DK presents 16-point election platform

MTI – The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) presented a 16-point platform for their election campaign on Sunday.

“There will be no compromise with autocracy,” the party’s leader, Ferenc Gyurcsany, said in Budapest. First, Gyurcsany mentioned plans to adopt the euro in 2020.

DK would give voting rights to people who have permanent residence in Hungary and who pay taxes here, he said. Religion would be a private matter and the DK, if elected to government, would scrap Hungary’s contract with the Vatican and discontinue support for churches, he said, adding that a bank for the poor should be set up from the funds saved.

Competition, private property and the self-regulation of markets would be honoured, while special economic zones would be created where government intervention is necessary to help close the development gap.

Land leases would be terminated, with view to supporting not only family farms but also larger agribusiness which employ thousands of people. DK would introduce incremental employer social contributions that grow with the number of employees.

DK disagrees with the current government’s family policies which, in their view, punishes the poor, Gyurcsany said. He called for a radical hike in childcare benefits and a programme to build more nurseries and creches.

The public education system would be developed so that by leaving secondary school, every student would speak at least one language and by 2018-2020 all primary and secondary schools would have a bilingual curriculum, he said. Higher education would be more open in the admission phase, and after the first year, the best-performing students would stay on, he said, adding that “a fair tuition fee” should be charged, but the best students would get a generous scholarship.

DK would eliminate the retirement age altogether and create state-administered private pension accounts. It would return “confiscated” private pension payments to their owners, he said. Gyurcsany said instead of a utility bill cut scheme, which runs under the current government, his party would support wind and solar power and insulation programmes for half a million families.

He said DK would support the introduction of a one-third quota for women executives at listed companies in which the state holds stakes. The same quota would apply to elections lists by 2018, he added. Gyurcsany said he would eliminate public television and spend the tens of billions of forints saved on supporting individual news and public programmes.

The ruling Fidesz party said in a statement on Sunday that the failed left would take away tax credits for families, scrap the utility bill cuts and raise taxes. However, Hungary stands on its own feet, the economy shows promising signs of economic and employment growth and the burdens on families are being reduced, the party said.

Photo: MTI – Zsolt Szigetváry

Source: http://hungarymatters.hu/