Government official: Hungary birth rate growth highest in EU

Addressing a podium discussion at the 5th Hungarian-Polish summer university organised by the Waclaw Felczak Institute, Nagy-Vargha said the “complex, stable, targeted, reliable family policy system” of the past 12 years had contributed to the tendency, which made Hungary a “positive exception” among European countries. At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine are expected to dampen its effect, she added.

At another discussion, Hungary’s Ambassador to Poland and the Polish Ambassador to Hungary agreed that the press often “over-interprets Hungarian and Polish politicians’ statements on the war in Ukraine, whipping up emotions in the public.” Zsuzsanna Orsolya Kovacs and Sebastian Keciek highlighted the importance of “knowing the facts and coordinating stances”.

Csaba Farago, head of foreign affairs at the Hungarian think-tank Szazadveg Foundation, said Hungary had seen “many ethnic Hungarians fleeing harrassment from the authorities in Ukraine. Hungary, however, knows who the aggressor is in the Ukraine war”, and will do all in its power to broker peace, he said.