Hungarian parliament starts the spring session

Budapest, February 20 (MTI) – Hungary’s indices show the country’s economic model is viable, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told lawmakers on Monday, the first day of parliament’s spring session. All economic policy goals set for 2016 have been met, he said in his speech, which also covered migration issues and the government’s looming battles with Brussels.

“Hungarians have worked hard for their achievements,” the prime minister said. “Their work is gradually paying off, irrespective of party affiliation.”

Economic growth, a shrinking public debt and big foreign trade surplus, as well as record low unemployment and the healthy state of the tourism sector, are among the past year’s achievements, he said.

Last year Hungary reduced its debt-to-GDP ratio to 74 percent and the budget surplus in January was at a 17-year high, he said. Orbán said the government’s deficit target of 2.4 percent of GDP this year was “clearly” achievable.

Hungary’s economy grew by 2 percent last year, he noted, adding that the government targets a growth rate of 4.1 percent for this year and 4.3 percent for 2018.

He also said 2016 had been a record year for foreign trade, noting that Hungary had generated a trade surplus of around 10 billion euros.

Orbán also noted that the unemployment rate was at a record low of 4.4 percent in the fourth quarter last year, arguing that “full employment is just an arm’s reach away”.

Putting Hungary’s economic indicators into historical perspective, Orbán argued that Hungary was on the verge of an economic breakthrough.

The prime minister said that over the past 120 years, the country’s economic performance had reflected a cyclical nature. Between 1900 and 2010, averaged out, the country’s annual GDP per capita growth rate was never above 1.5 percent. This left Hungary trailing the developed countries, and attempts to close that gap continually proved futile, Orban said. Since 2010, however, Hungary has been registering higher GDP growth and consumption rates than the euro zone, adding that the employment rate was above the European Union average.

Orbán urged the parliamentary parties not to “squander” the chance to make economic progress thanks to achievements made between 2010 and 2016.

Meanwhile, the government is to launch a national consultation on “five dangers” facing Hungary, Orbán said, citing efforts by Brussels to introduce common energy pricing which could compromise government cuts to utility bills, EU policies on migration which counter Hungarian ones, and “attacks on Hungarian efforts” to cut taxes and create jobs. He also referred to foreign interference in Hungary’s affairs.

He said Hungary insists on retaining its right to set energy prices, saying that this was not a power which could be transferred to Brussels.

Concerning migration, Orbán said it still had strong support in Brussels. But “step by step the countries supporting migration and those in Brussels” are being “contained”, the prime minister said. Slowly but surely, Germany and Italy are also changing their stance on migration, he said.

Orbán said Europe should now turn its attention to migrant detention. He noted that the government plans to introduce a system under which migrants who have submitted an application for asylum will be banned from moving around freely on Hungarian soil until their case has been ruled on.

He added, however, that Hungary’s standpoint was shared by more and more countries in Europe, which support a policy outlined at a recent EU summit to set up refugee camps outside the bloc. Before, “Brussels had not wanted to even hear about the idea,” he said.

Migration pressure on Hungary’s borders is not expected to disappear over the next few years, which is why border protection will remain a top national security issue, Orbán said.