Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd Magyarországért)

Hungarian opposition wants a commission to take over the vaccination programme from the government

Viktor Orbán vaccine Chinese Sinopharm
Six Hungarian opposition parties on Saturday demanded the creation of a “National Vaccination Commission” to take over control of the vaccination programme from the government.
 
In a joint statement, the Democratic Coalition, the Socialists, LMP, Jobbik, Momentum and Párbeszéd called for the establishment of
 
a professional body comprising epidemiologists and representatives of the Chamber of Doctors and local governments
to take over the planning and implementation of the vaccination programme.

“[Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán is a failure and Hungary’s government is incompetent,” their statement said. The parties said the priority was to implement mass vaccinations rapidly and smoothly, and they accused the government of showing itself not being up to the task of doing so.

The statement also said Orbán’s immediate resignation would be in order but saving lives amid the current crisis overrode politics. The parties insisted that the response of local governments to the epidemic had been faster, more efficient and more humane than the government’s.
They said changing the government in 2022 was a necessity,
not just an opportunity, since the post-crisis recovery depended on it. All efforts must focus in the meantime on protecting Hungarian lives, the statement said, adding that the “democratic opposition alliance” would be ready to work with a national vaccine commission and local governments to implement the vaccination programme.

Ruling parties MPs refuse to debate proposal for Hungxit only backed by referendum

eu flag hungary

Parliament’s justice committee did not accept for debate a proposal by opposition party Parbeszed that Hungary should only exit the European Union on the basis of a valid referendum in favour of such a move.

Párbeszéd MP Tamás Mellár said on Tuesday that the party’s co-leader, Tímea Szabó, had submitted the proposal on Dec. 8 because “signs were aplenty that the Orbán government was moving in the direction of leaving the European Union”, noting that

the government had mooted vetoing the EU budget at the time.

He said the proposal still had relevance, insisting that the government was breaching European regulations in connection with vaccination passports. He added that

the government had licenced coronavirus vaccines that were not approved by the EU and would issue vaccination certificates that do not state the type of vaccine administered, with implications concerning free travel in the bloc.

Mellár vowed to continue pressing their proposal and would “return to the issue in 2022” (an election year).

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Read alsoEU to propose vaccine passports in March in time for summer

This is how the opposition would like to defeat the Orbán-government in 2022

opposition coalition

The opposition primary ahead of the 2021 general election will start in mid-August and will involve electing individual candidates for constituencies in a sinlge round and a prime ministerial candidate in two rounds, the parties of the opposition cooperation said in a joint statement on Sunday.

The statement issued by DK, Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, the Socialists and Parbeszed said that a draft of the joint opposition programme would be submitted for social debate in May.

Voters will decide in the primary who they consider the most suitable candidate to defeat ruling Fidesz in all 106 constituencies, the parties said.

The primary will take several weeks from mid-August

because of the coronavirus epidemic and all Hungarians who turn 18 by April 2022 can participate, the statement added.

Running in the primary requires collecting at least 400 supporting signatures for individual candidates and 20,000 for prime ministerial candidates. The six organising parties said they would set up a national committee for managing the primary within the next few days.

Non-party members can also run for candidacy if they declare which of the six organising parties’ group they would join in parliament.

This will be the first primary election in the history of Hungary,

the parties said.

“Voters’ wisdom will guarantee that starting in 2022, we will not only change the government but also start a new era, creating a democratic, socially fair and environment-conscious and climate conscious Hungary characterised by cohesion,” they added.

András Győr-Fekete, chairman and PM candidate of the Momentum Movement, presented today their anti-corruption plan during which he said that the wealthiest Hungarian, the government-close oligarch, Lőrinc Mészáros, can be put in pre-trial detention only days after the change of government.

Coronavirus – Opposition critical of government’s pandemic management

operatív törzs

Members of the opposition’s Covid-19 committee called the government’s coronavirus-related measures in the past one year “bad, ill-advised, disastrous” adding that some of the measures had been taken too late.

Speaking after the first session of the ad hoc committee on Friday, Párbeszéd co-leader Tímea Szabó told an online press conference broadcast on Facebook that the government had “made a mess” of crisis management, adding that delaying measures had put people’s health at risk.

Szabó insisted that out of the government’s economic protection package, worth 3,600 billion forints (EUR 10bn), 2,500 billion had not been spent on the purpose. She insisted that the body should hear Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler, Chief Medical Officer Cecilia Müller and businessman Lőrinc Mészáros.

