"Last week’s agreement on the European Union’s budget for the next seven-year period is the single biggest success from Hungary’s point of view since the country joined the EU in 2004", Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his pre-agenda speech at the opening of the spring session of the Parliament on 11 February. The Prime Minister stressed that Hungary had achieved almost everything it possibly could have from last week's agreement.
In spite of the smaller European budget, Hungary has managed to secure 712 000 forints per capita of EU funding in the upcoming financial period as opposed 660 000 during the previous cycle, he said, adding that Hungary had received a “bigger slice of a smaller cake”. Viktor Orbán said, the 7 080 billion forints allocated to Hungary between 2014 and 2020 represent 3.6 per cent of the gross national income. Hungary has never before received such a large amount of funding per capita, he added.
The Prime Minister underlined that Central Hungary could no longer be counted as a lagging region, while EU funding for other regions has not shrunk, even though the original budget plan included such a proposal. The previously contested possibility of implementing VAT refunds will be retained and the proportion of EU funding for projects will be increased from 75 per cent to 85 per cent. These developments will result in savings of an annual 210 billion forints in the Hungarian budget, he said. Agricultural subsidies have not been affected by the EU budget cut, partly thanks to the efforts of the "French-Polish-Romanian-Hungarian axis".
"What has been achieved is an opportunity, a financing framework that Hungary may access and utilise,” the Prime Minister stated. However, this requires much work to be done at home, and the necessary programmes must be developed. The most important task is to channel around 60 per cent of community support to economic development and job creation. The Prime Minister emphasised that Central-European cooperation and comradeship has been a key factor in enforcing the common interests of the region.
Following the head of government’s pre-agenda speech, members of parliament addressed interpellations touching upon a number of current political issues. In response to a question on the state’s acquisition of the E.ON natural gas business, Viktor Orbán pointed out that previous discussions on Hungary’s energy dependency had been held between Russia and Germany, while, he said, it is apparent that Hungarians should discuss and decide about such crucial questions as the price of energy in Hungary. Concerning voices questioning the positive outcome of EU negotiations, he said that Hungary’s success is that of the whole nation, including the opposition, therefore it should be treated as a fact, irrespectively of political affiliation.
(Prime Minister’s Office)
