The Islamic State has targeted Hungary, János Lázár, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office said at his press conference on Thursday, adding: it is the Government’s utmost responsibility to guarantee the safety of every Hungarian.
The Minister confirmed: the Cabinet is taking the threat of the Islamic State seriously, is not underestimating it, and is making every effort to guarantee the country’s security.
Upon speaking about the bombing in Brussels last week, he informed the press that one of the injured Hungarians who is a staff member of the Permanent Representation of Hungary in Brussels may leave the intensive care unit, and his condition is improving continuously.
Mr Lázár told the press that there will be a five-party consultation on Friday at the Ministry of Interior regarding the Government’s counter-terrorism action plan, based on which the police would be given specific powers and tools to ward off, prevent and investigate acts of terrorism. The head of the Prime Minister’s Office expressed hope that the opposition will support the action plan. The Cabinet is ready to consider their proposals, he remarked. 
Close connection between migration and terrorism
Mr Lázár also pointed out that there is a close connection between migration and terrorism. He referred to the stringent controlling of those arriving at the border crossing points and the protection of the borders as priority tasks, and further said that more than two thousand members of the military are helping the police.
He further stressed: while there is „silence about the quotas” in the EU at present due to the threat of terrorism, when the EU-Turkish agreement becomes a permanent mechanism, the EU will attempt to put the quotas into operation as well. He confirmed that the Government maintains its referendum initiative on the issue.
The Minister also reported that some one thousand local governments have adopted decisions to the effect that they support the Government’s anti-quota efforts. At the same time, with reference to Szeged he raised the issue of how many settlements there may be that are engaged in talks with Brussels and want to take in migrants. It would be fair if the people of Szeged themselves were also consulted, he remarked.
The Minister was asked about the establishment of a Counter-Terrorism Information and Criminal Analysis Centre. He argued in favour of this measure by saying: they would like to rule out the possibility of even half a sentence going missing in communication between the various services as no one can afford such a mistake.
Regarding the law enforcement agencies, he pointed out that the primary task is to ensure that the police should be able to guarantee every person’s security, and should have all necessary means at their disposal for completing this task. Mr Lázár further told the press that there have been no meaningful developments at the secret service agencies since 2001, and it is therefore inevitable and essential to conduct generous and significant procurements to ensure the availability of technical equipment to a level that corresponds to the EU average.
The European Command of the US troops stationed in Europe announced on Wednesday that the United States will station an armoured brigade in Eastern-Europe. In answer to a question concerning this announcement, the Minister said: no official request or enquiry has been received by Hungary in this context.
Wrong to take politics into schools
The head of the Prime Minister’s Office also responded to the Wednesday protest held in the wake of the petition of the movement I Would Like To Teach, and said: the Government takes the view it is wrong to take politics into schools, but despite its objections, it does not underestimate the Wednesday demonstration, respects the opinions of those who participated in it, and is aware that there are problems in education.
At the same time, the Minister believes that the demonstration failed because “out of the 3,200 schools in Hungary, there were genuine protests in just around 100”. “Other governments would laugh at the protestors after yesterday, but our Government takes them seriously”, he said.
He took the view: the Wednesday demonstrations clearly showed that both teachers and students find negotiations more important than demonstrations.
In answer to a question regarding the abolition of the Klebelsberg Institution Maintenance Centre, Mr Lázár said: the Government has not decided on anything as yet, given that they have yet to discuss the proposals of the public education roundtable. He made clear, however, that the Hungarian State will not renounce its right to operate schools.
The Minister said in reply to a question related to the reform of public meals in schools: „we shall not take over public meals as they are ours already”. The Government discussed, he said, that the Hungarian State „wishes to act in a coordinated fashion” in the capacity of principal.
Sunday day of rest: Government regards issue as closed
The Government regards the issue of Sunday being a day of rest as closed, and the electorate will have to decide whether they wish to have this question reviewed, Mr Lázár said.
At the same time, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office indicated: the available statistics refute the concerns of merchants as retail sales are continuously growing at an increasingly intensive rate. People have spent 3 to 4 per cent more since the introduction of the closure of shops on Sunday, he stated.
Mr Lázár also denied claims that the number of jobs had decreased. This is not true, thousands of new jobs have come into being, the Minister said.
Hungarian State Treasury to be reformed
The Government will transform the Hungarian State Treasury in two stages, and in the wake of the reforms, this organisation will be responsible for all state payments, Mr Lázár announced.
At his press conference the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office designated the summer of 2016 and the summer of 2017, respectively, as the deadlines for the completion of the reforms, and said: all other payment agencies will be abolished.
