Budapest (MTI) – Opposition parties on Monday criticised President János Áder for signing an amended law on higher education which governs the operations of foreign universities in Hungary.
The Socialist Party said Áder had “proved that he is unfit to serve as president”, arguing that he was “unable to determine the interests of the nation or embody its unity”.
“János Áder is just a partisan soldier for whom [Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán’s opinion is more important than the uniform will of millions of people,” the party said in a statement.
The Socialists said that by “chasing away” the Central European University (CEU) with the law’s implementation, the government was continuing its “anti-national” policies which they said aimed to reduce the number of “critical thinkers” in Hungary to a minimum.
Green LMP said it would appeal to the Constitutional Court over the law, saying that it is “convinced” that the law is unconstitutional. In their statement, LMP co-leaders Bernadett Szál and Ákos Hadházy asked the other opposition parties to back their appeal. They insisted that by signing the law, Áder had “once again” chosen to represent the interests of the ruling Fidesz party over those of the country.
The Együtt party said that by signing the law, Áder had proved that he was “unable to not to side with Fidesz” on matters of constitutionality. The party said it would no longer consider Áder a legitimate president and called on the other opposition parties to follow its example.
Áder said in a statement earlier in the day that prior to signing the amendment he had determined that it was not in violation of the right to the freedom of education or the passage in the constitution granting autonomy to higher education institutions. He said the bill was not in violation of international treaties or European Union directives, either.
Budapest, April 4 (MTI) – The bill regulating foreign universities in Hungary, which is to be voted on by lawmakers on Tuesday in a speeded-up procedure, serves the interests of the country and all its citizens, the minister of human resources said before the debate of the bill.
The proposed legislation is easy to comply with and “creates equality instead of privileges”, Zoltán Balog said.
It is in the country’s interest to have as many autonomous, internationally acknowledged higher education institutes as possible, enriching Hungarian science. But it goes against Hungary’s interests to host experiments “aimed at undermining the elected government or leadership”, Balog said. The “faux NGOs funded by George Soros” are just such agencies, Balog insisted, adding that “we are adamant about obstructing their activities by any lawful means.”
The university registered and accredited in Hungary under the name “Közép-európai Egyetem” is fully acknowledged by the Hungarian government, he said, drawing a distinction between this and the “Central European University” accredited in New York but which has no campus there.
Minister Zoltán Balog
The Hungarian government is ready to talk to the government of the United States or to the leadership of the federal State of New York, where the CEU is registered in the US, Balog said, to take steps towards signing an inter-state agreement which would bring the university into compliance with Hungarian regulations.
Balog called widely spread claims that the freedom of education is under threat in Hungary a “hallucination” and called it “lamentable” that Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros, who founded CEU in 1991, should use his influence “to pressure the Hungarian parliament”. This puts the government at odds with “very powerful business circles”. “Let’s face it: education is, among other things, a business,” Balog said.
The Education Office conducts an audit of higher education institutes every five years, Balog noted. The 2016 audit uncovered a host of irregularities, many of which apply to the CEU, “which cannot presume to stand above Hungarian law”. The audit found 17 courses at the university which ran without having been registered, and the CEU has not had its programme accredited, he insisted. Neither has it submitted the required data to public registries. “The CEU itself does not know the exact number of its students”, he said.
Out of the 28 foreign universities operating in Hungary, 27 were found remiss in complying with some of the regulations, Balog noted. Irregularities included institutes with unclear legal backgrounds; the lack of a Hungarian partner institute; some actually were not entitled to give university courses or award degrees or were not accredited as an institute of higher education in their home countries, Balog said.
The Liberal Party said the proposed legislation was damaging because, far from George Soros floundering, it would be Hungary and Hungarian society that would lose out. The move would put Hungary in a bad position in the international community, a party representative said, noting that the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) had asked the European Commission to examine the proposed Hungarian laws on civil organisations and higher education to see to what extent they violate the EU’s founding treaty and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.
At a press conference held in front of the CEU building in Budapest, the Liberals’ spokesman for foreign affairs, Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, said he trusted that President Janos Ader would take heed of one of his predecessors, László Sólyom, who expressly condemned the proposed legislation. He said it was hopeful that the Constitutional Court would also “make the right decision” on the matter.
Parliament amends higher education act
Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday approved amendments to the act on higher education that will require foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate under an intergovernmental agreement and to have a campus in the country in which they are based. The bill was passed in a speeded-up procedure with a vote of 123 in favour and 38 against. There were no abstentions.
