Liberals

Opposition calls for ‘minimum standards’ in education

education school curriculum books learning

Opposition parties held a meeting initiated by green LMP on Wednesday to discuss setting up “minimum standards” in education policy.

Speaking at a joint press conference of the parties after the meeting, István Ikotity of LMP said that the guidelines would serve to surpass routines of the last 27 years and “avoid fundamental changes in educational policy every four years”. The concept is detailed in a paper the parties have prepared already in February, he noted.

Radical nationalist Jobbik’s deputy group leader, Dóra Dúró, said that the standards are warranted by the government’s lack of openness for long-term strategies.

The government fails to see education as a professional, financial and political investment, she said.

Gábor Erőss of Párbeszéd said that students’ rights to higher education should stand in the focus of educational policy. The government actively hinders students in obtaining higher education, he insisted.

Anett Bősz of the Liberals said that the “excessively centralised” educational system should give way to a “decentralised, freer, better” one which grants autonomy to teachers and institutions.

POLL: Fidesz received 44 percent support, Jobbik stood at 19 percent

Core voter support for both the Fidesz-led ruling alliance and opposition LMP increased in October, while Jobbik and the Socialists saw their fortunes wane, but the changes were within the margin of error, Nézőpont Institute said on Saturday.

Among decided voters, the Fidesz alliance with the Christian Democrats received 44 percent support, which equals the domestic support it attracted on the party lists at the 2014 elections.

LMP increased its support by a percentage point, to 7 percent, in this category.

Jobbik stood at 19 percent among decided voters, which is slightly below the party’s 2014 results on the party list. Nézőpont added that Jobbik stood at 21 percent last month and 22 percent a month earlier. The Socialists fell by a percentage point to 10 percent among decided voters and DK stayed at 8 percent.

Among all voters, fully 31 percent backed the ruling parties in October, a percentage point increase from September, the poll based interviews with a representative sample of 2,000 adults showed.

Support for Jobbik dropped by a percentage point to 10 percent among all voters, while

support for the Socialists also dropped by a percentage point, to 5 percent.

Nézőpont said support for both parties was extremely low in October compared with other months in the period since 2014.

Among all voters, the Democratic Coalition received an unchanged 4 percent support, LMP received an unchanged 3 percent, Momentum and the satirical Two-tailed Dog party 2 percent each, and Együtt and the Liberal Party 1 percent each.

Photo: MTI

Budapest assembly approves report blaming Socialist-liberal city leadership in metro corruption case

bkk-m2-metro-budapest alstom

The Budapest assembly has approved a report blaming the former Socialist-liberal city leadership for irregularities highlighted by OLAF, the European anti-fraud office, in connection with construction of the capital’s fourth metro line.

City lawmakers asked the mayor to send the findings of the report by a special working group examining graft related to the investment to the public prosecutor’s office.

Wednesday’s motion received 22 votes in favour and 6 abstentions.

According to the working group, the hearings of the former executives and supervisory board members of Budapest transport company BKV revealed that the company’s decision-making had been formal and brought about by former Budapest mayor Gábor Demszky, his former deputies and his cabinet.

“The investment up to 2010 was directly enabled due to Socialist-liberal influence and control,” the report states.

These parties are faced with full financial, legal and moral responsibility for the corruption-tainted public procurement contracts, it added.

Photo: Daily News Hungary

1956 – Leftist parties mark anniversary of revolution

commemoration 1956 budapest

Members of opposition parties Democratic Coalition (DK), Socialists, Együtt, the Liberals, the Modern Hungary Movement (MoMa), Dialogue and Solidarity laid wreaths in commemoration of Hungary’s 1956 revolution at martyr Imre Nagy’s Budapest house on Monday.

Ágnes Kunhalmi of the Socialist Party said at the celebration that the current government “persecutes the freedom of opinion, controls the press and obstructs citizens’ initiatives and civil organisations”, which she said was reminiscent of a “very dark era of Hungarian history”, the Stalinist terror. “The real oppressors are not in Brussels but on government”, Kunhalmi said. They “appropriate public wealth, ruin education and Hungarians’ health by letting the health care system rot”, she said.

Speaking at a joint celebration with opposition Együtt, Dialogue Party leader Gergely Karácsony said in Budapest that the revolution was “not the cause of an ideology” but of the nation.

