Együtt-Dialogue for Hungary

Poll: Government parties maintain support despite disputes

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, February 28 (MTI) – The ruling parties maintained their lead in support for political parties during February despite some sharp political disputes and demonstrations during the month, the pollster Századvég said citing its latest poll on Sunday.

The Fidesz-Christian Democrats governing alliance received the support of 34 percent of all Hungarians in a poll prepared by interviewing 1,000 randomly selected adults between February 20 and 25, Századvég said.

The Jobbik was supported by 13 percent and the opposition Socialists by 9 percent of all voters. The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) received 6 percent, green opposition LMP received 4 percent and Együtt 1 percent of all votes. The smaller parties of the left wing, including the PM party and the Liberals, received less than 1 percent each, according to the poll.

A total of 46 percent of decided voters said they support the ruling parties, the same as in the spring of 2014, when the last general elections were held. Support for Jobbik was 23 percent in this group, and for the Socialists it was 14 percent. Some 9 percent of decided voters said they support DK and 4 percent support LMP. Együtt, PM and the Liberals each garnered less than 1pc of support.

Opposition parties protest sales of Mezohegyes stud farm

Budapest, December 8 (MTI) – Parties of the opposition staged a demonstration in southeast Hungary’s Bekescsaba on Tuesday, to protest against the government’s auctioning off farmland belonging to the state-owned Mezohegyes stud farm.

Download (27)At a press conference ahead of the demonstration, Socialist vice chair Zoltan Gogos said it was against fundamental legal principles to sell properties which were currently on lease. He insisted that the justice minister had “no idea” how possible claims by the lease holders would be settled.

Gogos criticised plans to divide unsold plots into smaller ones, and argued that existing irrigation systems covering large areas, for example, could not be split up between the new owners.

Gogos also voiced doubt about government pledges to offer 400 new jobs when the stud farm reopens. He argued that “this many people could only be employed if they reaped by hand”.

Egyutt head Viktor Szigetvari said that plans to reestablish the stud farm on a mere 2,000 hectares remaining after the auctions are not feasible. He insisted that the project could fail within a year or two, and the local government could not save schools or healthcare services from collapsing without central subsidies.

Bence Tordai, board member of the Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party, said that the government was attempting to “destroy” the stud farm, which he called “irresponsible, illegitimate and immoral”.

Liberal executive Zoltan Bodnar insisted that the government’s measures ever since 2010 had been motivated by the “sole purpose” of redistributing national assets.

According to ruling Fidesz, the opposition stages protests “to prevent Hungarian farmers from obtaining land”.

In a statement, Fidesz’s deputies said that a part of the local land would be sold out, enabling local farmers to buy those plots, while the stud farm would be reestablished on 3,500-4,000 hectares as a model farm.

“The government will take responsibility for the local workforce of several hundred,” they added.

Photo: MTI

The Left is splitting: a new party is born again

There is a swarm of micro-parties cannot be polled on the left, despite of this the party- founding spirit is unbroken, a new party is being born. Peter Konya, who left Egyutt for Szolidaritas party, now establishes a new party with some former Szolidaritas-members, index.hu wrote.

It is quite fashionable on the left to establish parties after the 2010 defeat of the Socialist Party (MSZP). Then it ended by that in 2014, the whole left-wing company teamed up and was beaten by Fidesz.

According to index.hu, Szolidaritas is continuing to split. Honorary Chairman of Szolidaritas, Peter Konya quits and founds a new party. The Bureau of Szolidaritas decided last week that they take note the creation of the new party which will be totally organizationally independent from the movement. “The Bureau takes note that Peter Konya – partly with the participation of some of the members of the Szolidaritas Movement – would like to establish a completely independent party” – a Presidency decision wrote.

The Bureau discussed that the internal conflict between the two parts were unmanageable: some of them wanted to create a new party, some of them a civil movement. The party founding of Konya can solve this inner tension. Konya indicated that as the new party will have been registered, he renounces the chairmanship and leaves the movement, or more accurately, he will be a supporting member. The Presidency of Szolidaritas did not rule out they would cooperate with Konya someday, but it is not “timely”.

The protocol of the Bureau meeting of Szolidaritas writes the movement “does not issue a press release in connection with the new party, and stays away from the public opinion’s influence in other ways too.”

According to index.hu, Konya said the new party had not been registered yet and he had nothing to report, he was thinking about it.

“There are conversations, I travel the country, we are assessing the needs” – said Konya who wants to consider it not to disappear immediately. He already talked about establishing a new party in 2014, and then Szolidaritas distanced themselves from him.

