Hungary will reduce household gas and electricity prices by another 10 percent in October, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced at a press conference following an EU summit in Brussels on Friday.

There are more and more encouraging signs proving Hungary is on the right track, the Prime Minister stressed at the press briefing. He highlighted that unemployment is decreasing, the real value of pensions as well as real wages is increasing, while utility prices are also being reduced.

He also noted that the excessive deficit procedure has been lifted against Hungary; in addition to which the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has dropped plans to launch a monitoring procedure against the country.

The Prime Minister said he had informed his negotiating partners accordingly in the context of a discussion of the EU's country-specific recommendations. Hungary agrees with the recommendation for cutting public debt and launching purpose-oriented programmes to reduce youth unemployment.

However, it does not accept recommendations for halting cuts in public utility prices: he announced that a further reduction of overhead costs will take place in October. He added that burdens on banks will not be alleviated either as bank contributions are an important element of a long-lasting, fair burden-sharing policy.

With regard to the EU’s expansion policy, which was one of the subjects of the summit, the Prime Minister said that Hungary, along with the other V4 countries, supports Serbia’s EU integration.

(Prime Minister’s Office)