Photo: MTI
The Central European University (CEU), which is accredited in the United States but has just one campus, in Budapest, earlier said the changes to the law would make its continued operation in Budapest impossible. The CEU called the proposed legislation “discriminatory” and said that it “targets CEU directly”.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Monday said there was “no reason for anybody to be nervous” as the Hungarian government would hold talks with the government of the United States on the matter of the CEU. “The Hungarian government will be guided by goodwill as will most certainly the government of the United States of America,” he added.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, photo: MTI
A last-minute change moved forward the date for revoking the licences of institutions that fail to comply with the new rules to January 1, 2018 from September 1, 2018.
About 10,000 people protested the amendments in Budapest on Sunday, according to the demonstration’s organisers. A number of Hungarian and foreign academics have also voiced their opposition to the changes.
The opposition Socialists voiced full support for the CEU and called on President János Áder not to sign the amendments.
Socialist group leader Bertalan Tóth told a press conference that the new legislation was equal to a “base and petty-minded assault” aimed at curbing the freedom of education through “executing” the university. Should the Socialist Party win next year’s elections, he said, it would repeal the amendments, he added.
The green opposition LMP said they would appeal to the Constitutional Court against the new “lex CEU”. In a statement, co-leaders Bernadett Szél and Ákos Hadházy wrote that the law was “unacceptable and harmful” as well as anti-constitutional. The Együtt party said it would file a similar appeal with the president.
The Leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said it would submit a referendum initiative to prevent CEU from closure. DK deputy leader Ágnes Vadai told a press conference that parliament’s passing the amendments was a “clear and unmistakeable attack against education, academic life and the future of Hungary’s youth”. She also called on other parties and civil groups to support DK’s referendum.
Photo: MTI
UPDATE
Foreign ministry summons US, German charges d’affaires
The foreign ministry has summoned the heads of the US and German embassies in Budapest in connection with higher education amendments passed earlier on Tuesday, the ministry told MTI in a statement.
The ministry said that “all higher education institutions in Hungary shall abide by relevant regulations”, adding that “the legislation passed today is exclusively aimed at that; any claims to the contrary are false”.
Budapest, April 1 (MTI) – The ruling Fidesz-Christians Democrat alliance retained its firm lead over the opposition parties, which further segmented in March, a recent poll by the Nézőpont Institute showed.
Among all voters, Fidesz-KDNP’s support dropped one percentage point to 32 percent, while opposition Jobbik’s and the Socialists’ backing both slipped also one percentage point to 11 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Support for the Democratic Coalition (DK) went down one point to 3 percent, green LMP’s backing stayed level at 3 percent while support for Együtt, Dialogue and the Liberal parties stood at 1 percent. Nézőpont recorded one percent support for the all-new Momentum Movement and the satirical Kétfarkú Kutya (Two-tailed Dog) party.
Taking core party support into account, the ruling parties upped their camp by seven percentage points to 53 percent whereas Jobbik lost five points in backing to have 16 percent. The Socialists had support of 11 percent, LMP and DK 6 percent each. Momentum and the Kétfarkú had backing by 2 percent each, while Együtt, Dialogue and the Liberals had 1 percent, respectively.
The poll was conducted between March 3 and 26 on a sample of 2,000.
30 per cent of eligible voters consider Fidesz as the most hated political party, reveals the poll conducted by Iránytű Institute for daily Magyar Nemzet. In the list of most disliked parties, the runners-up are the Socialist Party (MSZP) and Democratic Coalition (DK) with 14% each, while Jobbik is rejected by 11% of the respondents.
As for Fidesz voters, they reject DK the most (29%), with MSZP in second (26%) and Jobbik in third (16%) place.
The majority of Jobbik voters (52%) dislike Fidesz, 13-13% expressed the same about MSZP and DK, while 69% of MSZP voters reject the government parties and 18% of them indicated Jobbik as the party they dislike the most. 42% of indecisive voters felt antipathy towards Fidesz-KDNP.
In terms of secondary preferences, Politics Can Be Different (LMP) has the best position: if the respondents could not vote for their favourite, 10% per cent of them would cast their ballots for LMP but Jobbik is a close runner-up in this list with 9%.
30% of Fidesz voters would not vote for any other party, 22% of them would go for Jobbik, 12% for LMP and 8% for the Two-Tailed Dog Party. 30% of Jobbik voters would not vote for other parties, 22% would back LMP, 16% would support the government parties, while 11% could not tell what they would do if they could not vote for their favourite. The secondary preferences of Socialist voters are 31% for DK, 18% for Jobbik, 14% for Together Party if their first option was unavailable.
