Socialists slam ‘sham’ government scheme to slash household energy bills

The Fidesz government has given households the impression of slashing their energy bills while in fact keeping gas prices artificially high by failing to follow price drops on the international market, Socialist group leader Bertalan Tóth told a press conference on Wednesday.

Government controlled gas prices have been consistently higher than market prices that plummeted in 2014, he said.

Between 2013 and 2017, the government ripped off the average Hungarian household by 70,000 forints (EUR 225), Tóth insisted. Meanwhile, the Russian supplier of natural gas has made billions of forints in additional revenue, he added.

The Socialists have proposed in parliament cutting the prices of gas by 30 percent and district heating and electricity fees by 10 percent, he said. This would be “a real and fair cut” as opposed to campaign window-dressing, he said.

Commenting on the “Stop Soros” bill, which the ruling parties submitted on Wednesday, Tóth said: “We do not support discrimination against churches or charity organisations,”

On the topic of the European anti-fraud office’s (OLAF) report which disclosed conflicts of interest related to state secretary Robert Homolya’s work on EU projects, Tóth said the report was proof that “the government is running a state-organised graft chain, which will further harm taxpayers.” The Socialist party will file a report to the police on the matter, he said.

Source: MTI