Democratic Coalition MP Zoltán Varga called the government’s performance “catastrophic”, saying that “hundreds and thousands” of jobs had been eliminated in the past one year when businesses went bankrupt, while “the government’s oligarchs and front men gained billions” through winning “a large part of European Union funds”.

He urged that the government should give businesses 80 percent of their lost revenues for last year, and 80 percent of the wages to workers, from the economic protection fund.

MP of conservative Jobbik Anita Korosi Potocska said that the government’s crisis management had “failed”. She demanded that “show-case and prestige projects” should be halted immediately, and the funds given to families.

LMP co-leader Máté Kanász-Nagy said that the government had “not prepared the country for the pandemic”. He insisted that the opposition should prepare an election programme for the national vote in 2022 that “ensures directions to help the country out of an economic and social crisis”.

Katalin Cseh, MEP of the Momentum party, said it was “painful” to see “how badly” the government handled the coronavirus crisis. She insisted that while only one in twenty Hungarians received a pandemic-related subsidy, in Austria one in every five citizens. She also said it was shocking that representatives of the ruling parties had stayed away from the committee, adding that “poverty or the crisis do not have (party) colours”.

Cseh also slammed the government for being “secretive” concerning the national vaccination plan, and “granting a licence to vaccines about which we know little”.

Socialist co-leader Ágnes Kunhalmi said that Hungary was having a “crisis of confidence” while the country’s management was “chaotic” and measures were delayed. She also said that the Covid-19 committee was aiming to provide information on the epidemic the public had so far been denied.

In response, the ruling parties said that “rather than providing support, the opposition has constantly hindered coronavirus prevention” through “attacking health staff, epidemiologists, and defaming participants of preventive efforts”.

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Read alsoHuman resources minister: Hungary vaccination rate above EU average

Opposition urges parliament probe into Hungarian government measures ?

Parties of the parliamentary opposition have urged that ad-hoc committees should be set up to investigate the government’s coronavirus-related measures.

The proposed three committees should look into government decisions concerning the government’s response to the economic crisis, efforts against the pandemic and coronavirus vaccine purchases, the Democratic Coalition, Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, the Socialist Party, and Párbeszéd said in a joint statement on Monday.

The allied opposition parties insisted that the government had reacted “badly and extremely late” to challenges posed by the pandemic and the consequent economic problems, and made “a number of ill-advised decisions” impacting health services and the economy.

The government has “let down” companies and employees, while it “keeps residents in the fog concerning a vaccination schedule”, the statement said.

A decision has also been made to buy vaccine from China “amid great public distrust” concerning that product, which is not being licenced with the European Medicine Agency, the document added.

Ruling Fidesz said in reaction that “the left wing constantly slams efforts taken against the pandemic,” and it called on the opposition to withdraw Lajos Korozs, head of parliament’s welfare committee, saying he was linked to a “fake video” misrepresenting government’s measures and had “falsified mortality statistics”.

Meanwhile, Máté Kocsis, Fidesz’s parliamentary group leader, said the opposition should set up investigative committees in Brussels instead.

“It’s hard to imagine a more deceitful move even from them,” Kocsis said on Facebook in reaction to the opposition’s statement.

Members of “the Gyurcsány coalition” have been “attacking the government’s defence against the epidemic for nearly a year now”, Kocsis said.

He the reason why EU member states did not have enough vaccines was because “the Brussels bureaucracy has been incapable of organising their procurement”.

Kocsis also cited a leading left-wing advisor telling a western daily that the “Left’s strategy” was to “attack measures against the epidemic” in the hopes of making political gains in 2022 if the death toll and case numbers are high this year.

hungary vaccination
Read alsoCoronavirus – 80% of registered health-care workers inoculated

Hungarian opposition accuses govt of waging political campaign to ‘punish’ local councils

Daily News Hungary economy

Six opposition parties published a joint statement on Tuesday accusing the government of pursuing a political campaign aimed at “punishing local councils” run by the opposition, especially the administration of Budapest.

DK, Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, the Socialists and Párbeszéd accused the Orban government of curbing the powers of local governments in an “unprincipled and senseless” way, thereby hurting several million Hungarians.

The statement said it was the “duty” of local governments to inform citizens that at least 100 billion forints (EUR 280m) was being taken away from them in an “arbitrary and politically motivated” way.

