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Hungary: survey, two thirds in favor of Orban family plan

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, FEB 12 - Two thirds of Hungarian respondents in a survey of the Nezopont Institute said that they are happy with the measures recently announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to support families and to fight the demographic decline in the country. The poll revealed that 63% of the respondents support the planned measures, with 40% in favor also among government's opponents, local media reported. Nezopont added that 64% support also the current government's anti-migration stance. On Sunday, Orban announced a seven-point family support plan "aimed at reversing Hungary's demographic decline," the government said in a statement. Among the measures, preferential loans and home ownership subsidy programs for married couples, exemption of personal income tax payments for the rest of their lives for women who raised at least four children, a car purchase subsidy for large families, 21,000 more nursery places and financial support for grandparents taking care of grandchildren. Referring to the family plan, Orban said that "this is Hungary's response to demographic decline, not migration." The Hungarian Prime Minister noted that countries in Western Europe, where birth numbers are in decline as they are in Central- and Eastern Europe, adopted migration as their path towards resolving the demographic problem, but he added that Hungarians are different: "We don't just want numbers, we want Hungarian babies." (ANSA).