Election 2018 – PM candidate Karácsony: Government policies may exclude Hungary from renewed Europe

The policies of Hungary’s incumbent government “jeopardise” the country’s chances to become “part of a renewed and social Europe”, Gergely Karácsony, the prime ministerial candidate of the Socialist-Párbeszéd alliance, said after meeting diplomats in Budapest on Wednesday.

Karácsony insisted that the government’s policies were “creating a war situation in the EU” and said that the community could cut funding for the country because of its “non-transparent bids involving huge risks of corruption”.

He pledged that under his premiership Hungary would join the European Prosecutor’s Office with no delay and his government would “do every possible step to distribute community funds in a transparent way and ensuring that they reach voters”. He added that EU funds would be spent on human resources, health and welfare if his party alliance won the upcoming election.

Karácsony rejected “false and completely baseless” accusations that the opposition is working to turn Hungary into a migrant haven. He said his government would not support mandatory migrant quotas but it would contribute to a European solution to the migrant problem through, for example, strengthening border protection. He added that Hungary was not suffering from a migration pressure; “nobody wants to immigrate, people rather seek to emigrate from this country.”