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By Sergio Velasco *
The institution and importance of the family foundation have lost their importance in the western world. One of the main reasons is the consecration of progressive “woke” ideas in most European countries. The most obvious consequence is the demographic crisis our continent is facing. For instance, Spaniards have today an average of 1.18 children, one of the lowest birth rates we’ve ever registered—in addition to the 100,000 abortions performed each year. This makes us think that our politicians don’t care about the foundation of families. They’ve abandoned a crucial pillar of society.
We can even see how the family is explicitly attacked by the news media. This is evidenced by headlines such as “Average parent wastes nearly 4,000 hours of life mired in ‘brain fog,’ study finds“, or “children aren’t everything.”
Hungary leads other European countries in protecting the foundation of family
Fortunately, there’s still hope in the Visegrád Group, especially in Hungary. Unlike other western countries, Hungarian politicians took the initiative to promote and support the institution of family. Katalin Novák, Hungary’s Minister for Families, is one of the most prominent figures of this initiative. She’s been the current vice-president of the Fidesz Party since 2018.
She’s been involved in different political tasks since 2001, but she started her most important mission in 2014: protecting the family—which has also been a priority for the Fidesz party. After they gained political power in 2010, Hungary had a birth rate of 1.25%, 3.6 marriages, and 40,000 reported abortions. A decade after, the birth rate is 24% up, and there are twice as many marriages. In total, Hungary uses about 4% of its GDP to protect and promote the family, which is something that no other EU country does. And due to this legal instrument, more than 200,000 Hungarian families had benefited. Which policies contributed to this?
The investment in the foundation of marriage overall flourishes civil society
First, they approved the Fundamental Law to defend the family, marriage, and human life. This law included some elements that contributed to the family’s protection. It clarifies that fetuses’ life is protected once conception is achieved, and how Hungary is going to protect marriages: by specifying them as the union of one man, and one woman. This incentivized Hungarians to increase their birth rate. These measures were brought into the Action Plan for the Protection of the Family. In this program, marriages get institutional bonuses, such as the possibility to get a 0% interest, non-refundable €29.000 loan. As long as you have more than three children, you don’t have to return the capital. And if you have 2, you only have to return ⅓ of the loan.
The combination of these family-oriented measures with the recent economic growth has made Hungary an example for other European nations. How has the country advanced in reaching its goals? From 2010 to 2020, the birth rate is up 24% (1.55 children per couple), there are twice as many marriages (5.2% marriages per 1000 habitants), and there are 20,000 fewer abortions per year.
We must not submit to the globalist agenda
Katalin Novák’s project won’t stop here. Her objective is to increase birth rates to 2.1% in 2030. “We have a Christian culture and Christian values we won’t renounce to. We don’t consider illegal immigration as the tool to solve the demographic crisis. We think, and see that our children are the future. This means that we’d like to empower young Hungarians to have as many children as they wish,” said Novák. Both Novák and Orban’s governments refuse to submit to the globalist agenda, which consists of taking in unauthorized immigrants to solve the wrongs that past politicians created: resolve the demographic problem with immigration and multiculturalism.
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Sergio Velasco is a student of political science and administration, creator of the Political Philosophy Project and member of Acción Liberal.
