From now on, there will be a 2-3-4 percent drop in inflation every month, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office announced on Thursday in Budapest, in the Government Information.
Gergely Gulyás spoke of the good news that the negotiations with the European Parliament (due to the opposition of the Visegrad countries, as well as Germany and the Netherlands) are not taking place in an accelerated procedure, so negotiations with the Parliament will continue in September.
The minister confirmed the previous Hungarian position: any kind of distribution mechanism (even aggravated by a head quota) is unacceptable, and the current migration proposals are against the interests of Europe, they do not contain guarantees for effective border protection and they carry the danger that it will still not be possible to carry out asylum procedures outside the borders of the EU. procedures.
He added: if the proposals are accepted, the migratory pressure on Europe will be significantly greater than it is now, while the number of migrants trying to enter Europe will set records this year.
Gergely Gulyás said that Hungary has so far spent 650 billion forints on border protection and has indicated to Brussels its demand for reimbursement in this regard. The Union reimbursed less than one percent of this, Hungary requested reimbursement of at least 50 percent of the amount, HUF 325 billion, he noted.
He concluded that if they want effective border protection and a well-functioning Schengen area, then the European Commission must reimburse the costs of border protection or at least contribute significantly to it.
The minister also reported that Hungary has fulfilled the milestone related to the administration of justice, the so-called enabling condition, and has declared it "ready", from now on there will be no obstacles to payments from the European Union's seven-year budget.
He said that Hungary sent invoices and cost declarations worth 238 million euros to Brussels from the operational programs of the programming period between 2021 and 2027. The European Union must finance 85 percent of the cost declaration sent out now, i.e. 202 million euros, he explained. He added that the European Commission has 90 days to verify the fulfillment of the authorization condition and 60 days to process the cost declaration and transfer the amount.
He said that a significant part of the cost declarations are pre-payments from the Economic Development and Innovation Operative Program (Ginop) Plus, the government ensured the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises with pre-financing.
The minister stated that as soon as the necessary funds arrive from Brussels, teacher salaries may also be increased. The European Commission owes Hungarian teachers HUF 800 billion.
Gergely Gulyás said: the extremely difficult situation caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war, which was further aggravated by European Union sanctions, seems to be improving somewhat.
Improved economic prospects can be counted on, economic growth will accelerate in the second half of the year, he declared.
He believed that the economic growth of one and a half percent, but at least one percent, fixed in the budget for the whole year seems realistic, and next year economic growth of 4 percent can be achieved.
"We will also crush inflation," he said, adding that they expect a rapid drop in inflation.
He added: if everything goes well, inflation will be in the single digits already in October, and this means that from now on there will be a 2-3-4 percent drop in inflation every month.
He emphasized: the most important thing is that people can be protected from the harmful effects of inflation as much as possible, and the government has done a lot to this end. This is what the price caps served, and this is also what the mandatory promotion serves, which until now meant a 10 percent price discount for a specific range of products, but this will increase to 15 percent on the first of August, he said. He added that the SZÉP card can also be used for cold food from August 1, which employers have the opportunity to increase by an additional HUF 200,000 in accordance with the preferential additional tax payment rules.
He also said that the fight against inflation is the government's most important goal, "but not everyone is participating in this fight." So far, the authorities have imposed HUF 3.1 billion in fines, which shows that there are people who try to profit even in such cases, he pointed out.
The minister emphasized: inflation of 6 percent or even around 5 percent seems realistic for next year.
He stated: a cease-fire and peace are the only solutions to end the killing, which is in the interest of all parties and Hungary, "so we continue to urge a cease-fire and peace negotiations."
The head of the ministry highlighted: even according to the most significant estimates, more than 310,000 people have lost their lives during the war, although there are estimates that are significantly higher, ranging from 7 to 800,000. In addition, there are nearly 10,000 civilian victims and at least 16,500 civilian wounded in the war, he added.
He said: the Russians have significantly more reserves and more losses. The Ukrainian counter-offensive has not brought meaningful results so far, he said.
He noted: the defense capability of the front line is high on both sides, and it is very difficult to break through.
All of this together draws attention to the fact that the position of the Hungarian government is well-founded when it calls for a cease-fire as soon as possible and the start of peace negotiations, Gergely Gulyás emphasized.
