’s performance was worsening. Meanwhile, central Europe has become the “engine” behind the community’s economic growth. Hungary needs to protect its achievements, he said, adding that it would require “a comprehensive economy protection action plan”. The national economy needs “skills, technology and industries which can ensure not only jobs but high profits in the long run,” Orban said, and mentioned the car manufacturing sector, with special regard to electric vehicles.