Opposition calls on PM Orbán not to veto EU budget

Parties of the parliamentary opposition on Monday called on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán not to veto the European Union’s next seven-year budget.

Representatives of the Párbeszéd, Jobbik, Socialist, Democratic Coalition, and LMP parties held a press conference after parliament’s EU consultation council attended by the prime minister and the group leaders of parliamentary parties.

Párbeszéd

Párbeszéd co-leader Tímea Szabó said that at the meeting, held behind closed doors, Orban had “repeated mean lies” concerning his plans to veto the budget, and insisted that “each Hungarian would be stripped of 250,000 forints (EUR 695)” through the veto, while the government “is taking out a loan which each Hungarian would service with 400,000 forints”.

Jobbik

Conservative Jobbik group leader Péter Jakab insisted that the government was following a scorched-earth policy, and said that Orbán was seeking to “paralyse Europe through the veto even if it kills Hungarians”. He warned that the EU’s recovery package was instrumental in driving Hungary out of the crisis. He also suggested that

Orbán “has started preparations to drive Hungary out of the EU sooner or later”.

Socialists

Socialist co-leader Bertalan Tóth said that the veto was “only about the financial security of the prime minister, his family, and friends.”