It added that the Orbán government was the only central administration in Europe that was “robbing local councils of their last remaining income” instead of supporting them at the time of the coronavirus epidemic and the current crisis.

The opposition parties insisted that the government was ploughing hundreds of billions of forints of public money into private foundations and “funding their own power and economic interests”.

The parties said “after a change of government in 2022, the democratic opposition alliance will restore local government, the autonomy of towns and villages, and will ensure financing goes to local governments free of political considerations”.

As we wrote yesterday, the municipal government of Budapest is launching an information campaign with a view to providing a picture of the situation in the capital, details HERE.

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Read alsoOfficial: Tax cuts to continue in 2021

Opposition Párbeszéd lambasts govt’s crisis management

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Opposition Parbeszed MP Tamás Mellár said in an online lecture that the Hungarian economy was not stronger or “more crisis-proof” than it had been in 2009 despite considerable European Union assistance.

Referring to macro-economic indicators, Mellár said that the 2020 figures were the same as those at the time of the 2009 crisis, and called the government’s crisis management “ill-advised”.

Mellár insisted the government had only spent 2-3 percent of GDP on crisis management measures, in spite of plans targeting 20 percent.

A significant part of available funds have gone towards “reducing damage or throwing money to the wind”, he said, and argued that assisting sports projects or the churches would not boost the economy.

Money has been “poured into tourism and catering”, sectors which are not expected to take a growth path for the time being, he added.

According to Mellár, however, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had no alternative:

“he had to save the national capitalist class he had created in the interest of political stability”.

Mellár said that Hungary’s GDP had been down by 6.5 percent in 2020, while the deficit had reached 9 percent, with the foreign debt climbing 80 percent from an earlier 65. Some fifty percent of the deficit, however, has been the result of spending on projects in December “that had nothing to do with modernising the country”, with grants financing “pet projects” by companies close to the government, Mellár said. The crisis management measures have failed to address the problems of those in need, he insisted.

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Read alsoHungarian opposition parties lay down joint government principles

Hungarian opposition parties lay down joint government principles

opposition hungary 2021

Parties of the parliamentary opposition on Tuesday signed an agreement concerning principles of a joint government should they win the next general election in 2022.

Signatories of the document pledged efforts to build a “democratic, socially equitable, environment- and climate conscious, cooperative Hungary”.

The document was signed by leaders of conservative Jobbik, Momentum, green LMP, Párbeszéd, the Socialist Party, and leftist Democratic Coalition.

Speaking at a joint press conference held online, Jobbik chairman Péter Jakab said that

his party would “build a better Hungary than it was in the past 30 years”, seeking “peace in society, an end to hatred, elimination of divides, and reunification of the nation”.

Momentum leader András Fekete-Győr said his party’s ideal was a “new republic in which voters control the government rather than vice versa”. Momentum supports the rule of law, and the freedoms of the press, education, and art, he said, adding that they would want to live in a country in which “it is not a single person shaping the future but residents together”.

Momentum would “put an end to the rule of oligarchs and eliminate corruption… no crime should be left unpunished,” he insisted.

LMP co-leader Erzsébet Schmuck said that her party was preparing to participate in a government which “considers the future of the planet” in addition to “considerations for the present”. The goals should include building an environment-conscious society and handling a demographic crisis. She made mention of migration, and said that its causes, climate change and violent conflicts, should be managed. To that end she called for European cooperation but added that migration-related decisions should continue to be made by national governments.

Tímea Szabó, Párbeszéd’s co-leader, said one of the main goals of the six parties was to create a “caring society” focusing on the elderly, the sick, and the poor, a society in which “everybody is significant and each child is an asset”. She called for fair distribution and equal acces to public services, a society with “no privileged”.

Socialist co-chair Ágnes Kunhalmi said that the country’s development should rest on the skills and creativity of its residents, and called for a “free and fair education system ensuring promotion in society”. She also said it was fundamental to ensure “fair wages for decent work, and a decent pension for a lifetime of hard work”.

Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc Gyurcsány said

the opposition alliance was seeking to form a “patriotic and European” government, and voiced support for Hungary’s European Union membership.

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Read alsoSix opposition parties join together to fight against PM Orbán in 2022

Six opposition parties join together to fight against PM Orbán in 2022

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Hungary’s six opposition parties will run on a joint list in the 2022 general elections, the parties said in a joint statement on Sunday. The decision was taken by party leaders at their last meeting of the year.

