Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has held a series of consultations with political partner organisations, recognized economists, and with several trade and interest associations.

The series commenced with a meeting with representatives of the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP), during which the government's past two years were discussed.

The following day, the Prime Minister met leaders of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK), where he said that his aim was to convince Hungarians that working is better than unemployment. New jobs must also be generated in order to demonstrate that employment yields higher incomes than benefits. He said serious objections to the programme of tax cuts were likely to be raised, but participants in the national economy had voiced support for the policy.

The consultations continued with non-profit, economic, public and municipal beneficiaries of development policy. Accompanied by the President of the National Development Agency, Viktor Orbán provided an overall presentation on development policy and the government's New Széchenyi Plan. The Prime Minister said that EU funds contribute significantly to the Hungarian state budget and are the main source for development funding. For this reason, the Hungarian government has also realized the importance of the absorption of EU funding and in order to harmonize development project has founded the National Development Policy Cabinet led by the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister also met members of the National Forum (Nemzeti Fórum), a conservative organisation, with whom it was agreed that the government had made significant progress in several areas that the forum considered important, such as self-sustainable villages, social cooperatives, Hungaricums, the policy of opening towards the East and the National Equestrian Programme.

The Prime Minister then held a meeting with former central bank governors Zsigmond Járai, György Surányi and Ákos Péter Bod, as well as with President of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority (PSZAF) Károly Szász and economist László Csaba, with whom he discussed the potential impacts on Hungary of a bank union within the European Union.

Agricultural and rural development were also topics of discussion within the framework of the series of negotiations when the Prime Minister met leaders of the National Association of Hungarian Farmers' Societies and Co-operatives (Magosz). In a joint statement, Viktor Orbán and Magosz head István Jakab stated that, among others, protecting farmland and drinking water under the supervision of a national authority was included in both the government's programme and the fundamental law, and most of the proposals made by Magosz had been successfully implemented.

At consultations conducted with the board of the Hungarian Chamber of Pharmacists (MGYK), the Prime Minister offered financial assistance to pharmacists for the repurchasing of pharmacies.

Meeting Roma council leaders, the Prime Minister said an operative committee would be set up with the intention of assessing the implementation of schemes to help the Roma people on a quarterly basis. Roma council President Flórián Farkas declared that more progress had been made in Roma integration during the past year than during the eight years of previous governments. He quoted the European Roma Strategy and public work schemes as examples.

To discuss the situation of higher education, the Prime Minister met with heads of the conservative youth movement Fidelitas. He said the government wants to finance students and not the institutions so that students should have the power to influence which college and university is eligible for support. To underline this, he added that the point requirements for admission to higher education institutions will show which universities and colleges were most popular among applicants. Those that were avoided by students would not receive support the following year.

During consultations with winemakers, issues of quality and origin protection were addressed.

Afterwards, following a meeting with leaders of trade union confederations Liga and MOSZ, the Prime Minister said that the government is open to the matter of wage increases, but takes the firm stand that wages cannot be raised nor can a social system be built on credit. It was also agreed that the job protection action plan must be implemented and the real term value of pensions must be maintained.

Following this, Viktor Orbán met with the Board of the Hungarian Rectors’ Conference (MRK) to discuss the problems of graduate unemployment and retirement. According to Barna Mezey, President of the conference, the Prime Minister was open and constructive and he sees the values and successes of Hungarian higher education clearly. Priorities of higher education and legislative questions were also discussed and the parties agreed that rectors will make recommendations to the government shortly.

Finally, Viktor Orbán met the Board of the National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers (VOSZ), where head of the organisation Sándor Demján stated that the government's employment-supporting tax reductions, and especially the workplace protection plan, are steps in the right direction. The Prime Minister said he wanted to have at least 300,000 people employed in public work schemes by next year and the final aim is that once public work schemes are available to all, nobody should receive social benefits if they are physically fit to work.

Today in an interview on public radio MR1-Kossuth, the Prime Minister assessed the two-week series of consultations, saying that the job protection action plan enjoys nationwide recognition. He said that during the consultations he had received a number of interesting proposals, but the need to change the direction of Government policy had not been raised.

(Prime Minister's Office)