Rogan at Tranzit Festival: Sovereign economic policy ‘topmost prerequisite’

In his talk dubbed “Chances for the Hungarian economy in times of peril” Antal Rogan reviewed the economic achievements of the past 15 years. Shifting to a work-based society with a matching tax policy, increasing assistance to families and capping the price of public utilities have reduced the number of people living in poverty by 1.1 million since 2015, he said. Those achievements cannot be retained without a sovereign policy, he added.

Rogan suggested that one of the factors determining Hungary’s chances was how soon the war in Ukraine could be ended, and said the draft for a “peace budget” was “in the government’s drawers”. The draft was designed to double tax benefits for families, increase subsidies for first-time home owners, increase assistance to small companies, raise minimum wages and, similarly to students, provide loans to young vocational workers, Rogan said.

Rogan slammed the European Union, however, for its “usual demands of a liberal economic philosophy”, under which Hungary should remove the caps from public utility prices, increase the corporate tax, introduce a two-bracket tax system, increase the property tax, scrap thirteenth month pensions, raise the retirement age and “introduce a policy of constant austerity”. “Those proposals will be implemented unless the government has a sovereign stance,” he said.