Latest news with #Hankó
Budapest Times
21 minutes ago
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Hankó: Brussels sees sexual propaganda as more important than the protection of children
Balázs Hankó, the minister of culture and innovation, said in Luxembourg on Thursday that Brussels sees sexual propaganda as more important than the protection of children, 'but we don't agree with that.' Commenting on an opinion published by the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) saying that Hungary's child protection law infringed on EU law, Hankó said 'Brussels launched a lawsuit against Hungary because we … enshrined in the Fundamental Law our view that the protection of children is the top priority and we say no to continued gender activism in schools, kindergartens, the streets, public spaces and the media.' 'While the CJEU sees gender propaganda as a fundamental value of the EU, the Hungarian government sees the protection of families as a core value,' he said. 'The court is engaging all sorts of legal obstacles and legalese when it says that the benefits of media, advertising and electronic services are more important than the protection of our children,' Hankó said. Hungary's stance is clear, he said: the sexual education of children is in the hands of the parents, 'and gender activists and sexual propaganda has nothing to do with it. The lawsuit continues; we will continue to stand up for our children and families,' he said. Hanko insisted that 'Brussels and gender propaganda' had 'overtaken' the CJEU. He said Hungary was ready to 'shoulder the legal costs' of the 16 member states which earlier joined the EC lawsuit, 'because the protection of children comes before everything else'. 'The interference of Ursula von der Leyen's European Commission, the European Parliament manipulated by Manfred Weber, and the 16 states that joined [the lawsuit] will be in vain. We are ready to do everything in our power for our children and normality,' Hankó said. He said that normality meant 'that we can determine who we want to live with, that we say no to illegal migration, no to gender propaganda, and no to the fast-tracked EU integration of Ukraine, which are contrary to Hungarian socio-economic interests.'
Budapest Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Budapest Times
Hankó: Government values all Hungarian talent
Balázs Hankó, the minister for culture and innovation, said the Hungarian government values all Hungarian talent and is committed to running a talent management system that supports and improves Hungarian talent around the world. Speaking at the 'Talent's Talk 2025' event in Vienna, Minister Hankó said the government has allocated 400 million forints (EUR 990,000) for the next academic year's Stipendium Peregrinum scholarship scheme for Hungarian students who have applied to the world's best universities. Meanwhile, Minister Hankó said the Pannonia scholarship programme has given more than 3,000 young Hungarians the chance to gain experience at Europe's and the world's leading universities over the past semester. The government has also increased funding for young Hungarian researchers this year to 40 billion forints from 19 billion, the minister said. He noted that Hungary's aim is to have a university among the world's top 100 institutions by 2030, and for Hungary to be among the ten most innovative countries in the European Union.
Budapest Times
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Hankó: Brussels wants to erase our Judeo-Christian culture
Balázs Hankó, the minister for culture and innovation, said Brussels 'wants to erase Europe's roots, our Judeo-Christian culture'. In a speech at the CPAC Hungary 2025 conference in Budapest on Friday, the minister said Hungarian culture provides a national identity that transcends borders, and higher and vocational education guarantee knowledge, work and 'a mission in service of our communities'. He added that science and innovation were 'what determines our sovereignty', and families were the future. 'It is these cornerstones of our Christian national identity that Brussels is attacking and wants to distort,' Minister Hankó said, adding that Brussels wanted to 'make the discriminatory world of abnormality dominant over normality and order'. Minister Hankó said this was the explanation for Brussels's exclusion of university students and researchers who pushed back against its influence from international cooperation programs, and this was why Hungary was being punished for banning 'gender propaganda' from schools. Minister Hankó said those who were fighting for their nation and justice would never waver, adding that 'this is how we patriots are.'
Budapest Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
Hankó: Hungary's government supports sustainability and Hungarian families
Balázs Hankó, the minister for culture and innovation, said Hungary's government supports sustainability and Hungarian families. In connection with the International Family Forum held in Istanbul on Thursday, Hankó said Hungary's family policy has even set an example on the international stage, adding that this was the reason why Turkiye has declared 2025 the 'year of the family'. Hankó said Hungary is the only European Union member state out of the 26 countries taking part in the International Family Forum, arguing that it was the 'bastion of families' in the EU. Hungary, he said, protected the traditional family model against the 'Brussels family model' and provided 'outstanding financial security to families with children'. Noting the tax breaks given to families with children, he said all of the ministers attending the Istanbul conference had spoken highly of Hungary's family support system. Hankó said the topic of work-family balance was given special attention in the speeches and questions at the forum. He noted that in Hungary, mothers can choose to stay home with their children for three years or return to work as soon as three months after giving birth, while still receiving family support. The conference, he said, had also established that the family was the key to sustainability, adding that Hungary was a global leader on this front. 'Hungary puts families first,' he said. 'The family is the basis of the Hungarian economy and Hungarian society, which is why we support sustainability and Hungarian families instead of war, migration and Ukraine's fast-tracked accession to the EU.'
Budapest Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Budapest Times
Hankó: The world is paying more and more attention to Hungarian higher education
Balázs Hankó, the minister for culture and innovation, said Hungary's successful higher education reforms are being recognised on the international stage. In connection with the ongoing Education World Forum in London on Tuesday, Hankó told MTI that the world is paying more and more attention to Hungarian higher education, noting that the country's higher education reforms were the only topic to be featured in two presentations at the forum. Hankó said the interest that the reforms had attracted had to do with the ascent of Hungarian universities in international rankings in recent years. 'Today, there are 12 Hungarian universities in the world's top five percent, one of which is in the top one percent and three in the top two percent,' Hankó said. 'We have doubled our scientific performance, and the number of students admitted to technology, science, engineering, IT, agriculture and medicine programmes has increased by 44 percent.' The participants at the Education World Forum, which is being attended by the higher education ministers of 135 countries, were mainly interested in how Hungary's higher education sector had succeeded in establishing close relations with economic players under the new foundation model, Hankó said. Hankó said there are currently 46,000 international students studying in Hungary, and the aim is to increase their number to 80,000 over the coming years.