The Democratic Coalition (DK), Jobbik, LMP, the Socialists, Momentum and Parbeszed said they wish to express national unity with the joint list, unity “that will at once bring about a change in government and a new era” for Hungary.

The party leaders decided on the framework of their collaboration on Sunday. In all 106 districts, they will run with joint candidates, a joint candidate for prime minister, a joint programme and a joint list with the aim, they said, of dismantling the Orban regime and “giving the nation all that which was promised them at the time of the change of system:

freedom and welfare”.

The party leaders approved a document entitled Guarantees of a Change of Era, containing conditions for establishing the joint list. In the document, they declare that the goal of their alliance is to “create an independent, livable and proud Hungary”.

The parties committed to allowing only people who have not participated in crimes of corruption or “fraternised” with Fidesz to run as their candidates. The party leaders want to

end the practice of “the authorities in power turning Hungarian against Hungarian”.

They also pledged to create welfare and social peace, clean up public life, reestablish the rule of law and face the past, including the disclosure of agent files.

Opposition calls on PM Orbán not to veto EU budget

jakab-jobbik-parliament

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.”

LMP

LMP co-leader Erzsébet Schmuck said that the government was “practically holding the EU budget to ransom” and was blocking the recovery package.

The prime minister has “declared war, but that war will only have losers”,

she said. LMP expects the government to withdraw its veto plans before the next meeting of the European Council, she added.

DK

Democratic Coalition deputy leader László Varju also called on Orbán to drop the veto. He argued that Hungary was “too weak to harm Europe with the veto, but it could cause serious harm to Hungary”.

Fidesz reaction

Ruling Fidesz said in response that

left-wing parties were “promoting the interests of Soros and pro-migration Brussels once again.”

The statement said Brussels “clearly wants to… blackmail countries not accepting migrants by tying monies they are entitled to to politically motivated conditions.”

While the European Commission’s latest migration action plan wanted to “implement the Soros plan” by accepting 34 milllion migrants, anti-migration member states were being “blackmailed financially”, he statement said. Hungarian left-wing parties “represent the interests of pro-migration Brussels in this debate,” it said.

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Read alsoOpposition calls on PM Orbán not to veto EU budget

Hungarian government: Local councils prohibited from increasing taxes next year

Hungarian forint

The government has ordered local councils not to increase local and municipal taxes next year. Further, councils must not introduce any new tax or eliminate or reduce existing tax breaks, the finance ministry has said in a statement.

The government’s aim is to make life easier for Hungarian businesses and households struggling to cope during the coronavirus pandemic, the statement released late on Tuesday said.

Párbeszéd: Government stymieing local councils by prohibiting them from increasing taxes

Opposition Párbeszéd on Wednesday accused the government of effectively hobbling the operations of local councils by ordering them not to increase local and municipal taxes next year or introduce any new taxes.

Párbeszéd’s deputy group leader, Bence Tordai, told an online press conference that

the order came from same government which “promotes itself” as being dedicated to tax cuts.

At the same time, “we know that they have carried out the most severe tax increases over the past ten years,” he added, citing the introduction of the flat tax rate which resulted in higher taxes for low earners and the 27 percent VAT.

As we wrote before, the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BKIK) was also against a proposal by MKIK’s head to suspend the payment of local business tax (ipa) to municipalities, read more HERE.

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Read alsoWhat are the most anticipated developments in Budapest?

Opposition parties turn to EU: Orbán and his government are not synonymous with Hungary

Daily News Hungary

Hungary’s opposition parties on Wednesday sent a joint letter to the European leaders, criticising the government’s policies.

The letter signed by the Democratic Coalition (DK), Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, and the Socialist-Párbeszéd parties said: “The Hungarian democratic opposition, in view of the grave situation created by the Hungarian government’s destructive practices, feels the need to declare before all member states and citizens of the EU, as well as its leadership, that [Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán and his government are not synonymous with Hungary.”

In the letter sent to Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, and the German presidency, the signatories said the Orbán government was hindering European and Hungarian crisis-management efforts and acting against the interests and “justified expectations” of European and Hungarian citizens.

“We Hungarians have not ended the one-party [communist] regime and joined …the community of European states only for a corrupt, anti-democratic regime to hold Europe and Hungary to ransom, stripping their citizens of the rights and support they are entitled to,”

the letter said.