Egyutt PM was set up by former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai and his companions in 2013. In 2014, Gordon Bajnai left the alliance, then PM party quit, then Szolidaritas broke the strategical cooperation, and now Peter Konya leaves Szolidaritas. If the new party of Peter Konya splits, index.hu will report it, the website funnily added.

based on the article of index.hu
translated by BA

Photo: Peter Konya Facebook page

Dialogue for Hungary presses for court review of farmland privatisation

Fidesz

Budapest, October 3 (MTI) – The Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party will ask the fundamental rights ombudsman to initiate a review by the constitutional court of the government’s planned privatisation of state-owned farmland, a board member said on Saturday.

The sale of the land goes against the constitution, Rebeka Szabo told MTI. The constitution clearly stipulates that it is the state’s duty to protect, as well as preserve, arable land for the future generations, she explained, adding that selling the land would destroy it.

She said that the party would join a demonstration on Monday organised by opposition parties against the privatisation.

Green LMP said on Friday that it would organise a demonstration across Hungary on Monday. Lawmaker Benedek R Sallai said that the Socialists, Jobbik, Egyutt, the Democratic Coalition and the green Human Chain for Hungary would all join in.

Socialists call for common EU asylum system, PM party wants more humane migrant services

Budapest, September 23 (MTI) – The opposition Socialists called for a common European migrant system on Wednesday and the PM party demanded that the government should treat migrants more humanely and draft programmes to help them get accommodated to the new environment.

Tobias said after participating in a meeting of European Union left-wing party group leaders ahead of the European Council extraordinary meeting in Brussels that the common EU asylum system should cover organising registration, the assessment of asylum applications and the distribution and financing of refugees.

He said the Socialists had submitted a draft resolution to parliament that outlines an action plan and proposes that Hungary should initiate suspending the Dublin regulations and developing an assessment system for temporary asylum applications.

Spokesman of the PM party Bence Tordai said that the government should elaborate programmes promoting the integration of asylum seekers. All the more so because under the EU interior ministers’ Tuesday agreement Hungary will be expected to take in at least 1,000 refugees annually. The agreement indicates that the Hungarian government is forced to give up its “spectacularly failed unorthodox policies”, he added. The PM party expects the cabinet to “normalise” relations with neighbouring states and take a proactive approach to resolving the Syrian, especially by supporting refugee camps in Turkey.

Photo: MTI

Leftist opposition parties slam government for migrant measures

Budapest, September 15 (MTI) – The government’s recent measures will not resolve the migration crisis, a spokesman for the green LMP party said on Tuesday.

LMP

“There is no way the cabinet can stop the wave of migrants crossing the country,” Jozsef Gal told a press conference after the government declared a state of crisis in two counties due to mass migration.

Closing down the borders and criminalising refugees will not resolve the situation; those expelled from the country will attempt to enter the country again, Gal insisted.

LMP wants refugee camps to be expanded and the police and the immigration authority reinforced, Gal said. Further, information should be made available to both the migrants and local residents, he said.

Deploying the military along the border is “not only unnecessary but unconstitutional too,” he said, adding that “soldiers should leave their guns in their barracks”.

Egyutt

According to the Egyutt party, developments in Hungary are against the Geneva Convention. Hungary’s rules that took effect on Tuesday are not only a violation of humanitarian principles — making the majority of society feel uncomfortable — but also go against “all international accords Hungary has signed over the past 50 years,” party leader Viktor Szigetvari told a press conference held at Roszke on the Serbian border.

Hungary is not required to accommodate all refugees, but should support the European Union’s proposal to introduce mandatory quotas, Szigetvari insisted.

Migrants should be provided safe haven in Hungary, an opportunity to register, while a common, European mechanism should be set up to ensure that not all of them are stuck in Hungary, Szigetvari said.

PM

Richard Barabas of the Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party said that “the government does not even abide by its own laws,” and insisted he had proof that the authorities were deliberately misleading migrants. Migrants are being forced to confess in writing that they are illegal entrants despite their crossing into Hungary at legitimate crossing points, Barabas insisted.

MLP

According to the Hungarian Liberal Party (MLP), the government declared the state of crisis hastily as the current situation does not yet justify such a measure. Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, the party’s foreign policy adviser, warned of growing tension along the border and the danger of violent clashes in the region. He called on the government to improve ties with Austria, Germany and the EU leaders.

