22 February 2013, Budapest
Deeply esteemed President Pál Schmitt! Madame Katalin! Distinguished Madame Dalma! Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish you a good afternoon!
It is easy to talk after a minister but difficult to do so after a clergyman. What could one say following the words of a servant of God? Perhaps the best would be, dear Friends, if it were not I who gave this state-of-the-nation speech – adventurously-minded experimenters are becoming all the more common in any case –, but if I would instead let the year assess itself by asking it to reveal what happened in 2012. Perhaps it would begin with mentioning that 90 300 babies were born in 2012; that is 2 251 more than during the previous year. We could attribute this growth to the measures aimed at the protection of children and families that were abolished by the Socialists and which we re-implemented, or to the new family-friendly taxation system. But by taking note of nothing but this, we could easily get caught up in the world of petty political battles when in fact something fundamentally important is happening. I would like to believe that there is more in the background than a few – otherwise noteworthy – governmental measures. Babies have been feeling in the mood to be born. Perhaps this is a major signal to call our attention, a strong warning or maybe a true encouragement; perhaps they already know something we don’t. They know that although we awoke to snowfall, spring is imminently approaching and the tight-fisted present will be replaced by a more generous future. A future which will leave the shockwaves of the European crisis behind and hold something encouraging, full of hope and pointing upwards, something more prosperous, more cheerful and perhaps even happier. It could well be that, in accordance with our plans, 2013 will indeed be the year of growth. The other day, I read in a report entitled Better Life Index – such actually exists – published by OECD, a forum of the thirty-four most developed countries in the world, pointing out that sixty-nine percent of Hungarians feel that their average day holds more positive experiences than unpleasant ones. On a scale of one to ten, Hungarians evaluated their quality of life at 4.9, or, let us say, five points. Is this a high or a low score? This is the question. The average of the thirty-four nations examined is eighty percent and 6.7 points. From this perspective, our figure is low. If we view the issue in the light of the past one hundred years endured by the Hungarians, the impression conferred is different. During the one hundred years that are behind us, Hungarians were forced to experience that Hungary’s economy resembles Déva Castle, described in the folk ballad Kőmíves Kelemen: what we built until noon fell down by the evening and what we built until the evening fell down by the morning. On a different note, literature sprung to the mind of forty-three percent of Hungarians when questioned about their associations with the word “culture”, as opposed to the EU average of a meagre twenty-three percent, and library use has not declined even during the difficult years behind us. Thus, there is still hope. It is still possible to refer to Kőműves Kelemen in a political language. So, what our great-great-grandfathers built was swept away by World War I and the peace system that followed it. What our great-grandparents built was swept away by World War II and the peace system. What our grandparents and parents built was swept away by the incompetent economic policies of the Communist system, which lured us into a debt trap and confined the entire country to a caged existence. The failure of Socialism took its toll on the economy even if Hungary was a reservation in the Eastern part of Europe which seemed to be an unsteady mixture of a forced labour camp and a trade union holiday resort. And finally, what we constructed after the change of political system until 2002 collapsed between 2002 and 2010. If we think of our nerve-endings, corroded by historical life experiences and much like the worn-out brakes of a bicycle, over fifty percent satisfaction in a quality-of-life survey is not so bad after all.
