Socialists support referendum to thwart state-owned land sales

Budapest, March 29 (MTI) – The opposition Socialists have decided to support a referendum initiative aimed at thwarting the government’s state-owned land privatisation programme as well as to put a 2 million forint cap on public officials’ salaries.

Socialist MP Zoltán Gőgős told a press conference in front of Parliament on Tuesday that his party will help collect the required number of signatures to submit the referendum initiative proposed by independent MP Zoltán Kész.

Gőgős said the goal was to gather the 400,000 signatures to support the two referendum questions by June 3.

In the proposed referendum, voters would be asked if they agreed that the salaries of employees of companies managing national assets should not exceed a monthly gross 2 million forints.

In the same referendum, participants would also be asked if parliament should ban the sales of state-owned farmland by law.

Socialist leader József Tóbiás said that ruling Fidesz “dreads people giving an opinion on their government, therefore they will block referendums”.

The referendum, if given the go-ahead by election authorities, will be an opportunity for people to voice their dissatisfaction with the government’s “arrogance, ostentation and thieving”, Kész told the press conference.

Gőgős repeated his earlier position that the land auction programme was “the greatest crime” since the regime change in 1989-1990.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters