The Hungarian government will not ban the pro-Russian march in Budapest!

Commenting on a planned pro-Russian demonstration in Budapest, Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said yesterday that Hungary condemns Russian aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, in the spirit of classical liberalism, Hungarian law has since 1990 protected the right of assembly except in cases of extremism, he added.

In response to a question, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff said that the Hungarian health system was open to the unlimited treatment of injured Ukrainian soldiers. He called the position of the United States and NATO to avoid direct conflict with Russia “wise”, and Hungary, he added, shared the same position.

“Nobody wants a Third World War.”

Commenting on the fact that Hungary was the first country in Europe to approve Gazprom’s request to modify its contract with the company on gas deliveries, he said that Hungary had been open and frank about it, unlike d other countries “quietly doing the same”. He said it was “impossible” for the country to replace Russian natural gas with other sources and that it would be “difficult and expensive” to wean itself off Russian crude oil. Gas interconnections with neighboring countries which have seen significant developments since 2010 are all supplied with Russian gas, he added.

“We would love to not have to buy Russian gas if other sources were available at the same price,”

he said, adding that alternative sources would be several times more expensive and in insufficient quantities. The government plans to fill the gas reservoirs in the coming period, he said, adding that Hungary was currently receiving Russian crude oil and natural gas without interruption, “and we hope that will remain the case”. Like nine other countries, Hungary pays in euros before a conversion into rubles, he added.

While contingency plans are in place, Hungary does not expect Gazprom to stop gas deliveries to Hungary as the country fully meets its payment obligations, he said.

Meanwhile, on family support, Gulyás said that the government is proud to spend the largest proportion of its GDP in the European Union in this area, and these benefits, he noted, are linked to the work. That will remain the case, he said.

Tell him that 90 percent of

600 small gas stations in Hungary could be put out of business because of the current cap

on the price of gasoline, Gulyás said the government was not considering changing the general cap because a more graduated and targeted system would involve too much bureaucracy.

Commenting on the food price cap, he said that some of the sectors affected were generating big profits and that the interests of Hungarian families currently took priority over profits. The annual cost of the measures, of the order of 50 billion forints (130 million euros), introduced in February mainly affects multinationals. Smaller retailers are much less affected, he added.

Making long-term decisions on price and interest caps in the current volatile environment, he said, would be difficult, so the government should ensure that measures and their timelines are predictable and correctly communicated.

Commenting on the EU recovery fund, Gulyás said talks were underway but the ball for signing the deal was in the European Commission’s court.

“We don’t see any issues – especially after receiving the conditionality letter – that we wouldn’t be able to resolve,” he said.

The criticism of the high number of one-off government contracts was valid, he said. But other censures were “absurd”, he added, referring to the distribution of judges, “a technical question” which did not justify the withdrawal of EU funds. Gulias said

Hungary was entitled to EU money because “we are part of the common market and we respect its rules”.

Hungary, he added, “would certainly receive these allocations sooner or later”.

It was after parliament approved the child protection law that the EU refused to sign off on Hungary’s share of the recovery money, he said. The government has maintained its insistence on keeping the law during the coordination talks, especially in light of the referendum results which overwhelmingly backed the measures, although it would find it acceptable for some allocations to be shifted to different areas, it said. -he adds.