Opposition parties slam 2021 budget bill
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Hungarian opposition parties criticised the 2021 budget bill on Tuesday, saying it had been prepared hastily and fell short when it came to funding measures related to the novel coronavirus.
The Democratic Coalition (DK) said the bill was “meaningless” and lacked common sense or professionalism. DK’s deputy leader László Varju said in a statement that Viktor Orbán’s government had “systematically destroyed health care and the economy” while neglecting families and businesses ruined by the epidemic.
“Even now, on the verge of a crisis,” the 2021 budget bill contains items that “benefit the oligarchs”, such as rail developments and stadium construction, he added.
The bill still includes such priority projects as the Paks nuclear power station expansion, the Liget Project, the Budapest-Belgrade rail development and a new multifunctional sports and events hall in Budapest, he said.
Opposition Párbeszéd said the allocations for health care and economic protection were insufficient. Deputy group leader Sándor Burány told an online press conference that the Hungary’s budget bill had been hastily prepared and should have been submitted in the autumn instead.
The bill does not include sufficient allocations for measures to handle the effects of the novel coronavirus epidemic, he said.
Hospitals had been in an “appalling state” even before the epidemic, and doctors and nurses have “scandalously low salaries”, he said.