The Hungarian State Treasury will make all health insurance and pension insurance payments, while the relevant sector-specific responsibilities will be retained by the ministries, Mr Lázár said, and further informed the press: there will also be personnel changes within the organisation as expected. He additionally mentioned that HUF 270 billion has been allocated to the enhancement of the electronic capabilities of the State, and as part of this, IT developments will also be implemented at the Hungarian State Treasury.
In his words, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “is absolutely determined” to divide governance into two separate levels: strategic decision-making, legislative work, regulation and sector-specific policies on one level, with the other level serving as an executive platform. He explained in this context: the ministries will not perform the duties of the authorities or any executive work. These jobs will be performed by the government office or the treasury, and everything will operate in this fashion by 2018, at the latest.
Postal legislation is successful, NBH law is in need of a review
Mr Lázár described the decision of the Constitutional Court on the amendment of the postal legislation as a success, while regarding the amendment of the law on the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) which has been declared unconstitutional, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said: Parliament will have to explore the possibility of resolving the issue within constitutional boundaries.
The Constitutional Court pronounced on Thursday: the amendment of the central bank legislation related to public access to data is unconstitutional. At the same time, the Constitutional Court refused a similar motion tabled by the Head of State in connection with the postal legislation.
Mr Lázár responded to the decision at Governmentinfo by saying that the Government will study it in detail.
Regarding the case of the NBH law, the Minister said on a preliminary basis: if permitted by the decision of the Constitutional Court and its reasoning, Parliament will have to explore whether there is scope for the constitutional settlement of the question.
At the same time, the decision related to the postal services law means, he said, that there is business information within the realm of state-owned businesses where the business interests of the State take priority over the right to access to public information.
47 thousand hectares of land sold in second round of land auctions
Mr Lázár also informed the press about the second round of the land auctions to be closed on Thursday, as part of which 47,000 hectares of land have been sold for HUF 64 billion. As a result, “there was demand for 180,000 hectares of former state-owned land” in the two rounds in total, and some 10,000 families have acquired landed properties, he said.
The Hungarian Development Bank has provided credit worth HUF 130 billion for farmers to date, the Minister stated, who takes the view that the figures show: “not only our fellow-electors widely popularised by the press, but a substantial part of the farming community, too, has gained access to land as part of the programme”.
He indicated at the same time: the Government will evaluate the results of the second round, and will see how much demand there is and how much land is left, and in counties where there are both demand and land left, there will also be a third round.
EU affairs
The Minister also rendered an account of EU affairs. In the context of the Paks atomic power station, he pointed out: the most important goal is to obtain the European Commission’s approval with respect to two items in the first half of the year. One of these is the implementation of public procurements after the commencement of the project, while the other one is the recovery calculation. Regarding the latter, he said: Hungary takes the view that the project can be financed and the loan to be taken out can be repaid from the price of the electricity generated and sold, without additional state aid.
Mr Lázár further reported that the status of EU grant disbursements will be on the agenda of the government meeting to be held next week. Hungary received development grants worth HUF 8,200 billion during the period between 2007 and 2013; however, due to the exchange rate difference, this sum increased by HUF 400 billion, he said, indicating: the settlement procedure will last until the summer of 2017. Before this deadline, it will be necessary to resolve six disputed cases worth HUF 201 billion in total, but in his view, there is nothing unusual about this. The European Commission considers any dispute up to 2 per cent of the total allocation as normal, and none of the projects concerned reach this percentage.
He also argued: local organisations which seek to prove that there are cases of corruption or abuse surrounding the spending of EU funds are grossly mistaken. As he said, György Soros would be better off admitting that the system operated by him is not working, and should withdraw his troops deployed and financed against the Government from Hungary.
The Minister further spoke about the issue of gaming as one of the topics on the agenda of next week’s cabinet meeting. In his view, it will be necessary to clarify during the period to come in the lawsuits to be instituted before the Hungarian courts as to what extent the restrictions on the operation of one-armed bandits and on gaming were based on genuine public interests and to what extent they limited the freedom of operators. He is convinced that the restrictions were in the best interests of the country’s citizens, he said, and ruled out the possibility of coming to out-of-court agreements.
Regarding the family housing benefit (csok), he said that 24,000 families have enquired about the new benefit to date, and 2,000 families have already received the benefits they were eligible for.
On behalf of the Cabinet, Mr Lázár expressed his condolences to the family of Nobel Prize winner Hungarian author Imre Kertész, who passed away on Thursday.