Jobbik nominates Vona as prime ministerial candidate

Opposition Jobbik leader Gábor Vona announced a programme for a safer, fairer and free Hungary at the party’s 16th national congress in Budapest on Saturday.

Addressing the congress, Vona called it “the gravest problem” that life in Hungary is still shaped by 20th-century reflexes, traumas and division, with many politicians abusing the situation rather than leaving the past behind.

Vona stressed the need for his party to build bridges and represent the interests of all Hungarians. He said that Jobbik is guided by the principle of working “with a Hungarian heart, common sense and clean hands”.

He called it important for everyone to prosper in their native land, and for society to “preserve its cultural bonds” to remain able to contain migration. “If, on a scale of 1 to 10, ruling Fidesz is protecting Hungary at scale 7, Jobbik would do it at scale 10,” he said.

Vona pressed for an increase in wages in Hungary and cited his party’s wage union initiative, saying that “Jobbik plans to push this through even from opposition because the principle of equal wage for equal work is missing from the European Union’s basic principles.”

He said ending corruption is a necessary “0 step” and more money must be spent on health care and education. “While Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has a craze for football, my craze would be health services and hospitals,” he said.