The new government seeks to introduce a career path model for police officers, Minister Sándor Pintér said at the joint meeting of the defence, law enforcement and national security committees, where the ministerial candidate’s hearing took place.

Mr. Pintér said the career path model would represent the clearing of a huge debt. The proposed model would include support for law enforcement officers with regard to housing, life insurance and loans as well as an increase in their salaries.

The act on local governments adopted during the previous term, Mr. Pintér said, had successfully ended the conditions that had hindered the development of local governance. Assuming the debt of local governments, another important measure introduced by the government, has opened new opportunities for their development, he added. In order to prevent them from falling into debt again, efforts should focus on reviewing their budgets and expenditures by establishing a central database for this purpose. It is necessary to develop a budget information system that could prevent the indebtedness of local governments and would also provide a powerful tool to the government to indicate in which areas they require further support. All these measures would assist the operation of the task financing system established by the government in the past term, Minister Pintér said.

We must enable people not employed by the market sector to find jobs through the public work scheme, he said, adding that he expects full employment to be achieved by the end of the current term.

As for water, he described conforming to EU norms, the diversion of excess water and the securement of water bases during drought periods as main goals of the government.  

In connection with the Office of Immigration and Nationality, he highlighted the efforts focused on the administration of the work regarding simplified naturalization, and presented his plans for cooperation with Serbia and Ukraine in tackling illegal immigration.

He also mentioned the IT development of the public administration system as well as the introduction of the electronic signature.

In connection with the police, he stressed that last year the number criminal offences dropped, while the efficiency of the police increased. He also mentioned the reform of organisation management, the development of the 112 emergency phone number service and talent management.

Minister Pintér highlighted the extension of the organisation of disaster management and the newly installed district firefighter posts.

He said that 75% of imprisoned persons currently work and the government would like to eventually see all inmates working, and also that prisons in Hungary become fully self-sufficient (currently their level of self-sufficiency is 70%). Mr. Pintér also elaborated on his plans regarding the construction of new prisons, individual penal enforcement models and job offers through the public work system for newly released detainees.

In connection with the National Protection Service Mr. Pintér said that from now on the Ministry will be in charge of the fight against corruption as a whole. The Counter Terrorism Centre’s goal is to implement countermeasures that prevent terrorist attacks against Hungary, while its operational division is to assist the work of co-agencies - the CTC’s work is indispensable, he added.

At the hearing, he highlighted IT development projects at both the Constitution Protection Office and National Security Service.

The defence and law enforcement committee and national security committee both voted in favour of Mr. Pintér’s appointment as Minister of Interior, with votes 6 for to 1 against, the votes 4 for to 1 against, respectively.

(Ministry of Interior)