It added that the Hungarian opposition parties were bound by respect for democracy, the rule of law and European values, adding that they had joined forces so that the rule of law in the country may be restored as soon as possible.

Hungarian citizens and companies are in dire need of the EU’s recovery package due to the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the letter said.

“The funding should go to the Hungarian people rather than to the Orbán government, which has put its own power interests before the economic interests of the country. We call on the institutions and national governments of the EU to stop Orbán’s government from hobbling European and Hungarian crisis management and to help Hungarian citizens … access EU funding as soon as possible,”

it added.

The signatories have also called on their supporters to back their declaration that the Hungarian government did not have their assent to “disrupt European cooperation and strip European and Hungarian citizens of European funding”.

The original letter

A call to the president of the European Council, the president of European Commission and the presidency of the Council

We, the forces of the Hungarian democratic opposition, considering the severity of the situation resulting from the destructive politics of the Hungarian government, find it necessary to declare to all citizens, all Member States, and the leadership of the European Union that Viktor Orbán and his government does not equal the entirety of Hungary as a country. With the inhibition of the European, hence Hungarian, crisis management, the Orbán government acts against the interests and rightful expectations of European and Hungarian citizens.

We, Hungarians did not put an end to the single-party system and did not join the value-based community of the European states – worthy of the legacy of the founder of the state, King Saint Stephen and the great men and women of our nation – to let a corrupt, anti-democratic regime take the place of a proud European country and capture Europe and Hungary, depriving Hungarian and European citizens of their granted rights and support. As the presidents of the parties of the Hungarian opposition, we are bound together by our respect for democracy, the rule of law, and European values. Our shared values oblige us to validate, through joint forces, the rule of law in our home country as soon as possible.

The severity of the situation caused by the economic and pandemic crisis, Hungarian citizens and their enterprises are in desperate need of the EU’s recovery fund. This aid is not intended to benefit the Orbán-government who places its own interest of power before the economic interests of the country, but to the Hungarian people. We, therefore, call upon the institutions of the European Union and the governments of Member States to find a solution in order to stop the Orbán-government’s selfishness from putting obstacles before the remedies for the European and Hungarian economic crisis and to help Hungarian citizens, who now fear to lose their existential stability, and their enterprises access the funding provided by EU to Hungary.

We call all our compatriots to join our statement, who are ready to declare with us that the Orbán-government’s destruction of the European cooperation is not on their behalf and that it seeks to deprive European and Hungarian citizens of granted EU funding against their will and against their interests.

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Read alsoBREAKING NEWS – Orbán: Hungary to veto EU budget, recovery fund

Opposition parties vow to settle on joint PM candidate by Oct 2021

Hungary’s opposition parties have promised to name a joint candidate for prime minister and joint individual candidates for each electoral district for the next general election by October 23, 2021.

The opposition Socialist, Jobbik, Democratic Coalition, LMP, Momentum and Párbeszéd parties said in a statement on Monday that each of their joint candidates would be chosen in primaries.

The parties said they had agreed at a meeting on Sunday that although they “reject the amendment proposals to the election system initiated by the Fidesz regime”, they were “preparing to win and take back the public funds being stolen under the guise of a constitutional amendment”.

The parties also slammed the government’s handling of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, saying its measures aimed at managing the crisis were “too little, too late” after “failing to prepare the health-care system” for the surge in cases.

“The Fidesz regime should only be concerned with protecting the Hungarian people and strengthening the economy and the health-care system during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, instead of matters concerning its powers,” the statement said.

The parties said they were preparing to replace the Fidesz-led government and usher in the “start of a new era” in 2022.

They added that their joint election manifesto would lay down the fundamental principles “that will serve as a compass for the cooperation between the democratic parties”. The consultations between the parties will also involve professional and civil organisations as well as labour unions, the statement added.

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Read alsoOpposition calls on Orbán to withdraw recent amendment proposals

Coronavirus in Hungary – Opposition calls for ban on public events

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Opposition Párbeszéd on Monday called for a ban on all events held in public areas including private, company and state events.

Party group leader Tímea Szabó told an online press conference that her party’s draft resolution also applies to entertainment and cultural events, such as concerts, football matches, exhibitions and circus performances.

Szabó called on the government to make 2-metre social distancing mandatory in all public areas, except for family members and people living in the same household.

Shopping time restrictions should be reintroduced, with the 9-11am time-zone reserved for elderly people, she said.

