The theme of this year's demographic summit in Budapest is the connection between sustainability and demography. More and more people think that having children should be given up due to overpopulation and global climate change, but according to the government, it is necessary to maintain humanity. How can these two contradictory positions be reconciled? Among other things, Mandiner asked Katalin Novák about this.
According to the Minister of Family Affairs, the former position is an artificially provoked conflict. It is a left-wing narrative based on the search for enemies and exclusivity. I am convinced that having children and protecting nature help and complement each other. Let's think about it: if we don't have children, then who are we protecting the Earth for? Our world was created so that humans can inhabit it and live freely in it. For this we have to pass on life. This makes it an even more important and topical question of how we can live in harmony with our environment as a family. We must also educate our children not to exploit the resources of our land.
At the same time, it is clear to the majority of Hungarians that immigration is not the answer to the problem of the dwindling number of Hungarians.
Few children are born throughout Europe, young people postpone the decision to have children, often do not dare or want to commit, other times the conditions for having children are not met, and often for financial reasons a family cannot expand. This will not change if a government allows foreign masses into its country. Every nation has the right to decide with whom it lives and what sacrifices it makes, but I have no doubt that those who expect a miracle from migration are running to their loss.
Rather, we needed to understand why young people don't start families and help them where we can.
This is what the baby support, the family home creation discount, the nursery program, the personal income tax exemption and the family discounts are all about. Instead of fake solutions and big words, real answers are needed.
In Europe, Hungary has seen the largest increase in the number of marriages and the desire to have children in the last ten years, which indicates that we are on the right track. However, we have not yet reached the goal of having all the desired children. In addition to being an example in the eyes of many, we can and do learn from others. The demographic peak in Budapest provides an opportunity for this. More than 70 speakers from 17 countries of the world are coming to us, including public and academic figures, representatives of churches and civil family organizations.
We are holding this summit in Budapest for the fourth time. As a master of ideas, I was lucky enough to participate in all of his organizations. I see the curve of development. When we started in 2015, far fewer people participated in the forum. The Prime Minister honors us with his presence and presentation from the first occasion; memorable when he announced the year of families in 2017 and the expansion of the family protection action plan in 2019. This year's forum will be attended by high-ranking people such as former US Vice President Mike Pence, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. We show once again that there are pro-family forces in Europe and the world. The 2021 meeting will therefore be a show of strength, and we as organizers are happy to carry the flag - but the point is that the camp is wide underneath. There are many of us who believe that the future lies in the family.
Source and full article: mandiner.hu
Featured photo: MTI/Szilárd Koszticsák)
