Although the three-day St. Stephen's holiday is not yet over, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke not only about the holiday, but also about the fight against the covid epidemic, the situation in Afghanistan and the economic challenges facing the country in Kossuth Rádió's Sunday newspaper program.
After coping with the third wave of the epidemic, we must prepare for the expected fourth one, Viktor Orbán warned. Everyone should prepare for it "in the back of their mind". It is true that this wave is not knocking most strongly on our door, but on the doors of other European countries, but it will reach us too. The government prepared the country for this during the summer, but the defense must continue. There will be vaccination campaigns before the start of school, and the third vaccination is also available. As he said, more than 170,000 people have already registered for the third booster vaccination.
According to the Prime Minister, if everyone now convinces one more person to take the vaccine, the country will have such a level of protection that the strength of the fourth wave of the epidemic will not be comparable to the previous waves.
"Today, we see that one in five hundred people become infected among the vaccinated, and the course of their illness is also milder, so it is worth trusting the vaccine." Only vaccination can provide protection, this is important to keep in mind, the Prime Minister said, adding that the government wants to avoid wearing masks, as masks are not sufficient protection.
"We can vaccinate everyone, we have eight million vaccines in our warehouses. Anyone who applies can receive the vaccine within a week," he declared. The prime minister also reminded us that we were among the first in the EU to vaccinate more than 50 percent of the entire population.
Speaking about the economy, Viktor Orbán explained that economic growth does not happen by itself, it is the result of serious work. It is a great achievement that more people are working today than before the epidemic, and also that since the change of regime, the unemployment rate has never been as low as it is today. We can be confident that the economy will reach a growth of 5.5 percent, because then citizens raising children will get their SZJA back, they will be able to pay a pension premium, and those under the age of 25 will not have to pay taxes. The prime minister sees a one-time payment of 50-60 thousand forints as likely as a pension premium, but this amount could be much higher.
As he said, since the regime change, there have never been as many people working in Hungary as there are now. Therefore, people can be proud of themselves, but at the same time, the government also has a role in the favorable growth data.
He said about domestic tourism: the numbers look good. Of course, making up for a lost year is always difficult. He asked everyone to raise prices moderately, because if domestic tourism stops, then everyone will be worse off. At the same time, Budapest tourism has not yet found itself "coughing", "coughing", "cracking". This is understandable, since tourism in the capital is primarily based on foreigners, and tourists from Anglo-Saxon countries, or even Saxons, do not come very much yet. He asked the entrepreneurs in the capital to build on Hungarian tourists as well.
It would be nice if non-Budapest people got to know Budapest better. Hungarians from Budapest and hoteliers should be kind and trust Hungarian guests , he said.
Regarding inflation, which is often mentioned these days, he said: the price of oil really started to rise a year ago, and then it doubled. This is a big burden on the economy. Those who extract oil make a lot of money from this, but we are on the other side. The job of the central bank is to preserve the value of money, which they try to reduce inflation by raising interest rates. It is also very important that small and medium-sized entrepreneurs get cheaper loans.
"The Hungarian government launched cheap loan programs for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, which allows a large amount of cheap funds to be available for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, despite the interest rate hikes."
Speaking about the situation in Afghanistan, Viktor Orbán said that what is happening is disappointing. At the time of the attack on the Twin Towers, all NATO countries interpreted it as if they themselves had been attacked and sided with America. In Afghanistan , after NATO eliminated terrorist nests, the American "democracy export" began, which means that America tried to impose its own way of life on the Afghans. This model has failed almost everywhere, including here.
When the withdrawal was announced, American intelligence reported that the established government would be viable for at least one year after the withdrawal, but this was a wrong idea, as the system collapsed in three days. Mass migration is now expected, so the aim is to support external countries such as Turkey and the Balkan states to keep migrants there and not try to enter the EU. The Prime Minister said that he hopes that Germany and Austria will not react in the same way as in 2015.
(Cover image source: YouTube)