Fidesz answer

The ruling Fidesz party responded saying that “the left wing would let everyone in, which is unacceptable.” “The Hungarian police are working day and night to protect Hungary and Europe’s borders, while politicians of the left visit the border to rile up the migrants,” they said in a statement. The laws that came into effect on Tuesday were designed to protect the borders of the Schengen Area, Fidesz said, adding that political refugees “are still free to enter the country at the legal border crossing points and submit their asylum applications.”

Photo: MTI

Opposition parties demand reasons for defence minister’s resignation

Daily News Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – Opposition parties on Monday demanded to know the reason for Defence Minister Csaba Hende’s resignation and called for a new direction from the government in its handling of the migrant crisis.

The radical nationalist Jobbik party said it demands “an immediate explanation” for Hende’s move. The party said they wanted to know the reason for the minister’s departure because Hungarian borders are under critical and “historic pressure” and because the bill to deploy the army to the border is still before parliament. “A government crisis in a situation like this is further cause for concern,” Jobbik said, adding that Hende’s resignation indicates that “not even the government can find common ground on border protection”.

The Socialist Party said that “by relieving Hende of his duties, [Prime Minister] Viktor Orban has admitted that the government’s refugee policy had failed”. The party said in a statement that Hende’s five years in office coincided with the army’s “deterioration”. “He [Hende] had a dozen scandals which in a normal country would have led to the defence minister’s immediate resignation,” the party said. The statement said that “the real reason for Hende’s resignation is being kept secret for now, but if he had to give an honest report on the army’s condition at today’s meeting of the national security committee, then we shouldn’t be surprised that Viktor Orban fired him.” The Socialists said they expect Istvan Simicsko, who will now manage the defence portfolio, to “distance himself” from Hende’s policies and “say no” to deploying the military along the border.

The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition said Hungarian citizens had a “right to know the real reasons” for the minister’s decision to step down. Lawmaker Agnes Vadai said it was “no accident” that “after five years of incompetence, recklessness and damage” Hende tendered his resignation “less than two weeks before the Orban government is set to deploy the army to the Hungarian-Serbian border”. She said Hende’s resignation was an “interesting development considering that just last week he was arguing in parliament for the deployment of the army within Hungary’s territory.”

The opposition Egyutt party said it was “not enough” to appoint a new person to the position of defence minister, adding that the government needed to “make a u-turn” in its handling of the migrant crisis. The party said in a statement that it had already become clear last weekend that there was “complete chaos” around the migrant situation and that the government was incapable of controlling it. “The government proves its dilettantism on a daily basis and Csaba Hende’s resignation is just a way of openly admitting it,” Egyutt said. “Until the Fidesz-KDNP coalition can resolve the crisis in a reassuring manner, it should only be ashamed of itself,” the party said.

Jozsef Gal of the green opposition LMP party said it believed the reasons behind Hende’s resignation may have been that he “did not agree with deploying the army and he may have known that under these circumstances the soldiers would not have been able to fulfill their tasks.” He said “the entire government is responsible for the inability to handle the migration wave.”

The Liberal Party said Hende’s resignation can only be seen as “the total failure of fence-building policies”. The party said it was not Hende’s resignation, but the government’s willingness to “admit that the border fence and anti-refugee policies” had failed.

Photo: MTI

Who responsible for refugee crisis? – Leftists reactions

Daily News Hungary

We collected which is the Democratic Coalition, the Egyutt and the Dialogue for Hungary opposition parties opinion about immigration.

Democratic Coalition (DK)

Leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said Prime Minister Viktor Orban was responsible for the rising number of migrants arriving in Europe.

Zsolt Greczy, the party’s spokesman, called on Orban to stop “leading Hungarians on, promising to protect the borders, when the opposite is happening”.

Orban caused a humanitarian disaster over the weekend, creating a situation in which Austria and Germany were forced to allow undocumented, unregistered migrants into their countries, Greczy said. This means Orban, for all intents and purposes, opened Europe up to migrants, who now think that they can easily cross Hungary in the direction of the west, he said.

The prime minister even admitted defeat when he said he was open to the idea of an EU quota system, which he earlier opposed, Greczy insisted.

Hungary does not exclude the possibility of “a sensible and fair” discussion of the EU quota system, Orban told a meeting of Hungarian envoys in Budapest on Monday, but “we have a problem with the timing,” he said, adding that the external border should be properly protected first.

Greczy said DK would organise a rally on Sept. 13 to protest against the “immorality of the government”.

Egyutt

The opposition Egyutt party demands that Hungary take in 10,000 refugees this year and 5,000 next year, on a voluntary and long-term basis.

