Hungarian opposition leader Magyar asks the EU to assist Hungarians in paying increased energy and food prices

The leader of Hungary’s opposition Tisza Party has called on the European Union to provide “direction and assistance” in connection with big increases in energy and food prices.

After a meeting of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, Péter Magyar said on his YouTube channel that the EU had taken unified action when slapping Russia with sanctions, resulting in “wild” energy and food prices, so it should now take concerted action in offering help.

He noted record inflation in Hungary, with food prices rising “by more than 60 percent in in 2022 and 2023”. Inflation in Hungary is still the fourth highest in Europe, he added. The Tisza Party, he declared, would reduce VAT on vegetables and fruit to 5 percent, and then gradually reduce VAT on all health foods.

Magyar noted that today he conversed with Roberta Metsola, the EP president, and would also have a meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Meanwhile, addressing the issue of several 1956 freedom fighters who demanded the Tisza party raise the national flag with a symbolic hole in it, Magyar said it was “strange, whether they were real freedom fighters or not” that they had not condemned recent “treasonous” remarks made by the PM’s political director Balazs Orban.

Referring to accusations made by Fidesz MEP Tamas Deutsch regarding his immunity, Magyar said he was filing a complaint on the ground of defamation, adding that in any case, the EP had not as yet received the public prosecutor’s request to strip him of his immunity.