Rod International, a conservative Bulgarian family protection organisation held an international conference on family policy, child protection, gender issues and Europe's current demographic challenges on 25 March in Sofia. Hungary was represented by Istvan Lorand Szakali, a senior economist at the Center for Fundamental Rights.

In addition to presenting the challenges Bulgaria is facing, the conference also featured speakers from Polish, Serbian and Hungarian organisations, who spoke about the situation in their own countries. Hungary was represented at the event by Istvan Lorand Szakali, a senior economist at the Center for Fundamental Rights, who presented an overview of the measures taken since 2010 to protect families and children, to reduce violent gender propaganda and the progress made in the field of family policy.

In the latter policy field, it is important to highlight that „data released by Eurostat shows that, between 2011 and 2021, fertility rate in Hungary increased the most in the European Union, by 31 per cent,” said Mr Szakali from the Center for Fundamental Rights. „While at the beginning of the 2010s this indicator was the lowest in Hungary (1.23 in 2011) within the EU, reaching a rate of 1.61 in ten years, the country managed to enter the mid-range in Europe,” the expert from the Center for Fundamental Rights explained, highlighting the positive demographic change.

At the conference, Mr Szakali pointed out that

„while the whole of Europe is grappling with demographic challenges, it is an extraordinary result that Hungary has seen the biggest positive shift regarding people’s commitment to start a family thanks to the Hungarian government’s conscious and consistent measures that support having children and creating a work-based society”.

„It is another serious result that the number of divorces per 100 marriages has also dropped the steepest in Hungary, by 66 per cent by 2020 compared to 2010,” the expert added.

In the context of the Sofia conference, it is also noteworthy that nowadays family policy and child protection measures adopted in Hungary are setting an example for pro-family and pro-life European organisations, as well as for political trends that wish to tackle the current demographic challenges not with the help of migration.

In light of this, it is no coincidence that both EU institutions, including the Commission and the Parliament, and foreign-funded NGOs promoting gender propaganda, are putting heavy pressure on Hungary in order to change its current policies,

Mr Szakali emphasized. In view of tasks for the future, he concluded that „in this situation, reinforcing international cooperation and mutual support between conservative organisations flying the banner of „God, Homeland and Family” is of utmost significance.