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Magyar noted that a three-day informal government meeting had been held at the weekend, where strategic matters and issues that would determine Hungary’s coming years were discussed.
The government reviewed the conditions of restarting the Hungarian economy, the future of priority investments, the first results of reviews, the situation of the public media, foreign policy tasks, the issues of illegal migration, the budget, national security, the operation of the ministries and the schedule for the coming months, the prime minister said.
“We found Hungary’s budget in a dramatically bad state after the handover. The previous government handled the money of the Hungarian people with shocking irresponsibility”, he said.
The previous government “lied to the Hungarian people about a 3.7%, then a 5% budget deficit, but their own apparatus was already calculating with a 6.8% deficit,” Magyar said.
What can be seen after the review is that the actual 2026 deficit would be over 8pc if the Tisza government had not been able to have the EU funds released, but even so it could be over 7%.
“Fidesz overspent the budget in a way that the price would have to be paid not by their government, but the Tisza government and the Hungarian people,” Magyar said.
He said János Lázár’s Ministry of Construction and Transport left a similar legacy: Hungary’s infrastructure, roads, bridges and railway transport are in very poor condition.
As many as 91 bridges in Hungary are in critical condition, he added. The government also discussed the issue of the public interest asset management foundations (Kekva) at the weekend, Magyar said, then once again called on the boards of the foundations, which are to be terminated by August 31, to refrain from making any decisions, commitments, contracts or any legal statements affecting the value, composition or ownership of the state assets allocated to the foundations.
“We will protect the property of the Hungarian people, and we will carry the investigations through and hold those responsible to account,” the prime minister said.
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