What is more important than numerical indicators is the lesson learnt, which must be repeated time and again. At the time of the transition to democracy, there was a consensus that overarched divides between political parties and political views, a common promise – what promise! – a pledge which we, those in charge of the country’s affairs, made jointly to the Hungarian people. We will never again commit the mistake of the Kádár administration and the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party; we will never finance welfare expenditure by taking on loans, foreign loans. Even if we drift into poverty or find ourselves in difficult circumstances, we will not use foreign loans to pay for social benefits, allowances or uncovered pay rises; to put it bluntly, this pledge was kept until 2002. The underlying reason for the collapse of the Hungarian economy in 2008 was that after 2002, the Socialists broke this historical agreement. The consequences of this we now; a substantial part of pensions, family allowances and wages was eventually lost. I know you have heard this from me on hundreds of occasions. Because I am familiar with our kind, I also know that Hungarians dislike “spoon-fed talk”. When I visited Cegléd not so long ago, word had it that a wife preparing for the fiftieth anniversary of her marriage, her golden wedding, resentfully complained to her husband that he never tells her he loves her anymore. Hearing this, the old man replied simply: I said it to you once; if things change, I’ll let you know.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Despite all this, the world of politics is such that there are things that we must repeat time and again, if needs be, a hundred times. Yes, my dear Friends, an economy based on state indebtedness is capable of nothing more than building a papier-mâché theatrical scenery of affluence, which is blown over and destroyed by the first fiercer gust of wind. Sirens' melodies are followed by a bitter, perhaps even despairing awakening. One who claims that every forint spent will not, sooner or later, have to be earned is deceiving both the people and himself. This is the truth, the fundament, which we have used as a basis for Hungary’s policies since 2010, hence also in 2012. Therefore, we can or perhaps even should, albeit with the necessary modesty but also supported by substantial reason, in the reservedly prideful manner of a caring housewife, deem it a success that our homeland reduced its level of debt in 2012; of the twenty-eight EU member states, only five of us managed this. We succeeded in keeping our finances under control; and in fact our country outperformed most European nations. Do not be confused by the European Union’s current prognosis; they have for example not once managed to correctly forecast our budget deficit. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for them, perhaps they’ll get it right eventually. What’s more, we’ll gladly give them a clue: the deficit will be below three percent again this year. The rate of public debt is, of course, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, still high; even if it’s not up to our mouths anymore, it still reaches up to our chests, the devil take it along with those who are responsible, but he won’t, so this task again is up to us.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
If it is true that the babies suspect that the world is changing for Hungary, perhaps the adults have also noticed. They have noticed and so they no longer fall for the bravadoes of the old, ill-reputed masters of citing hatred, for feather-brained and dishevelled political jugglery, but instead look round. They look around at home, around the nation, around the world and in their own souls.
Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear Friends!
Many look at things as they are and ask: why? Others look at things as they should be and ask: why not? And then they settle down to the task. They are the disciples of Márai (correctly: Géza Ottlik – Ed.), who wrote: “One must not adapt to the world, not reorganise the things in it that are already there but constantly add something.” This is how greatness is born. We Hungarians have contributed a great deal to the world but seldom talk of our outstanding accomplishments, Hungarians’ accomplishments. We are prone to forget about them despite the fact that Hungarians always, even in hard times, have the ability to create; to bring about and call into being striking and remarkable things. The nation has always been abundant in individual accomplishments and successes, in such achievements, and through these it contributed not only to its own domain but also to the world. This is how the chess machine, the ball-point pen, the dynamo, the electrified railway, the holograph, the telephone exchange, the Rubik’s cube and an endless amount of further innovations, inventions and records came to the world. These are all Hungarian triumphs. Let us take last year as an example. Everyone has heard of the sensational successes of Hungarian Olympians in London. But do we know who won the Abel Prize, which is regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in mathematics, in 2012? It was presented to Endre Szemerédi, whom we here take the opportunity to congratulate. Do we know that at the International Puzzle Party, the “Olympics” of logic games, the grand prize was won by, for the first time, a Hungarian designer, for his logic game named “Smartegg”, which is hailed as the successor to the Rubik’s cube. God bless András Zagyvai too! Are we aware, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, that one out of the world’s ten best chefs is a Hungarian? Do we know that a Hungarian ship, anchored on the River Danube, has been chosen as the best music club in the world? Have we heard that the gold medallist and absolute winner of the International Physics Olympiad was one of our secondary school students from Pécs? Or do we know that at the European championship of skilled workers – a field which we don’t pay enough attention to – we collected a total of five gold medals in professions such as cabinet-making and carpentry, corporate informatics or timber industry technologies? Let us salute these talented young Hungarian skilled workers too!