Viktor Szigetvari, the party’s leader, told a press conference on Monday that while Hungary is a homogeneous country, it needs new work force to make its pension and welfare systems sustainable.

It is also Hungary’s moral duty to take in migrants. At the moment all “well-intentioned Hungarians feel shame at last week’s actions by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Fidesz government,” he said.

Hungary should make efforts to take in refugees above the quota it will be assigned. Accommodation should not be “punishment camps” or “cold tents” but temporary facilities like the ones that can be seen in Austria, Szigetvari said. He added that his party would put these proposals to parliament, too.

Dialogue for Hungary (PM)

The opposition Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party has called on Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlos to continue building the transit zone for refugees in the capital, in line with the Municipal Assembly’s original decision.

Bence Tordai, spokesman for the party, told a press conference on Monday that it is a “grievous mistake” to postpone the building of the transit zone in Verseny utca, behind Keleti station.

Refugees continue to arrive in the city, often with small children, and at the moment they are having to spend the night on the cold ground, he said.

The government’s migration policy is the combination of the behaviour of “a lame duck and an aggressive little pig,” Tordai said. The prime minister continues to make “idiotic” statements but accepts the “common sense” proposals when the “house is already on fire”, he said, citing Viktor Orban’s stance on the European quota system as an example.

Hungary does not exclude the possibility of “a sensible and fair” discussion of the EU quota system, Orban told a meeting of Hungarian envoys in Budapest on Monday, but “we have a problem with the timing,” he said, adding that the external border should be properly protected first.

Socialist

Budapest, September 7 (MTI) – “Orban’s xenophobic hate campaign” is not fit to handle the refugee problem, instead diplomatic tools should be employed, in cooperation with Europe, the Socialist opposition said.

Orban ignores European and even Hungarian interests and only acts on his own selfish power interests, Attila Mesterhazy, a Socialist member of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told MTI on Monday. He said the “national consultation”, the billboard campaign, the border fence and the law to deploy the army just served Fidesz’s short-term political goals and had nothing to with managing a crisis. These campaigns are however capable of damaging Hungary’s international reputation even more, he said.

Both the North Atlantic allies and the Middle Eastern economic partners are raising eyebrows over the government’s “extremely xenophobic” policies, he added.

District mayor orders investigation into scuffle at Aug 20 celebration

Daily News Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – Budapest 8th district mayor Kocsis Mate ordered an internal investigation on Friday into a scuffle that took place at the local council’s celebration of the August 20th national holiday, the council press office said.

The opposition parties Democratic Coalition (DK) and Egyutt earlier called on the interior minister and the prime minister, respectively, to order an investigation into Thursday’s scuffle.

The 8th district local council press office said in a statement that the investigation will be based on all available recordings and reports about the event.

The local council’s leaders will decide in view of the findings whether it is necessary to submit a report to the police or launch a disciplinary procedure, the statement said. The council expressed its apologies to peaceful demonstrators and called on the “provocateurs” to refrain from such behaviour in the future.

DK deputy leader Agnes Vadai said in a statement that during the official 8th district local council celebration on August 20 “a group of shaven-headed bullies stopped a company of demonstrators”.

“Besides initially not letting them enter the square, one of the demonstrators, a woman, was hit in the face, which can be proven by video recordings available on the internet,” Vadai said.

Egyutt called on Kocsis and Prime Minister Viktor Orban to reveal “who were the shaven-headed bouncers, who gave them instructions and how could it happen that an old woman was assaulted when police were present”.

Opposition parties reject Fidesz assertion minimum wage 43 pc higher

Daily News Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – The opposition parties Socialists, Egyutt and LMP rejected on Thursday ruling Fidesz’s assertion that the minimum wage in Hungary has increased by 43 percent in the past five years.

The Socialists cited Eurostat figures showing that Hungary’s minimum wage is one of the lowest in the European Union and demanded an immediate major rise. Socialist lawmaker Laszlo Varga said in a statement that eight out of every ten Hungarian workers earn less in real terms today than five years ago as a result of the ruling Fidesz’s policies.

Green opposition LMP said the government has taken away from minimum wage earners more in recent years than it has awarded them. The minimum wage increased by monthly 8,500 forints in the past five years, even if the gross amount grew by 31,500 forints. So they have only pocketed a 14 percent increase as against 43 percent cited by Fidesz, LMP said.

Egyutt also said the net minimum wage had risen by only 14.2 percent since 2010. Over the same period, consumer prices have grown by 16 percent, which means people on the minimum wage are actually worse off than five years ago, the party said.