52% of all respondents think that Jobbik would have more voters in a general election held next Sunday than the alliance of the left-wing parties.
Budapest, March 15 (MTI) – The deputy leader of the opposition Együtt party called for joint efforts to protect freedom and stand up against a “narrow and evil circle” at the party’s commemoration of the 1848-49 revolution and freedom fight on Wednesday.
Speaking by the statue of revolutionary poet Sándor Petőfi on Budapest’s central March 15 Square, Balázs Berkecz said the revolution was a brave decision by a brave people, which opposed everything that the world order and the arrogant power-holders of the time considered as acceptable.
The brave heroes of the 1848 revolution have taught us that freedom cannot be ours free of charge, without having to fight for it, he said.
Today, “a narrow and evil circle has taken away our freedom and put our future in danger with its uncontrolled greed, demoralising our country to the level of dictatorships”, Berkecz said. “We have to fight this mafia state that tramples on truth day by day,” he added.
Budapest, March 7 (MTI) – Parliament on Tuesday approved measures tightening existing asylum regulations.
With 138 votes in favour from the ruling coalition and opposition Jobbik, 6 against from opposition LMP and independent lawmakers and 22 abstentions, mainly from Socialists, parliament approved a package of amendments submitted by interior minister Sándor Pintér which tighten existing asylum regulations and procedural rules concerning the state of emergency due to mass migration.
The new legislation also makes it easier to declare such a state of emergency and “ensures no one can enter Hungary and the European Union without permission”, Pintér said.
Among the measures, police will send back illegal migrants to the other side of the fence along Hungary’s border. This applies to migrants picked up by police at any location in Hungary.
The law also requires asylum seekers to be held in transit zones set up at the border. They will only be allowed to leave these zones in the direction of Serbia or Croatia.
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Fidesz deputy group leader Gergely Gulyás noted before the vote that the government measures prohibited asylum seekers from leaving the transit zones set up on the border until their cases are ruled on.
Rights groups said on Monday that the measures would prevent refugees from getting international protection and would apply blanket rules without heed to the situation of children, families and the elderly.
The law exempts lone minors below the age of 14, who will be under the care of the country’s child-protection services.
Among the measures, the authorities have the right to break off the asylum procedure should the asylum seeker refuse to have their fingerprints or photographs taken.
The law will come into force 8 days after its announcement.
UPDATE
The Hungarian legislation tramples on European Union laws and an international law barring authorities from mass detention of asylum seekers, Cecile Pouilly, speaker of the United Nations’ Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told a press conference on Tuesday. The measures put already severely traumatized people at risk of further physical and psychological harm, she added.
The opposition Együtt party voiced protest against the new legislation, and said that the new rules had been encoded with “Draconian rigour”. Keeping asylum seekers in detention while their applications are being processed is unacceptable, they said. MP Zsuzsanna Szelényi, speaking on behalf of Együtt, called on the government to launch an investigation into alleged police violence against illegal entrants in southern Hungary. Együtt also demands that entrants should be granted “decent accommodation”, she added. Amnesty International said the new Hungarian law violated international regulations. In a statement, the organisation protested against “confining perhaps the most vulnerable people into containers behind barbed wire for as long as months”. The new rules are among “examples of an aggressive tendency” of Hungary ignoring the rights of asylum seekers and migrants, AI said in its statement. AI has also called on the European Union to “show Hungary” that inhumane and illegitimate measures “will have consequences”.
Amnesty International said the new Hungarian law violated international regulations. In a statement, the organisation protested against “confining perhaps the most vulnerable people into containers behind barbed wire for as long as months”. The new rules are among “examples of an aggressive tendency” of Hungary ignoring the rights of asylum seekers and migrants, AI said in its statement. AI has also called on the European Union to “show Hungary” that inhumane and illegitimate measures “will have consequences”.
Budapest (MTI) – Opposition party Együtt supports the presidential candidacy of former ombudsman László Majtényi, party chief Péter Juhász said after talks between the board and the candidate.
It is of paramount importance to present a candidate who can truly play a role in the system of checks and balances, Juhász said in a joint press conference with Majtényi, adding that the two Együtt lawmakers in parliament are ready to vote for him.
Majtényi, whose candidacy is also supported by DK, said that the judiciary aspects of his programme are in complete accord with Együtt’s approach. They both envision a parliamentary democracy in Hungary in which the ruling party can be defeated by democratic means, and citizens’ rights are protected by independent authorities, with ruling and opposition parties getting the same publicity, he said. In “the fourth republic”, prioirities will involve the fight against corruption and poverty, and the promotion of sustainable development in protection of future generations, Majtényi said.