Ladies and Gentlemen!
But Hungarians are not only capable of world-standard performance as individuals. There are times in which the entire Hungarian nation combines its strength, its talent, its courage and we create something lasting together. The Conquest of the Carpathian Basin was a great joint effort by the Hungarians – while dozens of peoples disappeared under the waves of migration. Saint Stephen’s foundation of the Christian Hungarian state was also a major common undertaking, as was the reconstruction of a country reduced to rubble by the Mongol invasion and later halting the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. The Revolution of 1848 against Habsburg absolutism and annexation is another great Hungarian accomplishment, as is our 1956 Revolution, through which we exposed the true nature of Communism to the world and hammered in the first and the most important nail into the coffin of the Soviet empire. And, my dear Friends, the situation is that yet again we are seeing the birth of a new Hungarian accomplishment. We must say this modestly and quietly, with respect to our unsurpassable predecessors, but nevertheless we must say it. During the past one hundred years, Hungary rarely had control over its own affairs. Its actions were typically constrained by external conditions – at the mercy of the Great Powers, the tyrannical authority of foreign invaders and subsequently the interests of international economic and financial circles and banks. We could not do what we wanted and what served our own interests, but instead we did what others wanted us to do. To use a fashionable phrase, we were socialised to this environment. We learnt how to be “small”, to exist cowering under a carpet, heads down, avoiding eye contact. But in 2010, we arrived at a turning-point for the first time in a long while. In 2010, we decided that if the opportunity wouldn't come knocking on our door, we would cut a door for ourselves. We embarked upon transforming Hungary into a country where people who get up in the morning and earn what they need would be the ones who get on in life. And what they can’t earn they create. We wanted a Hungary in which, when faced by difficulties, we don’t say to each other, “Forget it!”, but rather “Let’s show them!”. For years on end, we saw that people constantly had thing taken away from them, while they themselves where also encouraged to take away from elsewhere, to give up their own future by taking on loans. They were encouraged to live off benefits instead of working. For years and years, more money could be collected by claiming benefits than from work. Pure madness! They instilled in us the idea that having a family is a project predestined to fail, that our work is practically purposeless, that there is no demand for our professional knowledge on the labour market and that there is nothing we can add to the world. Hungary best resembled a dilapidated apartment block from which tenants are constantly threatened by eviction. Then, at long last, in 2010 Hungary took its fate into its own hands. We, Hungarians started doing and accomplishing things that are in our interests instead of doing what others expect of us. We stopped following the advice of busybodies. We ignored them politely – we are, after all, a civic party - but decisively. Rather in the manner of Mark Twain, who wrote that he occasionally goes to the doctor for an examination because the doctor too must make a living, then to the pharmacy with the prescription to fetch the medicine, because the chemist must also make a living. Then he pours the medicine down the drain – because he wants to keep on living.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
The time was ripe for us to declare that weakness is no answer. It was high time to follow the most common warning of master to pupil: do not fear! And despite a crisis raging since 2008, despite inheriting heaps of debt and a ruinous state of economic and social affairs, we didn’t allow weakness to overcome us once again.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Someone who is scared will be bitten by the dog and thrown off by the horse, but even by a scooter. A nation of cowards has no place under the sun, but no friend or ally either, because it can’t be trusted. The coward doesn’t even have trust in himself, and if he doesn’t trust himself, why should others do so? In 2010, the Hungarian people came to terms with the fact that constant alignment, humble adaptation and all-pervasive submission, in other words, weakness, are not a solution but are the problem itself. This was the turning-point; it was under these conditions and for this reason that Europe’s only two-thirds parliamentary majority came into being, which serves as clear proof of national co-operation visible even from distant capitals. Even if not all were impressed, everyone understood that a new era had begun for the Hungarians. And since then, we have accomplished everything the worshippers of weakness said was impossible. These were the beginnings of the new common Hungarian undertaking, the creation of a strong Hungary fit for the twenty-first century.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
We are building a country in which people don’t work for the profit of foreigners. A country in which we will not be told how to live our lives, what can be in our Constitution and when we can increase wages, by bankers and foreign bureaucrats. A country in which no-one can force the interests of others upon the Hungarian people.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!