At times “when Hungarian politics have to be renewed”, it is important for the opposition to be able to cooperate and “embrace its multifaceted nature”, he said.

Photo: MTI

Egyutt’s Viktor Szigetvári said the opposition should accept all “competitors fighting for liberal democracy according to a credible set of values and for their base”. Együtt believes that “the Orbán government can be shaken and their re-election be hindered through clever opposition cooperation”.

As we wrote, Hungary’s national flag was hoisted in front of the Parliament building on this morning, in a state commemoration marking the 61th anniversary of the anti-Soviet uprising which started on October 23, 1956.

Photo: MTI

Verhofstadt calls on Hungary authorities to sign CEU agreement

ceu budapest hungary

Instead of extending deadlines, Hungary should sign the agreement enabling the Central European University to continue its operations, liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt said on Thursday.

The leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group called on leaders of EU member states to put pressure on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over the issue at the Brussels summit starting on Thursday.

The agreement is ready to be signed, Verhofstadt insisted.

“The Central European University has done all it can to comply with an invasive new Hungarian Higher Education Law;

New York State has negotiated an agreement with the Hungarian government which would allow the CEU to provide for education also in the US, as required by Prime Minister Orbán’s new law,” the statement said.

“Instead of signing this agreement, it seems Prime Minister Orbán now intends to prolong a legal deadline, which will drag out proceedings unnecessarily, a move which will have potentially detrimental consequences for the faculty, staff and students.”

“EU leaders must today speak out in order to put pressure on Mr Orbán to stop his prevarication, which represents a continued attack on academic freedom. There is no place in Europe for Prime Minister Orbán’s attacks on educational facilities .

This is about academic freedom, about safeguarding one of the best universities in the world — and safeguarding it in Budapest,” Verhofstadt said.

Lawmakers on Tuesday amended Hungary’s higher education law to extend the deadline for foreign universities and colleges operating in the country to meet the law’s criteria to January 1, 2019.

Hungary tightened rules governing the operations of foreign universities in the country in the spring, requiring foreign colleges and universities in Hungary to operate on the basis of an interstate agreement and to run a campus in the country in which they are based.

Photo: ceu.edu

Socialist leader says party still ‘alive’

The Socialist Party is still alive and will continue its political strategy for implementing a left-wing programme, party leader Gyula Molnár said on Saturday, five days after the resignation of László Botka as the party’s prime minister-candidate.

“All should return to their nests. Vultures have no reason for circling above us,” he told a press conference in Budapest.

Molnár announced that the Socialists would not name another PM candidate from their own ranks but advocate choosing a non-partisan candidate who is backed by the broadest possible forces.

At present, the Socialists do not support the PM candidate of any other party, he added.

“We are prepared to cooperate with all democratic political forces but [ex-premier] Gyula Horn’s party will not negotiate with the extreme-right parties,” he said.

Molnár rejected all attempts to portray the Socialists or any other democratic opposition party as part of the “National System of Cooperation” championed by the ruling Fidesz party.

He announced that the Socialists would publish their electoral manifesto on November 18 and hold a “campaign opening” congress in December.

In response to a question, Molnár said the Socialists are negotiating on cooperation with the Együtt and the Dialogue parties, the Democratic Coalition and the Liberal Party,

and have acknowledged that the LMP and Momentum parties squarely rejected their initiative.

Molnár said he saw a chance for the democratic opposition parties to field a common candidate in all the 106 constituencies of the country for the 2018 general election.

Featured image: MTI

Botka resigns as Socialist PM candidate, Ujhelyi resigns as Socialist Party’s deputy leader – UPDATE

László Botka has resigned as the Socialist Party’s candidate for prime minister, he told MTI on Monday.

Botka said he had informed the party’s leaders as well as its allies that had backed his candidacy of his decision.

Explaining the reason for the withdrawal of his candidacy, the Szeged mayor said

he had “made a mistake”, because he did not think “that the democratic parties do not want to win in 2018” but rather “aim to win some opposition seats in the Orbán regime’s parliament”.

Botka said that he had also misjudged “how badly the political mafia has infested the democratic opposition”, adding that

he had also “underestimated Fidesz’s vileness”.