Budapest, February 23 (MTI) – The government has “betrayed” those who supported a local referendum to be held on Budapest’s plan to host the 2024 Olympic Games by proposing the bid’s withdrawal, the civil Momentum Movement, the proponent of the referendum, said late on Wednesday. The government has “retired in a cowardly manner”, Socialist leader Gyula Molnár commented on the government’s Wednesday proposal that Budapest’s Olympic plans should be dropped.
The government passed a resolution earlier in the day in which it proposed that the City of Budapest and the Hungarian Olympic Committee should withdraw the city’s bid to host the Olympics.
Momentum recently collected over 266,000 signatures with a view to securing a referendum on the issue.
“It is regrettable that the government… has betrayed 266,000 people by withdrawing the bid. What is more, it betrayed even the advocates of the Olympic plan,” it said.
Momentum said the signature drive was also motivated by the goal that no decision should be made on a gigantic investment project that determines Hungary’s future for several decades without the public being asked in advance.
Government ‘chickens out’ of Olympic plans, say Socialists
The government has “retired in a cowardly manner”, Socialist leader Gyula Molnár commented on the government’s Wednesday proposal that Budapest’s Olympic plans should be dropped.
Ruling Fidesz shrinks from holding a referendum on the Olympic bid because it “dreads” being defeated, Molnár said in reaction to the proposal, which came after a civil group collected over 266,000 signatures in favour of such a plebiscite.
Molnár noted that the government had earlier dropped a contested ban on Sunday shopping and threw out a decree which would have enabled “shady deals” around state-owned land, and insisted that “the opposition has defeated the government three times in a year by way of (initiating) a referendum”.
The government may “manipulate” the electoral system and could “fill the Election Committee with yes-men” but it cannot prevent voters from expressing their opinion, Molnár said.
UPDATE
PM should reimburse 2024 Olympic-related funds to central budget, says Együtt
The opposition Együtt party has called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to repay all funds so far spent in connection with Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics to the central budget.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Együtt leader Péter Juhász rejected remarks by the ruling parties which suggest an earlier, consensual support for the Olympic plans, and insisted that his party had opposed them all along.
Ruling Fidesz was aiming to “loot public funds and gain political benefits” through the Olympic project, Juhász said, and demanded an account of the 27 billion forints (EUR 87.7m) spent so far and that the grand total should be re-allocated to the central budget.
Márton Pataki, the head of Együtt’s Budapest chapter, told the press conference that nearly 16 billion forints from the grand total had been awarded without any competition, through tenders with a single valid bid each.
The leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) has also demanded that the government and Budapest provide an account of its Olympic spending in the past two years. DK’s managing chairman Csaba Molnar said his party had never supported the Olympic plans, and insisted that the project would have served the benefit of “construction and PR companies close to Fidesz”.
Budapest, February 20 (MTI) – The opposition Együtt party has decided to turn to the Kuria, Hungary’s supreme court, over an alleged incident in which police formed a line in front of party activists in an underpass, preventing them from collecting signatures in support of a referendum on Budapest’s Olympic bid early in February.
Last week, the Municipal Election Committee turned down Együtt’s complaint, saying they had not presented evidence that election rules had been violated.
Viktor Szigetvari, head of Együtt’s national board, however, told a press conference on Monday that the police action “was indeed illegitimate”.
The police said the blockade had been mounted to detain a wanted criminal.
Együtt activists were collecting signatures for the Momentum Movement to support a plebiscite asking Budapest residents if they wanted the 2024 Olympic Games to be held in the city.
Budapest, February 10 (MTI) – About one hundred supporters of the opposition Együtt party gathered in Budapest to demonstrate against government policies near the venue of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivering a state of the nation address on Friday.
The group received the audience arriving at the event with boos and hisses.
“We are booing and hissing at Viktor Orbán because he can no longer be approached, does not answer the questions of journalists and no longer enters into discussions with politicians,” Együtt leader Péter Juhász said.
Péter Juhász, photo: MTI
Viktor Szigetvári, head of the party’s national political council, said that “Hungary can only earmark funds for a Museum Quarter, the Olympic Games or a new nuclear power plant because Orbán neglects modernisation, education and health care.”
Viktor Szigetvári, photo: MTI
Deputy leader Nóra Hajdu said that “Hungary’s worst enemy isn’t Europe but its own prime minister”.