Twentieth-century Hungarian economic history is often described as a succession of twenty-year cycles. These sometimes begin badly but end well; in the Seventies, the beginnings meant growing indebtedness, but the culmination was the arrival of freedom in 1990. In other cases, they start promisingly but end miserably; in 1990, we set out on the path of freedom and a market economy but ended up at the edge of a financial abyss. Our next twenty years had its beginnings in the shadow of economic collapse in 2010 but could end well. The novelty of the twenty-first century is that the rapidity of changes, together with their depth and the intensifying competition between nations, sweeps away competitors lacking a clear outlook for the future and a plan based upon such an outlook. We lived through the twenty years between 1990 and 2010 together. Although we did dismantle the past, we failed to build the future; we feel these two decades to be chaotic because we were stuck between two worlds. For this reason, it is of utmost importance that we have a clear concept of the future, of the next twenty years, and direct our political and economic decisions, along with our social policy, towards achieving these goals. Our plan is to put an end to the country’s dependence upon external financial resources. We will do away with Hungary’s unbalanced reliance upon foreign energy suppliers. We will rescue, or rather help, everyone out of foreign currency-based debt. The decline of the country’s population will be halted. Each and every person who wishes to work in his or her home country will find employment. Re-industrialisation will link Hungarian industry to German industry. The level of cost of capital, energy and information for domestic enterprises will be lower than that of our competitors. Ten thousand medium-sized, highly competitive firms, producing for export, will be built up. Fifteen to twenty Hungarian-owned regional multinationals will provide stimulus for the global expansion of the Hungarian economy, while public debt will decrease to below fifty percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Four to five percent of the GDP will be spent on innovation and research. Several of our universities will develop to be among the best two hundred in the world. In the field of science, music and sport, we will achieve rankings far exceeding what would be proportionate to our population; we will again be a nation renowned for its culture. In a cultural, legal and spiritual sense alike, we will integrate Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin and elsewhere the world, taking advantage of the technological opportunities provided by the modern age; in other words, we will use this scattered existence as a base for building a nation spanning the entire world. As a result of all this, the standard of living enjoyed by Hungarian families will exceed the European average. This vision for the future will be turned into reality through carefully elaborated plans, a reorganised state, dedicated experts and a society that is willing and able to work.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
This twenty-year perspective is, of course, both impressive and exciting, there are only eighteen years left to go, but the questions “What about now?” and “What will happen to us tomorrow?” are even more gripping. Once Ronald Reagan was recorded as saying at his first cabinet meeting: I hate two things, inflation and Communism, do something about them. Our task, the task faced by the Hungarian Government is not this simple. Our task is far more complicated than this. Nevertheless, I am able to report to the attentive Hungarian public, that Hungary is performing better than previously and is more effective in finding a solution to the economic crisis than most European nations. This is Hungary’s success. This is the success of Hungary, the achievement of the people living here, in other words, of all of us, even the opposition, because regardless of political convictions, it will be beneficial to all, everyone will be a winner. I know it is difficult to win over generations brought up on internationalism for the national thought, but maybe once they will understand that although our parties may be in opposition, the homeland cannot. It sometimes happens that one is ordered to leave the bridge or the helm of a ship – I for one could tell stories about this - , but the ship itself is joint property, meaning that in such situations one must keep on rowing rather than sulkily drilling holes in the ship's bottom.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
I can tell you that Hungary is doing better at decreasing the every-day burdens borne by its citizens than during the previous twenty years. Under the Socialist governments, public utility costs were constantly on the rise; the price of natural gas increased threefold, while the cost of electricity doubled. From January 2013, each Hungarian household pays ten percent less for natural gas, electricity and district heating. A cut in public utility costs has been unprecedented in Hungary for decades. We are doing better but not well enough. For this reason, we will continue to decrease living expenses during the course of 2013. Hungary is standing up for its interests more effectively than before 2010. Since our accession to the European Union, we have never managed to secure as much in funding from the EU budget as now. And this is despite the fact that the total size of the EU budgetary framework has fallen, meaning that we can pour ourselves more from a smaller barrel. One of the