Fidesz proposes cutting state funding for parliamentary groups

The ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat parties are submitting a bill on cutting state funding by 3 billion forints (EUR 7.5m) for opposition parliamentary party groups and by 2 billion forints for their own groups during the current parliamentary cycle, the group leader of Fidesz said on Tuesday.

Through the “trickery of sending six party groups to parliament”, the left-wing parties would cost much more in the forthcoming cycle than they did in the previous one, even though they lost 800,000 voters and ten seats after the April 3 general election, Máté Kocsis said.

The left-wing parties’ demand for an extra 3 billion forints is “unfair”, fails to reflect the voters’ will, and should not be supported from either the fiscal or the political points of view, he said.

Kocsis noted that the monthly state funding for a pro-government MP amounted to 2.2 million forints and for an opposition MP to 3.1 million forints in the previous cycle. If the system were left unchanged, he said, the monthly funding would increase to 2.6 million forints and 4.5 million forints, respectively, he said. As a consequence, the parliamentary groups would cost the taxpayers 6 billion forints more in four years than in the previous cycle, he said.

The governing parties will table the bill next Tuesday. Once approved, the new rates will take effect on January 1 next year, he said.