A few weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal published a front-page article. The piece expressed shock at its conclusion: not enough children are being born, a problem partly attributed to the lack of adequate family policies in the United States - if such policies exist at all. However, this observation doesn't just apply to the U.S. According to United Nations statistics, Europe's population decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic and is on track to shrink by 40 million by 2050. The trend is hardly surprising: Hungary, often dismissed within the European Union, has been sounding the alarm for years. The continent has been aging steadily since the 1960s, and the trend has now accelerated. According to a previous article in the Hungarian Vilaggazdasag, only two European countries have truly recognized the urgency of the situation: Norway and Hungary. These nations spend more on family support than any others.
While the United States allocates just 1% of its GDP to family-related initiatives, such as tax credits for children and programs targeting low-income Americans, Hungary and Norway invest more than 3% of their GDP in programs designed to support families. In both nations, this expenditure exceeds what they spend on military development.
Europe is in trouble. The continent faces challenges beyond its declining birthrate, as its values, Christian culture and, in some member states, even the safety of its citizens are under threat. Even France, once a leader in family and population policy, has buckled under the weight of illegal migration, despite its earlier fertility rate exceeding two children per woman - partly bolstered by migration itself. Today, some member states report fertility rates below 1. This means that women of childbearing age in these regions are, on average, more likely to remain childless than to have children. Meanwhile, illegal immigrants are present in abundance. In some northern states, their numbers have grown so large that they are displacing the native population from their own neighborhoods. We all know the saying that there are no "no-go zones" in Sweden but, according to the newer version, there are entire "no-go cities."
Returning to The Wall Street Journal article, it detailed the Hungarian model, highlighting that "pronatalism" - a policy ideology supporting human reproduction, or, more pointedly, the belief that a woman’s primary role is to bear children to increase the native population - is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's broader populist agenda. While Hungary’s domestic opposition frequently critiques the government's demographic policies and, by using data selectively, tries to argue that the country’s population strategy has failed, it is important to view these figures as part of a trend, as is done elsewhere.
After the regime change, Hungary’s fertility rate collapsed, reaching a historic low of 1.25 children per woman by 2010. Over the following decade, however, family support programs expanded at an unprecedented pace. These measures primarily aimed to ensure that starting a family would not pose a financial risk for young people. Under the previous Socialist governments, most forms of family support were withdrawn from Hungarian parents and children. The government at the time not only failed to encourage childbirth but also conveyed a distinctly negative attitude in its rhetoric. As state coffers emptied, then-Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany and his administration were quick to slash social benefits, beginning with those supporting families. These cuts had a cascading impact on all forms of social assistance, further burdening parents raising children.
In 2010, however, not only the range of financial benefits was significantly expanded, but shaping social attitudes also became an important element in the program of the state secretary for family affairs. To this end, the Hungarian government introduced a number of measures and programs that would also incentivize employers, for example. Thanks to all these steps, Hungary's fertility rate rose to 1.6 in 2021, which is a huge result, especially considering that Hungary, unlike many other EU member states, rejected admissions during the 2017 migration wave. This was the main way some other EU countries wanted to solve their population policy issues.
By now, however, it has become clear that migration has not solved issues, but generated great many new problems instead. The magnitude of the problems is illustrated by Sweden when it pays considerable sums of money to migrants who are willing to return to their home countries. (It should be noted that the sum paid to illegal migrants compares to the money accessible in the form of prenatal loans to young Hungarians who get married and want to start a family.)
People's dissatisfaction also reflects the situation in Western Europe, as contrary to all other information, parties prioritizing the resolution and elimination of migration issues are winning across the board.
All this also implies that the leadership of the European Union, which continues to insist on quotas and its utopian but unrealistic desire for multiculturalism, does not represent the position of the majority of voters, and therefore the time is ripe to make a political turnaround or to admit failure and pass the baton to others.
Budapest hosted the two-day external meeting of the Patriots for Europe party family. The group was set up after this summer's European Parliament elections as a kind of counterweight to the fact that the classic right-wing, Christian-conservative EP groups effectively ceased to exist. We have witnessed an interesting transformation, for example, in relation to the European People's Party led by Manfred Weber. The EPP cannot even be called centrist now: it has fully adopted the rhetoric of the left. Illegal immigrants, quota, war, double standards.
In contrast, as MEP Kinga Gal put it, the Patriots would like to steer the Brussels leadership back towards common sense, including on the issue of migration. The need for this is also indicated by the fact that a growing number of member states would opt out of the forcibly pushed through migration pact and would pursue their own immigration policies. Consequently, the Patriots group issued a political declaration calling for a much tougher migration policy in Europe than at present, including effective external border protection and a complete ban on illegal border crossings. The patriots insist on a regular review of refugee status and on the expulsion of criminal or radical migrants from the EU's territory. In addition, and in this context, they also urged strict measures against NGO and lobby groups that facilitate illegal migration.
It was high time to form the Patriots for Europe.
This has now been realized not only by us here in Hungary, but also by the member states throughout Europe, not least by the citizens who have been led to believe that the majority are in solidarity with and welcoming of illegal migrants, and that the problem is with them if they cannot tolerate this.
Finally, the United States also shows that the path to strong nations leads through a stable and predictable family policy, and that's the only way. We are in the twenty-fourth hour, but we must wake up. Otherwise, nothing will remain of what we have built up so far.
