Coronavirus – Opposition critical of government’s pandemic management
Members of the opposition’s Covid-19 committee called the government’s coronavirus-related measures in the past one year “bad, ill-advised, disastrous” adding that some of the measures had been taken too late.
Speaking after the first session of the ad hoc committee on Friday, Párbeszéd co-leader Tímea Szabó told an online press conference broadcast on Facebook that the government had “made a mess” of crisis management, adding that delaying measures had put people’s health at risk.
Szabó insisted that out of the government’s economic protection package, worth 3,600 billion forints (EUR 10bn), 2,500 billion had not been spent on the purpose. She insisted that the body should hear Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler, Chief Medical Officer Cecilia Müller and businessman Lőrinc Mészáros.
Democratic Coalition MP Zoltán Varga called the government’s performance “catastrophic”, saying that “hundreds and thousands” of jobs had been eliminated in the past one year when businesses went bankrupt, while “the government’s oligarchs and front men gained billions” through winning “a large part of European Union funds”.
He urged that the government should give businesses 80 percent of their lost revenues for last year, and 80 percent of the wages to workers, from the economic protection fund.
MP of conservative Jobbik Anita Korosi Potocska said that the government’s crisis management had “failed”. She demanded that “show-case and prestige projects” should be halted immediately, and the funds given to families.
LMP co-leader Máté Kanász-Nagy said that the government had “not prepared the country for the pandemic”. He insisted that the opposition should prepare an election programme for the national vote in 2022 that “ensures directions to help the country out of an economic and social crisis”.
Katalin Cseh, MEP of the Momentum party, said it was “painful” to see “how badly” the government handled the coronavirus crisis. She insisted that while only one in twenty Hungarians received a pandemic-related subsidy, in Austria one in every five citizens. She also said it was shocking that representatives of the ruling parties had stayed away from the committee, adding that “poverty or the crisis do not have (party) colours”.
Cseh also slammed the government for being “secretive” concerning the national vaccination plan, and “granting a licence to vaccines about which we know little”.
Socialist co-leader Ágnes Kunhalmi said that Hungary was having a “crisis of confidence” while the country’s management was “chaotic” and measures were delayed. She also said that the Covid-19 committee was aiming to provide information on the epidemic the public had so far been denied.
In response, the ruling parties said that “rather than providing support, the opposition has constantly hindered coronavirus prevention” through “attacking health staff, epidemiologists, and defaming participants of preventive efforts”.
Read alsoHuman resources minister: Hungary vaccination rate above EU average
Source: MTI
6 Comments
How sad it is to see that the left is prepared to do anything to get into power.
People can see right through it.
How sad it is the Government will say anything to stay in power. That’s what people will see though.
It’s more concerning that the Government will say anything to stay in power. That’s what people will see though.
Thank you.
You have just proved my point.
I’m not sure in what way I’ve proved your point. The Government talks a lot of rhetoric. We know exactly how many violations of curfew or non mask compliance have taken place. We’re told how well the economy seems to be doing. How much is being invested into companies to save jobs and create new jobs. The election campaign for Fidesz has started early I think. Any challenges from other parties is always ‘the left’ wanting to cause trouble. Why has it been so difficult to find what the R number has been. Transparency? Public information?
As a previous supporter of the Hungarian ‘opposition’ parties – who has now ‘seen through’ such hypocrites – I believe that TIMEA SZABO (Parbeszed = Pipsqueak Party), ZOLTAN VARGA (DK = Dobrev Klara Party), ANITA KOROSI POTOCSKA (Jobbik = Judas Party), MATE KANASZ-NAGY (LMP = Looney Members of Parliament Party), KATALIN CSEH (Momentum = Moronic Party) and AGNES KUNHALMI (Socialist = Hungarian Communist Party) are all united by one common factor : a HATRED for the democratic process in Hungary, which has resulted in their INSANE IDEAS continually being rejected by a majority of Hungarian voters.
It is about time that these useless individuals – and the irrelevant parties they represent – PERMANENTLY leave Hungarian politics.