Budapest (MTI) – Support for the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance increased in early February both among all voters and decided voters, a new poll by the Századvég Foundation released on Wednesday shows. Ruling Fidesz continues to hold a commanding lead over the opposition parties and Hungarians are the most satisfied with the direction of the country since autumn 2010, according to a fresh poll by Medián published on news portal hvg.hu.
Századvég
In the whole sample, Fidesz-KDNP increased its lead over the opposition and stood at 33 percent. Support for Jobbik has continued to decline, with the opposition party falling back to the Socialist Party’s level at 10 percent.
Support for green LMP and the leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) was unchanged with both parties standing at 4 percent. The opposition Együtt was backed by 1 percent of respondents, while 4 percent said they would choose other parties if the general election were held now.
The percentage of undecided voters who did not choose any party to support stood at 34 percent.
Fidesz-KDNP also increased their popularity among decided voters, with 49 percent backing the governing alliance. Jobbik came second with 19 percent, just ahead of the Socialists who were backed by 18 percent of respondents. LMP and DK were again even at 5 percent each. Együtt captured just 1 percent, which is below the parliamentary threshold. A total of 3 percent of respondents in this category said they would vote for other parties.
The poll was taken between February 1 and 7 by phone with a sample of 1,000 adults.
Medián
In the whole sample, Fidesz had the backing of 37 percent of the poll’s respondents. Jobbik came second with 10 percent, ahead of the Socialists who garnered 8 percent. The leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) captured 4 percent, followed by green LMP at 3 percent and Együtt which was backed by 2 percent of respondents.
Among decided voters, Fidesz popularity stands at 60 percent, according to Medián. Jobbik was backed by 13 percent of respondents while support for the Socialists stood at 10 percent. DK was the best of the parties with single-digit support among decided voters at 7 percent, ahead of LMP and Együtt with 3 percent each.
Medián also assessed the popularity of the Momentum Movement, the civil organisation spearheading an initiative to collect signatures demanding a referendum on Hungary dropping its bid to host the Olympic Games in Budapest in 2024. The NGO was backed by 1 percent of respondents in the whole sample and by 2 percent of decided voters.
The proportion of respondents who said the country was “going in the right direction” was 46 percent, the highest since autumn 2010. A total of 48 percent said Hungary was on the wrong track.
This was also the first time since autumn 2010 that half of the respondents said the Orbán government was doing a “good” or “very good” job. Medián said the government’s approval rating tied into Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s popularity, which currently stands at 49 percent. The most popular opposition politician was LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél with 38 percent viewing her favourably, followed by László Botka, Szeged’s Socialist mayor, with a 34 percent popularity rating.
The poll was carried out in the last week of January.
Budapest – The opposition Együtt party elected Péter Juhász its leader at a delegates’ assembly in Budapest on Saturday.
The other candidate for the post was Zsuzsanna Szelényi while Viktor Szigetvári, the current leader, withdrew his candidacy.
Juhász has been elected for a two-year term, the party told MTI.
The delegates also decided that Együtt would nominate former ombudsman László Majtényi for president of the republic.
They praised Majtényi’s merits in protecting constitutionality and fighting against corruption since Hungary’s transition to democracy in 1989-1990.
New Együtt leader pledges “positive alternative”
The opposition Együtt party will offer a “realistic, eligible and positive alternative” to voters at next year’s elections, the party’s recently elected leader told a press conference on Sunday.
Péter Juhász said that Együtt was committed to building a community which not only will clear the parliamentary threshold (of 5 percent of the votes) but become a “dominant political factor”.
Juhász said his party had a strong organisational background and voiced hope that it could field a candidate in each of Hungary’s 106 constituencies in the 2018 vote. He said Együtt’s mission was to “act as leaven” and promote cooperation between civil groups, parties and other communities supporting “democracy, rule of law and market economy”.
Former chair Viktor Szigetvári said that Egyutt would continue working to build a country in which “poverty is combatted and which spends appropriate amounts on education”. He added that as head of the party’s national council, he would help the organisation develop its regional chapters.
Budapest, February 2 (MTI) – Over 300 demonstrators gathered in Budapest on Thursday evening, called by the opposition Együtt party, to protest against the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The alliance between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Putin “is a blind alley”. Hungary’s belongs to the West, party officials said.
Meeting half a kilometre from Parliament, the demonstrators booed and hissed when Putin’s convoy passed by in the distance.
