Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Press Conference at the Event Organised by the Hungarian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SINOSZ)

Good Afternoon to all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen,

My speech will not be grandiose, but the occasion is a ceremonious one, because we have after all arrived at an important milestone. Much has happened over the past year. My fellow member of Parliament, Ádám [MEP Ádám Kósa, President of the Hungarian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the first MEP to regularly use sign language in the European Parliament] listed the most important milestones a little earlier, and to repeat what he told you: Hungary was the first country in the world to ratify the UN Convention and Supplementary Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I believe we occupy a respectable position in the world with regard to the acknowledgement and proliferation of sign language. We have received international recognition with relation to this and, most importantly, our Fundamental Law also includes provisions on the protection of Hungarian sign language. I would like to thank my fellow Members of Parliament for bringing up these issues when we were writing the Constitution. The truth is that we could have thought of it ourselves, but it was those affected who brought up the issue, something that resulted in an important realisation and provided us with important encouragement.

We, people who do not live with disability, must accept that we do have at least one disability, namely that we cannot manage the affairs of people with disabilities. Many things do not come to mind, they simply don't crop up, such as the fact that the Constitution must also deal with such issues. And for this reason it is my belief that the real breakthrough came when – Ádám, I am not entirely sure when it was precisely – sometime before the 2009 European parliament elections we came up with the idea that there should be someone in the European Parliament who is capable of representing not just the interests of others, but also his own interests, to portray this life situation, this way of thinking and everything that results from it. It was a logical next step, since we had succeeded in achieving it at European Parliament level, to believe that it was high time we also introduced it in the Hungarian Parliament. We are grateful to SINOSZ for having cooperated with us and for the fact that Parliament has an MP who has won your acknowledgement and respect, and I am proud of the fact that that he happens to be a member of our Parliamentary group. And I would like to thank my fellow Member for the work he has performed in recent years.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If we want the Hungarian Parliament to represent the whole of the Hungarian people, then the way of thinking that stems from your life situation, the way in which you look at laws and government measures, must be present personally in the Hungarian Parliament. And accordingly I think we all owe Gergely Tapolczai [Fidesz MP, Chairman of the Subcommittee for People with Disabilities and the first Hungarian MP to use sign language in Parliament] our thanks for the work he has performed in recent years, and I hope that we will have the opportunity to work together again during the course of the next four years, to which I wish Gergely good luck.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

SINOSZ is an organisation without which we could not have succeeded in holding today's gathering, because the project we are testing at the moment could not have been realised without the organisation's involvement. This is of course about much more than money, because what we want is to provide our fellow Hungarians, You, with the opportunity to become fully involved in our common lives. Of course, the truth is that this cannot be achieved without money, and so I must take this opportunity to mention that we have realised the project at a cost of 526 million forints, in addition to which, I won't list them now, but I am sure you know from the publication I too had in my hand a little earlier, that we have put greater sums of money towards achieving similar goals over the past four years. The only thing I asked when the programme was approaching launch was how many people would be using the system. Especially when one is deciding on the fate of public monies, it is important to know for the purposes of settling accounts with the country's taxpayers how many people's lives have been made easier thanks to such a programme. And the answer I was given was that it affects roughly 70 thousand people, and if the interpretation service is launched and is a success, then this number could increase to around 100 thousand.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Within the framework of the New Széchényi Plan, as you can see here behind me, we have spent a total of 44 billion forints on promoting equal rights for people with disabilities and who are severely disadvantaged, and if I see the distribution of monies correctly, then roughly 900 million of that was spent to improve the situation of the deaf and hard of hearing. I think this is an order of magnitude that was practically unattainable in previous years. We are grateful to everyone, and especially to the Hungarian taxpayers, for having generated this sum.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is something else that I would like to talk about, because the past four years have not been free of debate. And since I am sure you have been following developments in Hungarian politics, you know that we are trying to realise a change in Hungary that places greater emphasis on the value of work. And we are also attempting to increase the prestige and appreciation of an active life, and have introduced all sorts of measures in the interests of achieving this, which I won't list for you now. And I feel it is very important to embrace this way of thinking, according to which everyone who is capable and has the will or desire to work should be given an opportunity to be able to work. And so what I view as the most important aspect of this project, of course in addition to the fact that in emergency and other difficult situations something like this can be indispensable or even life-saving, but in addition to this what I think is the most important aspect from the point of view of the whole of Hungarian society is that it provides the opportunity to work and the human dignity provided by work to many who previously had only limited access to such opportunities simply because they happen to be disabled. This is why I am now mentioning the figures according to which unemployment among disabled persons has fallen significantly over the past few years. One is always careful with statistics, but the number I see here is a large one, and according to our statistical office the decrease was almost 40 percent over the past four years. The number of disabled people who are unemployed has decreased by this much. We have more precise data with regard to employment and have figures for practically every single workplace, and what I can tell you is that the number of disabled people who now make a living from work and employment has increased by 16 percent. I think this is a very significant result and level of performance that we can all be very proud of.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The truth is that the principle according to which no one is expendable and there is a need for everyone is still not the general way of thinking in Hungary. We still have much work to do to ensure that this way of thinking is not just a desire, but becomes viable so that everyone can truly feel that there is a need for everyone and not one of us is useless. I believe that this system takes us one step closer to a country such as this, and accordingly in addition to it being a piece of good news for everyone who uses it, it is also good news to every single Hungarian, disabled or not. Life in Hungary will be more dignified and just if this equipment becomes widespread and universal. And accordingly, in addition to furthering your lives, the whole of Hungary can be proud of the fact that we are now capable of putting a system such as this into commission. I would like to respectfully that everyone who has helped, developed and created this system and introduced it into our lives.

Thank You!

(Prime Minister’s Office)