Hungarian PM upbeat about past year in State of Nation Address
Xinhua, February 28, 2015 Adjust font size:
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered a highly upbeat analysis of the past year in his annual State of the Nation Address in Budapest on Friday.
He believed his country's economic downturn since 2008 was gone and there would be no return to pre-crisis world.
He spoke of the fighting in Ukraine, which happened 25 years after Europe believed it was finally unified. He also touched on issues such as the growth in extremist politics among some parties, and the terrorists among immigrants in West Europe.
He called on Europe to refuse to accept the destruction of European culture, and to act to prevent the return of the Cold War spirit with Russia as the enemy.
He reiterated Hungary's commitment to NATO and the European Union. At the same time, he said Hungary was entitled to an independent foreign policy, thanks to its economic achievements in recent years.
He pointed to a growing gross domestic product (GDP) which he said was the outcome of its abandonment of "neoliberal economic policy". Hungary also gave up austerity, he said.
He categorically denied that Hungary was in any way isolated internationally, citing recent visits by world leaders. According to him, Hungary was visited by one president, three prime ministers, and nine foreign ministers in the past month.
Hungary, he said, was traveling its own road. Some believed Hungary a Europe-wide success, as evidenced by the recovery of its credit and banking system and ability to finance itself from the market, according to the Prime Minister.
He cited a 3.5 percent GDP growth rate in 2014, which was combined with non-existent inflation, and rising pensions achieved without increasing the national debt.
The job now, Orban said, was to improve living standards for the middle class, the wage and salary earners. To achieve that end, he promised more tax breaks for families with two children, free school meals, and stringent controls over banks.
Orban acknowledged that his party had lost its two-thirds majority in a by-election last Sunday.
He said his supporters had failed to go to the polls and warned that unless his party was vigilant, his party's dominance could erode. Enditem