The minister said: many people see the teaching profession as something that will guarantee a secure income in the future, as shown by the fact that 10,514 applicants were accepted for teacher training, which is the highest number in the last 6 years, so the supply of teachers is ensured.
He explained: applicants could find out the admission scores on Wednesday. The good news is that more than 126,000 people applied for admission and nearly 95,000 students were admitted, he said, then added: the number of admissions to rural universities increased by 43 percent, the number of admissions to technical, natural science, engineering and IT fields increased by 34 percent, and 8 out of 10 accepted applicants can start their studies with a state scholarship.
Gergely Gulyás announced: the government has also decided to support the construction of the new campus of the Károl University, the government will support the construction with HUF 15 billion each year in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and HUF 45 billion in 2027, he announced. .
He believed that, in the best case, the construction could be completed by 2027, but maybe by 2028, and Károl University will have an advanced campus that meets all European needs and meets the requirements of modern higher education.
Gergely Gulyás spoke about: if the EU proposal comes true in its current form, "migrant ghettos would be created, the creation of which every normal, sane country that values the safety of its own citizens wants to avoid".
In our opinion, there is no solution to the matter until we demand effective external border protection from all member states responsible for securing the external border of the Schengen zone, and at the same time asylum procedures are not conducted outside the territory of Europe, said Gergely Gulyás, adding that those who were allowed to enter without being cleared whether he was a refugee or not, "we can no longer deport him".
Regarding the migrant shootings that occur near the southern border, he said that the specialized border hunting squadrons prepared for this task were created to protect the border with all means - if necessary - by force.
Regarding the extent to which the news of these reaches Brussels, he believed: the problem is not that the reality does not reach, but that the otherwise self-evident sentence that a country is not a country if it has no borders is not recognized. He called it even more dangerous if it is not recognized that the border must be protected with force and violence.
Gergely Gulyás confirmed in response to a question: all products previously subject to a price freeze will be subject to a mandatory promotion from August 1st, and the rate of price reduction will increase from 10 to 15 percent. He also said that the government expects a radical decrease in inflation from the measure.
When asked why the mandatory sale was not extended to small shops, he replied that such a large part of the product range in these shops would be affected that they would go bankrupt. According to the minister, this would be worse than the current practice in many places, where people buy the products they need for everyday life in convenience stores, and go to stores where there are mandatory sales for big shopping.
Zoltán Kovács said: since the outbreak of the war, 1,150,000 people have crossed the Hungarian border, 38,000 have submitted asylum applications, of which the authorities have supported 34,000. They are the ones who typically stay, but there are also many commuters.
The minister emphasized that the government has three important principles in helping Ukraine: Hungary has supported and continues to support the attacked state in countless ways, but we do not deliver weapons and cannot provide financial assistance for this, and we are interested in Ukraine remaining functional.
In our opinion, the start of the ceasefire and peace negotiations as soon as possible clearly serves this, but we cannot support a non-EU member state from the EU budget, certainly not until all EU member states have access to the budgetary resources they are entitled to, he said.
He assessed the 20 billion euro military aid planned for Ukraine as follows: any budget amendment that would give money to a member state outside the European Union without the members having received it is incomprehensible. Until this happens, it is not possible to talk about the proposal, said the minister.
Speaking about the banning of Russian athletes from international competitions, Gergely Gulyás said: it is generally wrong to exclude athletes based on nationality; as a good solution, he mentioned that these competitors can start under non-national colors, and that those belonging to the army cannot take part among them. If we want peace, then sport is also a means of peace, he said.
In response to another question, the minister confirmed that with effect from August 1, Ukraine increased the transit fee of the Friendship pipeline by 23.5 percent.
We try to maintain a clear moral line that Ukraine is an attacked country, that's why it needs help, that's why we provide humanitarian aid, that's why we accept refugees, and that's why we also give financial aid. And where the Ukrainian politics, which could indeed even say thanks for this, which would be expected, nevertheless acts against the Hungarian community in a way that violates all European standards and tramples on all European norms, and there we make this a point, and given In this case, we will make it clear where the limits of the friendliness of Hungarian behavior are - said Gergely Gulyás.
The minister stated that "the fact that Ukraine was attacked by Russia in violation of international law did not make Ukraine less corrupt".
MTI