Párbeszéd proposes secondary schools and universities to organise education in a way to allow half of the students have online classes in a rotating system, she added.

She also called for more tests to be carried out for the novel coronavirus, with regular fornightly testing for health and social workers.

Szabó said

home office should be made an employee right because there will be a time when many parents and contacts will be out of work unless they can do it from home.

She also said that she had submitted a proposal to make sickness benefits equal a net 75 percent of the monthly salary rather than the current 60 percent.

Last Friday, the government made the wearing of masks compulsory in outdoor events.

Hungary’s COVID-19 cases have risen sharply since late August. The country’s caseload topped 10,000 on Sept. 10, 20,000 on Sept. 23, 30,000 on Oct. 4, 40,000 on Oct. 14 and 50,000 on Oct. 21.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has pledged to procure a COVID-19 vaccine, which will be made available to all citizens who want it.

Orbán explained that his administration was conducting talks with the United States, Japan, China and Russia on vaccine procurement.

Hungary had also contributed to research programs funded by the European Union.

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Read alsoBudapest mask-wearing decree to be revoked!

Will basic income ever become a reality in Hungary?

homeless income hungary

Dialogue Hungary’s recently published paper is a detailed scheme for providing a basic income for everyone from children to pensioners, and it would cost around EUR 9.5 billion for the Hungarian government.

The discussion paper by Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd Magyarországért) and the party’s Progressive Hungary Foundation, entitled Basic income 2021: Toward safety, was presented on 7 October, the World Day for Decent Work.

The paper presents a scheme for basic income in Hungary, an especially timely programme now as “tens of thousands of people lose their job or get reduced salaries due to the coronavirus pandemic”, writes 24.

In short, the paper suggests a basic income of EUR 140 (HUF 50,000) per month for children, EUR 420 for pregnant women, at least EUR 700 for workers, and EUR 280 for inactive adults.

Inactive adults include students, pensioners, job seekers, and recipients of other forms of allowance. Workers are further categorised based on their salary: for those with a salary below gross EUR 280, the basic income should be EUR 280, the experts say.

In the case of salaries between EUR 140 and EUR 560, the basic income would be calculated with the following formula: EUR 140 + (560 – gross salary) / 2. For salaries above EUR 560, the formula is (EUR 1,430 – gross salary) / 5.

The authors argue that the introduction of basic income, other than providing citizens with the necessary amount to meet their basic needs, would improve workers’ bargaining power which, through a spiral effect, could further increase average earnings.

According to the authors, the introduction of basic income would cost EUR 9.5 billion in 2021 for the government, an amount they believe is within the budget.

In the study, they also drew up a list of things the government is “unnecessarily” spending money on: these include the Paks II nuclear project, propaganda spending, and public procurement. Another factor they believe would help implement the programme is that the introduction of basic income could lead to an increase in household savings and tax revenues.

The authors estimate that the new policy would benefit the seven lower deciles, nearly 70% of households, and highlight that certain groups may not feel the positive effects of such a policy: those with a pension above EUR 280 and childless adults with an income above EUR 1,430.

As written in the discussion paper, Dialogue for Hungary is a long-time supporter of the concept of basic income. The Foundation first drafted the scheme in 2015, when basic income was exactly half of the currently proposed figures. In 2019, the estimated basic income for Hungary was EUR 285. The scheme for 2021 is available in Hungarian here.

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Read alsoSalary report reveals a shocking gap between Budapest and Hungary’s eastern regions

Hungarian party to start collecting signatures for universal basic income

Hungary money budget deficit

The opposition Parbeszéd party launched a signature drive in Budapest on Friday, as part of a citizens’ initiative calling for the introduction of a universal basic income across the European Union.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, the party’s co-leader, told a press conference on Blaha Lujza Square in central Budapest that a basic income for all EU citizens would remedy income inequalities within Hungary and the EU. It could be a basis for a “new, social Europe and a new social democracy in Hungary”, he said.

Karácsony said that in recent years, “many have amassed huge private fortunes … while one-third of society lives in perpetual uncertainty, poverty and discrimination”. He said that a further one-third teetered on the edge of descending into such a condition.

Karácsony insisted that the concept was financially feasible.

“All it takes is political will,” he said.

Párbeszéd will work to include the introduction of a UBI in the opposition parties’ joint programme in the 2022 general election, he said. Tímea Szabó, Parbeszéd’s other co-leader, said that the initiative had to gather one million signatures within one year for the European Commission to table the proposal.

