Socialists call for alliance with West

Hungary needs allies in the West rather than to become a part of the “eastern world order”, the head of the opposition Socialist Party told a conference commemorating former Socialist Prime Minister Gyula Horn in Budapest on Wednesday.

Bertalan Tóth insisted that his party was a “committed adversary to illiberalism” but it was also critical of liberal democracy and capitalism. Instead, it seeks a social democratic ideal with the aim of increasing wages, protecting the interests of employees and resolving problems around education and health, he added.

Concerning the European Union, Tóth said that his party was pro-European, but he expressed criticism over the EU, saying that its institutions were now “far from the everyday lives of ordinary people”.

The community should seek ways to contribute to building those lives, he said.

The Socialists accept the rules of capitalism but oppose “unlimited opportunities for multinational companies; we are not allied to international companies but to their employees,” Tóth said, adding that Hungarian wages should be raised to western European levels.