Fidesz group leader Bence Tuzson told a press conference earlier on Thursday that the minimum wage grew from monthly 73,500 before tax in 2010 to 105,000 in 2015 and the ruling party is determined to increase it further.

Civil groups launch signature drive on 4 referendum questions

Daily News Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – Civil groups officially launched their signature collection drive on Saturday in connection with four approved referendum questions which would “dismantle the government”.

The groups made their first call for 19 issues to be put to a referendum at anti-government demonstrations on March 15 this year. The referendum calls included issues of anti-corruption, economic, educational and social goals, as well as calling for “genuine” asset declarations from politicians, the elimination of the state’s tobacco monopoly, opening up secret files on key state investments, and free motorways and bypasses.

The civil groups also support a separate referendum drive against retail closures on Sundays and another one calling for public and transparent public procurements.

Two questions were immediately approved in March, these concern returning the mandatory schooling age to 18 from 16 and scrapping mandatory memberships for all entrepreneurs in the Chamber of Commerce. Two further questions were approved later: one calling for free school meals for children in need and one for lawmakers who were past the retirement age not to receive pensions while they were working as MPs.

The organisers, among them lawyer Tamas Lattmann, who was behind the initiative for the 19 referendum questions, said at an event on Saturday that they hoped two further questions now before the Kuria, the supreme court, would also be approved eventually. These concern whether or not shops should be closed on Sundays and a call to force hospitals to shorten waiting times for treatments to under 6 months.

Another organiser Zoltan Vajda said the referendum initiative is supported by Egyutt, the Hungarian Liberal Party, the Modern Hungary Movement and Dialogue for Hungary (PM) while LMP has yet to decide whether to back the drive. The Socialist Party has pledged support but talks will be held to finalise its form, he said. The leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) offered its “moral support” to the cause.

based on the article of MTI

Opposition parties demand answers for cbank multi-billion art purchase

Budapest (MTI) – The Hungarian Liberal Party has called on the central bank to convene its supervisory board and question the bank’s governor Gyorgy Matolcsy over the recent purchase of a Titian painting for 4.5 billion forints (EUR 14.5m).

The supervisory board should examine who at the bank has the authority to approve such purchases, the Liberals said in a statement on Friday. Besides other expensive art work, the bank has also bought real estate and finances foundations, it added.

“Central bank leaders are treating taxpayers’ money like it was their own private petty cash bank, available to spend on their indulgences,” the statement signed by the party’s economic spokesman Zoltan Bodnar said.

The Liberals submitted a draft amendment to the Central Bank Act aimed at “stopping luxury spending at the bank”, but the governing majority did not even take it on the agenda, the statement said.

The Dialogue for Hungary party said on Friday they would file an official data request with the central bank over the purchase of the Titian, and if the governor fails to provide an adequate answer they vowed to sue him.

The party added the painting’s market value six years ago was 1.4 billion forints and it was doubtful its value had increased by that much since. Further, it raised the suspicion that the purchase may have provided a mechanism for embezzlement.

The Democratic Coalition (DK) said that the central bank’s “suspicious purchases” had now elicited a probe by the European Commission, and Matolcsy would have to face its findings.

DK in a statement compared Matolcsy to a “Croesus collecting artwork”, who has spent “tens of billions of forints” on luxury properties, art objects or rare instruments.

DK cited unnamed Brussels sources, and said that a European Commission probe could cause serious harm to Hungary’s reputation. The Titian purchase could “even accelerate the Commission’s probe,” the statement speculated.

The National Bank of Hungary has purchased the painting “Mary with Child and St. Paul” under its art acquisition programme for 4.5 billion forints, the bank said on its website on Thursday. Under the programme, the central bank seeks to recover major artworks exported from Hungary and buy treasures locally to keep them in the country, the website said. It added that the programme had a budget of 30 billion forints until the end of 2018.

based on the article of MTI

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Lawmakers discuss migration-related bill ahead of vote

Budapest, July 6 (MTI) – Lawmakers discussed proposed measures on migration in a debate ahead of a vote on a related law amendment in parliament on Monday.

Antal Rogan, head of the parliamentary group of the ruling Fidesz party, said economic migrants should not be welcomed into the country but they should be stopped at “the borders of Hungary and Europe”. He said the only acceptable solution for this is to close down the borders. Fidesz will not support any opposition proposals for accepting more migrants into the country, he said.

Lawmakers then voted to take the Socialist party’s related proposals off the agenda. One of these would have tightened punishments for human trafficking and the other proposed to raise the budgets of the immigration office and police.

