Jobbik would introduce new food subsidy scheme in Hungary

Opposition Jobbik will contest the 2024 European parliamentary elections on its own and favours fielding local patriots in the local elections without opposition party logos, leaders of the conservative party said on Friday.

Jobbik will contest the EP elections with its own platform and as a modern centre-right pro-Europe party, Márton Gyöngyösi, the party’s leader, told a press event. As regards the local elections, he said a recent mayoral by-election in Jászberény, in eastern Hungary, showed that the vote should be contested without the presence of party logos. He said it was better if the opposition parties “step back and let people who are considered credible locally” decide amongst themselves who should go up against ruling Fidesz’s candidate.

However, Jobbik does not rule out the possibility of holding primaries in places where there may be disagreements, Gyöngyösi said, adding that “this would have to happen locally”.

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Anita Kőrösi Potocskáné, Jobbik’s deputy leader, said opposition cooperation in the past had proven successful in places where the parties themselves were absent. She said party logos should not feature on the county election lists, either, arguing that civil groups could be more successful there as well.

Kőrösi Potocskáné added, however, that a primary to determine the candidate for Budapest mayor was likely inevitable, vowing that Jobbik would support the winner.

Meanwhile, Gyöngyösi said Jobbik favoured phasing out price caps on basic foodstuffs and replacing them with a food subsidy scheme targeting those having trouble making ends meet. The scheme would be financed from the additional gains in VAT revenue due to inflation, he said.

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Source: MTI