fruits of this dignified bravery was that we took the opportunity to form an alliance with a dozen countries. This cooperation would have been impossible if we had spent our time lurking under the table like some tail-wagging hound, waiting for juicier chunks to fall down to us. Who would strike an alliance with a cowardly starveling? We are performing better but still not well enough; therefore, we will channel sixty percent of European Union funds directly into the economy during the next seven years. Hungary is also doing better with regard to the support of families. Prior to 2010, the Socialist cabinet systematically cut back family allowances. First, they abolished tax concessions after children; then they lowered the duration of paid maternity leave to two years. From 2011, we re-instated this to its earlier level of three years and introduced a family-friendly taxation system for families with children, which is more favourable than all forms of support so far. We are performing better, but still not well enough. As the situation of low-income families is especially difficult, an action plan will be introduced in the second half of 2013, directed at improving the position of people living off wages and salaries. Hungary is doing better than the majority of European countries in the field of protecting pensions, too. While the value of pensions decreased in several European nations due to the crisis, Hungary succeeded in protecting and even increasing the purchasing power of pensions. As we can well remember, the Socialist cabinet shifted the responsibility of bearing the burdens of the crisis to senior citizens. We will not allow the standard of living of the elderly to fall. I regard their protection in times of crisis as a test of the new era and the now-strengthened Hungary. If we manage to do this, the elderly generation will feel directly, through its own experiences that their grandchildren and children are not talking to the wind. Certainly, the opinion of our parents is the most authoritative to many of us and it is precisely to their admiration that we aspire. We want to hear them tell us: “Good job, son!”
Ladies and Gentlemen!
In comparison to the period before 2010, Hungary has also made progress regarding the acknowledgement of work. The average wage is rising, and – according to data published today – has reached a gross monthly sum of 223 000 forints, which is otherwise very low in a European comparison. Since the change of government, we have already increased the minimum wage by 24 500 forints and, contrary to all claims and lies to the opposite, the wage of those employed in public works schemes was in excess of 73 200 forints. We are doing better, but still not well enough. Accordingly, sometime around the middle of the year we will be broadening the scope of the job protection action plan, which was launched in January. With respect to the operation of the police force, Hungary’s performance has also improved; since the new cabinet took oath, we have increased the number of policemen by 3 500 while cleansing police ranks of those who earlier either chose to take the side of the criminals or drifted to the wrong side of the law. We must pay special attention to concentrating further resources to combating the trafficking of new types of drugs, which have become a worryingly widespread phenomenon. And although we shoo away the packs of those with great practice in abusing public trust from below our windows daily, there are still some who have changed their red underwear to orange and who take special care to make sure it can be seen hanging out of their trousers. The fight against them will continue to provide us with work for a long time to come.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Hungary has been more successful in cutting back unnecessary expenditure than ever before. In a move unprecedented in Europe, we reduced the number of politicians by half. In this area, we have not only improved our performance but are already doing well. The Hungarian state has been struggling with putting the state of the healthcare system in order for many years. During the one and a half years behind us, we have increased the wages of 90 000 healthcare employees and introduced a new system of uniform national management. 439 investment projects in the field of healthcare are underway; of these, ninety-one, boasting a total value of 223 billion forints, are directed at improving hospitals, which is the largest-scale healthcare development scheme in sixty years. 120 new ambulances have been put into service and eighty-two locations are seeing the renovation or construction of ambulance stations. Here too, we are performing better, but not well enough. We need a further two hundred ambulances and 6 460 new nurses, we need a financial package to improve the situation of GPs and waiting lists must somehow also be made shorter. With regard to social inclusion, Hungary is also performing better, much better. In 2012, 261 000 found employment within the framework of the “Start” public works scheme, and according to the estimates of Roma work organisers – because, as you know, it is forbidden to keep records of this – 54 750 of them were from the Roma minority, and who consequently provided a living for their families through honest work instead of benefits. They are our greatest success. And, quite literally, we have 9 316 “Start” workers, for whom last year’s was their first-ever work experience and job. I’m talking about adults here. One thousand Roma women began training to become nurses, social workers or home-carers.
