Orban: Govt policy geared towards supporting, protecting families

The Hungarian government's family policies are geared towards supporting young couples planning families and ensuring their continued welfare once they have fulfilled their dream, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the 4th Demographic Summit in Budapest on Thursday. Financial incentives and property subsidies are among the effective measures addressing demographic problems, Orban said, adding that the government's aim was to "make the whole country family friendly". Meanwhile, the legal framework has been established to protect children and the institution of the family, he added. The prime minister said that whereas crude handouts were "easy" to implement and "required little intelligence", support had to be offered in a way that also allowed the economy to grow. "We're spending 5 percent of Hungarian GDP on families," Orban noted. "We haven't progressed as far as we would have liked, but we're around half way there," he added.