Hungarian parliament passes reforms on party group financing, asset declaration

Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday passed changes to the funding of parties’ parliamentary groups and adopted an asset declaration system in line with that of MEPs.

The proposals were adopted with 135 votes in favour and 45 votes against.

From January 1, the basic funding for operational costs will be disbursed to party lists rather than individual parliamentary party groups. In the case of joint lists, funding will be divided evenly among the party groups running on the list.

Read alsoParliament passes 2023 budget

Party group funding is linked to the wages of lawmakers, with party groups receiving 10 times lawmakers’ allowance in operative costs every month, currently 13 million forints (EUR 32,000). Joint lists will get 17 times the monthly wage of lawmakers, or 22 million forints (EUR 55,000), every month.

Further, party groups will also receive funding according to the number of lawmakers in their rows.

Fidesz group leader Mate Kocsis, one of the authors of the proposal, said the regulation would cut 3 billion forints from leftist parties and 2 billion from right-wing ones. “Parliamentary groups should be funded according to the will of the voters,” he said.

Lawmakers also voted to change MPs’ annual asset declarations to align the system with those of MEPs. In future, deputies will not be required to indicate real properties, valuable possessions, or savings, only revenues and holdings.