Regarding the scale of universal income, Szabó said Párbeszéd

proposed 100,000 forints (EUR 274) for every Hungarian adult and 150,000 for expecting mothers. Families would get 50,000 forints after every child, she said.

Another aim is to guarantee a gross 250,000 forint salary for full-time employment in Hungary, Szabó said.

Hungarian rate-setters keep the base rate on hold

National Bank of Hungary

Hungarian rate-setters kept the base rate on hold at 0.60 percent at a regular meeting on Tuesday.

The Monetary Council also left the interest rate corridor unchanged, the National Bank of Hungary (NHH) said.

In a statement released after the meeting the Council said the 0.60 percent base rate “supports price stability, the preservation of financial stability and the recovery of economic growth in a sustainable manner”.

“The Council remains committed to maintaining price stability during the coronavirus pandemic and pays particular attention to the persistence of inflationary effects arising as a result of the economic recovery,” the rate-setters said.

“If warranted by a persistent change in the outlook for inflation, the Council will be ready to use the appropriate instruments,” they added.

The Council said it decided to raise the allocation for the NBH’s Bond Funding for Growth Scheme (BGS) from 450 billion forints to 750 billion forints (EUR 2.07bn).

“The increased amount may help the Hungarian corporate bond market continue to converge to European and regional averages,” the policy makers said.

The NBH launched the BGS more than a year ago to give impetus to Hungary’s relatively small corporate bond market.

The Council noted they had decided at the previous policy meeting to raise weekly purchases of government bonds in the framework of a quantitative easing programme to 40 billion forints.

They said on Tuesday the programme will be used “through a lasting market presence to the extent required”, adding that

the NBH will continue to purchase securities with long maturities.

Commenting on the bank’s decision, opposition Párbeszéd MP Sándor Burány said the NBH had made it clear that it was “either incapable of saving the forint and curbing inflation or doesn’t want to”.

Burány said the government and the central bank had “put the forint in increasingly greater danger” over the past ten years, adding that the currency today was “on life support”.

This, he said, had resulted in the forint weakening to record levels and inflation reaching record highs. In the recent period, Hungary registered the European Union’s highest inflation rate and the rate calculated using a basket of goods and services used by pensioners has exceeded 4 percent, the lawmaker said, repeating his party’s call for the introduction of a universal basic income.

Read alsoCoronavirus mainly endangers economy, say 70 pc of Hungarians – survey

Opposition slams government for lacklustre preparation for 2nd wave, economic crisis

ORBÁN Viktor

Hungary’s opposition parties have slammed the government for what they claim have been its lacklustre preparations for the second wave of the novel coronavirus epidemic.

After Prime Minister Viktor Orbán addressed parliament on the first day of the autumn session on Monday, the biggest opposition fraction Jobbik group leader Péter Jakab said Hungary was on course to lose the battle against the epidemic.

“The country is facing a tough time because, as well as combatting the virus, it must also battle the prime minister,” he said.

He called on the government to offer free testing, contribute 80 percent of lost wages, extend and increase the job-seeker’s allowance, and give the chance of retirement for people above the age of 60 who have lost their job.

Opposition Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc Gyurcsány criticised the government “for failing to prepare” for the second wave of the epidemic during the summer.

“They steal and lie very well but they cannot govern” Gyurcsány said.

LMP deputy group leader Erzsébet Schmuck said the prime minister was “blithely unaware of people’s everyday problems and difficulties”, including the steep rise in food prices. With the arrival of the second wave of the epidemic, she said it was uncertain how the country’s health-care system could cope. She insisted there was a shortage of skilled staff. “This turn of events is the consequence of the government’s bad policies, including low wages in health care”, she added.

The Socialist Party’s leader, Bertalan Tóth, said a country was unable to function when “those in power silence free voices”. He demanded more money be made available for people who have lost their jobs, as well as to local municipalities and pensioners. Tóth added that

showcase policies and propaganda would not aid recovery.

Párbeszéd group leader Tímea Szabó demanded free virus testing and a 50 percent wage increase in the public health-care sector. She also called on the government to introduce a basic income that would guarantee 100,000 forints each month, including for all jobseekers. She savaged Orbán for “making some big announcements that have proven to be no more than empty bluff”.

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Read alsoJobbik: Orbán ‘incapable’ of acting as a democrat