EU summit – Jobbik: PM Orbán’s only goal was to put EU funds into the pockets of his oligarchs

Press release – The Hungarian opposition’s conservative party, Jobbik reacted in several statements to the conclusion of the EU summit on the MFF and the economic recovery package.

The party’s President, Péter Jakab recalled that before the EU summit, Jobbik asked two guarantees from the Hungarian government in terms of the EU recovery package: First, the government should use the money without any corruption and, as insurance for that; Hungary should join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Second, instead of giving the funds to Fidesz oligarchs like Mészáros, the money should be allocated to Hungarian small and medium enterprises so that they could create jobs and raise wages.

According to Mr Jakab, the fact that their two requests were refused proves that PM Orbán’s only goal was to put EU funds into the pockets of his oligarchs.

”We know what’s going to happen to it: half of it goes back to the West through the western multinational big business, the other half lands in the pockets of Lőrinc Mészáros and his friends” – the politician asserted.

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Jobbik’s MEP Márton Gyöngyösi also underlined in his comment that the deal shows that the EU is not really planning to change the current practice of funding international big business in the West and financing the politically connected oligarchs.

”It’s a shame that small and medium enterprises still have to carry the weight of Europe’s economy while they suffered the biggest losses in the crisis. There’s no Europe without them” – Mr Gyöngyösi stated.

He also added that this EU summit ”demonstrated how you can weld together some unprincipled and uncompassionate but easy-to-sell compromise for short-term communication gains. However, you can’t build a stable, reliable and strong Europe without common values and solidarity.”

MP Zoltán Balczó, Jobbik’s former MEP concluded the party’s opinion in his press release as follows:

”In Jobbik’s view, the key questions on the use of the EU funds were already decided in the Hungarian Parliament when the motion was voted on: the Fidesz-Christian Democrats majority rejected Jobbik’s motions to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and to focus the EU funds on helping Hungarian small and medium enterprises. In other words, we cannot expect any assertive measures against fraud and corruption while Orbán’s oligarchs and the multinational big business remain the top beneficiaries of the EU funds. The only way to change this is to oust the Orbán regime in 2022.”

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Source: Press release – Jobbik