Karoly Kontrat, the Fidesz lawmaker sponsoring the bill on a “temporary safety closure” of the border, said migrants who are eligible for international protection should be identified as soon as possible and separated from economic migrants, who should be deported. He emphasised that the border closure will protect Hungary as well as EU countries.

Lajos Kosa (Fidesz) added that political refugee rights are abused en masse and Hungary has become a frontline country for migration.

Tamas Harangozo, spokesman for the opposition Socialists, said the Fidesz government is unable to protect Hungary and the EU’s borders. He criticised Fidesz for proposing that asylum-seekers could be accommodated in any public space, not just at reception centres. “This will mean that thousands including families and children will be pushed onto the streets, public parks, forests,” he said.

Daniel Z Karpat (Jobbik), said his party supports building a fence on Hungary’s border with Serbia and noted the difficulties residents of southern counties face.

Andras Schiffer (LMP) said voting in the tabled proposal would mean that the country “denies a helping hand to those in need”. He said the government was running a propaganda campaign on this issue which had so far cost 1 billion forints. He said there could be a half-way compromise between sealing off reception centres and offering completely free movement and this would be the solution.

Timea Szabo (Dialogue for Hungary – PM) said the debate was not pro or contra immigration as the government portrays it, but it is about whether assistance is given to refugees. She said the 36 billion forints the fence would cost to build was “a waste.”

Zsuzsanna Szelenyi (Egyutt) said 90 percent of migrants who arrive in Hungary leave the country within three weeks. Hungary is a transit country, temporary shelter must be provided. She opposed the fence on the border and said this would only stop entrants temporarily.

Gergely Barandy (Socialists) said migration was a real problem both in the EU and in Hungary but efforts to create conflict between pro-immigration voices and those who are against it was “nothing but hate-mongering”. He said nobody wanted to open doors to all immigrants but currently people leaving the country en masse was a bigger problem.

Photo: MTI

Jobbik is the most popular among university students

university students

According to 444.hu, the Active Youth Research Group (Aktiv Fiatalok Kutatocsoport), which consists of the teachers and students of ELTE and Corvinus, examined the Hungarian university students’ social activity. They asked 800 young people from the universities of the country.

Based on this, Jobbik is still the most popular party among students, and it managed to increase its advantage with respect to the results 2 years ago. Now, 20% of the students would vote for them, while they had only 17% in 2013. Among Jobbik sympathizers, there are the most people who think dictatorship is acceptable. They are typically from small settlements, undergraduate and say they are religious just in their own way.

LMP managed to come up to 15% among youngsters. Probably they can thank to the disappearance of Egyutt-PM that they can be the second again. LMP supporters tend to come from big cities and from highly-educated families and they are higher level than Bachelor. In this group, the women are in majority.

At the same time, the fall of Fidesz can also be observed in the universities, only 12% of the students would vote for Fidesz. Two years ago, they were the second with 16%.  The Fidesz sympathizers are the most religious and they are the most confident regarding their future, 444.hu said.

Compared with 2013, Egyutt-PM, which was the 3rd then, has almost completely disappeared. Now, they would got only 4% together, and Egyutt would get 3%, PM would get 1%, if they’d compete separately. MSZP would receive 3%, DK would get 2%.

The proportion of undecided rose to 41%. Only 46% of them said they would’ve go vote now.

Young people are less and less interested in politics, only 27% of them said they’re interested in these issues. Most often, corruption, lies, fraud, Orban, Viktor and sucks words crossed their minds about politics.

47% of the students responding think democracy is better than any other political systems. This ratio has slightly increased compared to the previous survey. However, it’s still very low, since the number of those who stand for democracy doesn’t reach half of the students.

In addition, 32% think it doesn’t make a difference; one system is like the other. 21% of the students would prefer dictatorship in certain circumstances.

The most democracy-supporters are the students of social sciences and law faculties, while those who attend computer science, technical and agricultural education and health sciences would be the least disturbed by the introduction of a dictatorship, 444.hu said.

However, even democracy-supporters think there are a lot of problems with the system: More than 2/3 of the students are dissatisfied with that what we call democracy in Hungary now. 9% of them said they had participated in the demonstrations in fall and in winter, and 16% of them said that although they hadn’t been present, but supported the movements.

The survey also questioned how the students approach emigration. The rate of those who would go to work to another country has continued to increase. 37% of them plan that they would settle down abroad. However, 63% of full-time students have also thought about working abroad. Among them, the medical students have the highest proportion.

The researchers compared their results with the data of TARKI on total population, which revealed emigration is a much higher option among students.

