DK programme calls for European family allowance, minimum wage

According to Hungarian News Agency, the Democratic Coalition (DK) calls for the introduction of a European family allowance and minimum wage in its programme for the upcoming EP election, the leftist party said on Tuesday.

Speaking to a press conference, the party’s top candidate, Klára Dobrev, said that all European children would be eligible for the European family allowance next to their member state’s own family support.

The European minimum wage and minimum pension would supplement the member state’s, should it be “incapable or unwilling” to ensure its citizens a decent income, Dobrev said.

“In Hungary, over a quarter of families currently live under the poverty threshold,” she added.

A source to fund these measures would be taxing multinational companies, Dobrev said. The member states should not go into talks with large companies alone but unite to prevent the companies avoiding taxes more effectively, she said.

Democratic Coalition stands for a strong, united Europe and embraces building a united states of Europe, Dobrev said. Such an alliance would view its citizens as members of a community and not merely as consumers, taxpayers or employees, she said. “The question is whether Hungary will be part of that alliance,” she said. Fighting against Prime Minister “Viktor Orbán’s regime is a patriotic duty because it threatens to marginalise Hungary within the EU”, she said.

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Fidesz reaction

Ruling Fidesz said in response that

DK is one of the most vocal supporters of pro-migration policies in Hungary.

Dobrev “would vote for all pro-migration proposals in Brussels without batting an eyelid,” the party’s communications chief, Balázs Hidvéghi, said in a statement.

He added that Dobrev, the wife of DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány, was also involved in the case of Csaba Czeglédy, who had been charged with defrauding the government of 6 billion forints (EUR 18.9m). Czeglédy has worked as a lawyer for Gyurcsány’s “family company”, Altus, Hidvéghi said, adding that it seems Dobrev “would be keen to get the immunity that comes with being an MEP”.

The ruling parties stand for a Europe of nation states, Hidvéghi said, adding that attempts to centralise decision-making in Brussels benefit only a small elite.

Source: MTI