Együtt leader Viktor Szigetvári said:
“In Hungary’s Parliament there is no place for a war criminal like Vladimir Putin. Shame on Orbán for receiving him.”
Budapest, February 1 (MTI) – A small group of activists and opposition politicians gathered to demand the ratification of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on preventing and combatting domestic violence in front of Parliament on Wednesday morning.
The demonstration was held to coincide with the meeting of parliament’s justice committee to decide on submitting an initiative on the convention’s ratification to the assembly.
Bernadett Szél, the co-leader of LMP, said it was yet again up to the committee to decide whether or not “to axe” the initiative, “as it had been the case several times before”.
“We won’t let that happen again,” she said.
Zsuzsanna Szelényi of Együtt said domestic violence in Hungary went unnoticed by those holding power.
Others addressing the gathering called it a common phenomenon today that it is the victim, not the abuser who must go into hiding.
They stressed that the remedy of this situation was in the Istanbul Convention requiring signatories to provide for victim protection.
Hungary was among the 43 states to sign the convention, in 2014. Twenty-three countries have already ratified the document.
Budapest (MTI) – Commenting on a planned demonstration by an opposition party to coincide with the upcoming official visit of Russia’s president, a ruling Fidesz party spokesman decried any attempt to abuse democratic rights.
The opposition Együtt party said at the weekend that the government was trying to block its demonstration called for next Thursday, when Vladimir Putin will pay a visit to Budapest.
Együtt wants to hold a demonstration in front of Parliament when Putin meets Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, party leader Viktor Szigetvári told a press conference. Együtt believes the “Orbán-Putin alliance” is against Hungary’s national interests, he said.
The government, interior ministry and counter-terrorism TEK force are taking steps to prevent the protest by blocking the party’s attempts to coordinate with the police, he insisted, calling on the government not to stop the party from exercising its right to peaceful assembly.
Fidesz parliamentary group spokesman János Halász told a news conference today in connection with Együtt’s statement that “democratic rights should not be abused”.
Budapest (MTI) – The government is trying to block an opposition demonstration called for next Thursday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin pays an official visit to Budapest, according to the Együtt party.
Együtt wants to hold a demonstration in front of Parliament when Putin meets Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, party leader Viktor Szigetvári told a press conference. Egyutt believes the “Orban-Putin alliance” is against Hungary’s national interests, he said.
The government, interior ministry and counter-terrorism TEK force are taking steps to prevent the protest by blocking the party’s attempts to coordinate with the police, he insisted.
He called on the government not to stop the party from exercising its right to peaceful assembly.
Budapest, December 17 (MTI) – Parties of the leftist opposition on Saturday voiced solidarity with protests in Poland against new media rules seen as curbing press freedoms.
Socialist deputy group leader László Szakács condemned “populist and demagogue” policies restricting freedom rights.
In a statement, the Democratic Coalition party called it “shameful” that the Polish government “orders riot police against the democratic opposition on the anniversary of the communist government’s announcing a state of emergency and imprisoning thousands in 1981”.
The Együtt party condemned the Polish government’s “illiberal media policy similar to that of Viktor Orbán”.
The Liberal Party welcomed the demonstrations and called it “exemplary” that “thousands of democratic Poles” stage protests in front of the Polish Sejm. The Liberals have also condemned the Polish police’s “brutal” action against the protesters.
The Dialogue Party said in a statement sent to MTI that in Poland “democracy is mutilated in the Orbanian manner” and hailed the “brave stance” of the opposition. “Freedom of the press is the number one instrument to hold the government to account” they said and warned that “autarchic systems in the making will attempt to restrict and silence the media everywhere”.
Budapest (MTI) – The opposition Együtt party calls for a change in attitudes towards people living with disabilities, a statement sent to MTI on Saturday showed.
Despite 600,000-700,000 Hungarians living with permanent health damage and disabilities, the change in attitudes has been very slow and some government decisions suggested that the interests of people living with disabilities were less important than others. The party said it was “symbolic” that during the revamp of Budapest’s third metro line, building disabled access to some of the stops is planned to be omitted in order to cut back on the project’s total costs. Additionally, a significant part of the stops have no proper disabled access along the route of Budapest’s new intertwining tram network, Egyutt said.
Együtt expressed concern about the utilisation of European Union funding for institutional care to disabled people. The purpose of such funding would be to help as many of the disabled in institutions as possible to live among more custom-fit arrangements. According to Együtt , several professional mistakes have been made that could result in lost funding.
The party also called for increased involvement of the interest representation bodies of people living with disabilities in decision making and the preparation of policies affecting them.