Mostly those would go who have language skills, experiences abroad or those who are unsure of their situation somehow. However, the readiness of emigration is mostly independent of whether a person comes from a rich or a poor family. Only Fidesz-sympathizers have a lower proportion who would leave the country. In the largest proportion, the unsure voters would go away.

The research has also found that family background fundamentally determines who can get on what educational level, so the Hungarian higher educational system is still only marginally able to ensure social mobility.

based on the article of 444.hu
translated by BA

Photo: www.trubadurmagazin.hu

Opposition parties lambast five years of government

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, May 29 (MTI) – Opposition parties have lambasted the last five years of government and criticised Prime Minister Viktor Orban over his speech at a conference marking the fifth anniversary of his government on Friday.

JOBBIK

The radical nationalist Jobbik party said Orban admitted to “government-wide corruption” and “arrogance of power” in his speech but was five years late with the admission. Adam Mirkoczki, the party’s spokesman, said the government lacked credibility in its proposed zero tolerance campaign against abuse and corruption. He said the least the prime minister could have done was to name, and announce investigations against, “corrupt Fidesz scoundrels”.

Socialists

The Socialist Party said the prime minister’s speech indicated that he “is exactly where he was five years ago”. He has “dismantled the country, the competence of his government and has become the sole decision maker,” Socialist leader Jozsef Tobias told a press conference. “The prime minister made a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to resolve the crisis and the in-fighting in Fidesz,” Tobias said. He said the government was the worst of the last quarter of a century and an heir to authoritarian governments.

DK

The leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) said Hungary has “no need for Viktor Orban”. Spokesman Zsolt Greczy said the country’s net public debt has risen and the change in GDP between 2010 and 2014 was within the statistical margin of error. Greczy said it was “reassuring” that the prime minister does not want Hungary to leave the European Union, “now that he, his family and his relatives have all struck it rich from EU funds.”

EGYUTT

Egyutt said the result of the current government headed by Orban is that the number of the poor is record high in Hungary and twice as many people have moved away as in 1956. Deputy leader Peter Juhasz told a press conference that “hard-working ordinary people” have been driven to financial ruin, while businessmen Arpad Habony and Lorinc Meszaros and ruling Fidesz stalwarts Janos Lazar and Antal Rogan have been among the winners. Board member Nora Hajdu said the government only represents the interests of those who belong directly to the prime minister and his circle.

PM

Dialogue for Hungary (PM) said Orban’s political legacy was that Hungary has become a scenic depressed country without a vision. PM spokesman Richard Barabas said the prime minister’s speech was a “dreamer describing dreamland to nursery-school children.”

LMP

LMP co-leader Andras Schiffer said that the prime minister’s policies had “nothing to do with” pursuing national interests. He said Orban had sacrificed national interests “on the altar of various insane ideas.”

Liberal Party

Hungarian Liberal Party spokeswoman Anett Bosz said “Viktor Orban’s Hungary” fails to guarantee welfare, democracy or the rule of law. She said her party “wants no part of this Hungary”.

Opposition parties call on justice minister to quit

Budapest, May 22 (MTI) – Opposition parties Dialogue for Hungary (PM) and the Hungarian Liberal Party (MLP) have called on Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi to resign over what they called “racist remarks” about Hungarian Roma earlier this week.

Trocsanyi told Inforadio last week that Hungary had trouble taking in economic migrants as it is focused on helping 800,000 Roma catch up.

PM lawmaker Rebeka Szabo said on Friday that it was “outrageous” that Trocsanyi had depicted the Roma community as a burden on the country.

MLP said: “whoever judges Hungarians by their ethnicity has no option but to resign immediately.”

In response to calls for his resignation, Trocsanyi said he “outright rejects” the “outrageous” and “baseless” accusations against him by the opposition parties.

Trocsanyi told MTI in a statement that caring for the Roma population was a priority and a “moral obligation”.

The minister said he was proud that Hungary adopted the European Union’s Roma Strategy during its EU presidency. Trocsanyi said the issue was not solely a Hungarian, but also a European one, adding that improvements had to be made in education, employment, health-care and housing. Protecting fundamental rights by fighting against discrimination and segregation is another priority, he said.

Trocsanyi said that joint efforts to achieve all these goals would be jeopardised if certain parties “cried racism” just because he prioritises the social inclusion of Roma over “supporting economic migrants”.

Trocsanyi called it important to reject claims that Hungary is against refugees as the country respects and will fulfil all its international obligations relating to refugees.