Dear Friends!
We are performing better but still not well enough. We can only be satisfied with the result if everyone who wants to work can find employment, at least in a public works scheme. The grand plan may well pay off in 2013, if we manage to successfully tackle the tasks of organisation together with local authorities.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Our achievements reflect that Hungary is performing better. The efforts of the Hungarian people in 2012 were not pointless. It was a good decision to break free from the designated path and take our fate into our own hands, but not everyone is happy about this. Those who profited politically and economically from Hungary’s weakness for several years or even decades, both at home and abroad, are unhappy about it. They plan to take Hungary back into the past, hoping that time has lessened the bleak memory of those years. But they will be proven wrong; a strong country doesn’t forget. We will not forget those eight years. We will not forget how they flooded our country, our towns, our villages and our families with a tidal wave of debt. We will not forget that they deprived our youth of the opportunity to acquire a home for their families. We will not forget that they stripped Hungarian families of support. We will not forget that they took one month’s pension away from the elderly. And we will also not forget that they promised exactly the opposite beforehand. We will not forget that they lied to the Hungarian people for eight entire years, as they put it: “morning, noon and night”. This may even have some sort of inherent logic; there are things that simply transcend the boundaries of the human mind. And, dear Friends, we will not forget that they pitted the riot police against peacefully celebrating citizens. We will not forget that together, they put the country to ruin. They are the old set, we know them well and we know exactly what they are up to. They would cancel the bank tax and instead make the population pay once more; they would cut pensions and again abolish tax concessions after children. This is what the banks and the speculators expect them to do, and the weak always bow to the will of the powerful. They never stood for and continue to not stand up for the interests of the Hungarian people. This is why they are surrounded by the buzzing of influential foreign interest groups, like flies around meat. They are in fact the ones who want the people of Hungary to be saddled with them yet again.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Finally, we must ask ourselves the question: why do we want a strong Hungary fit for the twenty-first century, beyond of course the consideration that it is always better to be strong than to be weak. In my opinion, one thing alone holds the guarantee for the success of Hungary. This is a thought, a value and a programme all at once. And the real fight, the major struggle, the battle which will turn Hungary’s fortunes around, the success of our lives and the future of our children are all centred upon this one value. Will the Hungarian world be a world in which everyone, regardless of his or her family background, faith or appearance, will have the opportunity to succeed in life as a result of hard and responsible work? Such a world, such a life can only be created by a strong country. This is the goal of the struggle, my dear Friends. This is the thought to which young people must somehow also be won over. We must somehow represent to them more convincingly that it is a common aim and a common interest that everyone should be a winner of the phase of economic growth and upward development that will begin in 2013. Those who work for it are also worthy of harvesting its achievements. Individual freedom, but joint responsibility. A joint effort means a joint success. This is why it is natural that we want to see the young, talented and agile professionals, whose qualifications were paid for by the Hungarian taxpayer, at home and among us, at least for a while. It is also important for us that our children put their knowledge to use at home because this is the only way they can hand on the knowledge and experience they received from us to their own children, to our children. For three years, we have been working and, together with the millions of people who accepted the hardships this entails, we have embarked upon the thorough reorganisation of the country, to ensure that never again will children begin life with fewer opportunities than were afforded to their parents. Only this can guarantee the long-term recovery of a nation.
Go Hungary; Go Hungarians!
(Prime Minister's Office)