Photo: MTI

Opposition parties slam 2016 budget bill for “helping the rich”

budapest

Budapest (MTI) – The ruling Fidesz party said under the 2016 budget bill submitted on Wednesday the government continues to cut taxes and invest economic output into helping families and workers, but opposition parties disagreed.

The opposition Egyutt party said the budget will “eat into the country’s future” and serves the sole purpose of supporting “oligarchies” and a “huge state apparatus”. Criticising the prime minister’s personal spendings, including planned relocation to the Castle district and football-related expenditures, Zsuzsa Szelenyi, the party’s lawmaker, said the country’s leader should “live like a citizen not like a king”. The government should be spending on education, health care and creating real jobs instead, she told a press conference.

The opposition Dialogue for Hungary (PM) said the budget favoured “banks and the top one million earners”. Bence Tordai, the party’s spokesman, said it was a budget “to help the strong and leaving everyone else in the lurch”. He repeated his party’s proposal for a basic income, which he said would mean progress for “four out of five” Hungarians.

The radical nationalist Jobbik party said the government had “again submitted a budget with austerity measures”. The economy is “incredibly overtaxed, putting unnecessary burdens on people,” Daniel Z Karpat, the deputy leader of the party’s parliamentary group, told a press conference. He mentioned the record-high 27 percent VAT rate, and new types of tax introduced by the Orban government since 2010, of which 8-10 were not needed, according to Jobbik. Jobbik would introduce a tax system based on production, which would help small and medium-sized companies (SME) in tourism, industry and agriculture.

The Socialist party said economic growth should be turned to help the poorest families and SMEs. Sandor Burany, head of parliament’s budget committee, said more than 4,600 companies closed shop in April alone, and that SMEs were finding it particularly hard to survive, due to a lack of sufficient growth in consumption and “the spiral they had been forced into regarding payroll costs”. He noted that the minimum wage had been tax exempt under the Socialist governments while it is now subject to 16 percent personal income tax. He said the Socialists would propose to reduce VAT on basic foods to 5 percent and introduce a single-digit personal income tax for low earners.

The Democratic Coalition (DK) said the bill put forward outlined a “budget of hopelessness with development lag and stagnation”. Zsolt Greczy, the party’s spokesman, said there were 4 million people in poverty in Hungary with another 2 million fearing poverty. The government’s taxes on companies were high and banks are considered “enemies”, he told a press conference. Greczy said welfare spending would not increase and the principles of solidarity did not come through in next year’s budget.

The LMP party said the government “has not learnt from its past mistakes” and continues to pursue bad policies. Erzsebet Schmuck, the party’s lawmaker, told journalists that that introduction of the flat personal income tax in 2010 had made the affluent better off, while putting a burden of about 130 billion forints on poor people. She added that the government’s current plan to further reduce the flat personal income tax rate would mean savings of 10,000 forints a month for a state secretary but only 1,000 forints a month on the minimum wage.

The Liberal Party said the budget bill went against the law on a debt ceiling, according to which no budget can be passed after Jan. 1, 2015 which would raise public debt by more than 140 billion forints, calculated by a formula based on inflation and GDP growth.

Brokerage scandal – Left-wing, liberal parties hold anti-govt demo

Budapest, April 11 (MTI) – Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Budapest on Saturday for a demonstration organised by left-wing and liberal parties in support of victims of the bankruptcy of the Quaestor brokerage firm.

Speakers demanded that an early election should be called, the government should resign and those involved in the scandal should be brought to court.

The protest was addressed by politicians of the Socialist Party, the Democratic Coalition (DK), the Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party and the Hungarian Liberal Party (MLP) as well as some victims of Quaestor’s bankruptcy.

Socialist deputy leader Zoltan Lukacs said that “hundreds of thousands of people on disability or service pension, pensioners who benefited from early retirement, broken tobacconists, entrepreneurs, people deprived of their private pension savings and tens of thousand stranded Quaestor investors” are all victims of Viktor Orban’s regime.

DK Board member Szabolcs Kerek-Barczy said that Quaestor owner Csaba Tarsoly was only a “small-town front man as compared to the true gangsters sitting in the government and the gangleader who had only informed his cronies about the bankruptcy in advance.” Kerek-Barczy urged early elections.

Zoltan Bodnar of MLP said that the “greedy Fidesz state had ‘swallowed’ everything but failed to notice that a ‘friendly’ company had stolen 150 billion forints from common people.”

Bence Tordai, spokesman of the PM party, said the current regime is based on oligarchs stealing the money of ordinary people. “In a normal country, such oligarchs have been put behind bars,” he said.