He noted that last week he had put forward a proposal to the six “democratic opposition parties” concerning a joint party list for the election. Under the proposal, the Socialist Party would have offered half of the places on its party list to be distributed among leftist opposition parties LMP, the Democratic Coalition (DK), Dialogue, Egyutt, Momentum and the Liberals.

“Unfortunately this alliance has not received the backing necessary to bring about a change in government,” he said.

He noted that both LMP and DK had announced last week their intention to set up their own election lists.

By contesting the election alone, these parties “will only succeed in further fragmenting the democratic side”, Botka insisted. This would either entice those who want a change in government to stay home on election day, or drive them to Jobbik, he added.

Botka noted that last December he had announced a new political strategy based on a joint opposition election campaign.

“In spite of the overwhelming support from congressional delegates, the hope shared by leftist sympathisers, the last four months were filled with public attacks on my policy of unity from within my party,” Botka said. “I had to battle the opponent to be defeated in the election even within my own party.”

The Szeged mayor conceded that his plan to unify the opposition around a joint election programme and to create an alliance capable of governing had failed. He added that he would take responsibility for this.

“I served the democratic voters to the best of my ability and with all my heart. I consider the opposition parties’ behaviour a historic crime,” he said.

“I believe in the millions who want change,” Botka said.

“I could not lead them to victory, I could not create a unified opposition, although this is still what I believe in. But if someone else succeeded on this front, I would support them,” he added.

As we wrote, leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) is setting up its own election list for the 2018 elections but wants to coordinate with opposition parties on individual constituency candidates, the party told on Saturday.

Also we wrote on Saturday, Bernadett Szél, the co-leader of green opposition party LMP (Lehet Más a Politika – Politics Can Be Different) was beiing nominated as candidate for prime minister for the 2018 election.

UPDATE

Ujhelyi resigns as Socialist Party’s deputy leader

István Ujhelyi has resigned as the Socialist Party’s deputy leader, he told MTI on Monday.

Explaining the reason for his resignation, Ujhelyi said that although he still “desires change”, he could no longer take responsibility for the Socialist Party’s future or its performance in the 2018 general election.

“I cannot get behind the notion that the Socialist Party’s internal affairs and policies can be influenced or obstructed by outside dealings,” Ujhelyi said in a statement.

Ujhelyi said that “what goes on among the democratic parties is humiliating and personally unacceptable”.

The “Orbán regime has sneaked into the opposition lines and has agents in almost all potent movements,”

the statement said. “It seems that the coup supported by dirty tricks of the powerful has succeeded and the democratic forces are fragmented and broken for good,” Ujhelyi said.

Ujhelyi noted that he has been a Socialist party member for 24 years, and proud to have worked with politicians like [former prime minister] Gyula Horn and [former party leader] Ildiko Lendvai. He asked for the voters’ pardon and forgiveness for stepping down, “but I cannot take responsibility and cannot take a part in what lies ahead”, he said.

Ujhelyi said the root of the conflict was not in discrepancies between the Socialists and leftist Democratic Coalition (DK), Ferenc Gyurcsány’s party which announced its intention to withdraw from setting up a joint party list on Saturday.

He said his personal relationships with politicians and members of DK were “harmonic”, adding, however, that ousting the “Orban regime” would only be possible with the cooperation of all opposition parties.

Ujhelyi said

he would continue “to work with all my strength” for the interests of a democratic Hungary as a member of the European Parliament.

FIDESZ reaction

Fidesz reacted by saying that Botka had been “mired in scandals”, adding that his “failure is not surprising”.

“Botka was no different from Gyurcsány and other Socialist candidates,” the party said in a statement. “He voted for the Bajnai austerity measures like all the other Socialists.”

“The next Socialist candidate will be just like all the others. Nothing ever changes on the left,” Fidesz said.

Jobbik reaction

Opposition Jobbik said the Socialists had reached a “point of no return on a path to failure”. Jobbik spokesman Péter Jakab told a press conference that with their respective resignations, both Botka and now former Socialist Party deputy leader István Ujhelyi had admitted that “not only are the Socialists incapable of unseating the Orbán government, they don’t even want to.”

“The Socialists don’t want a change in government, just a group in parliament with a few seats and some hefty allowances,” he said. Jakab questioned whether the Socialists would even make it into parliament, arguing that “everyone knows that a vote for the Socialists will now only boost Fidesz.”

Jakab dismissed

the left wing as “nothing more than a cat-fight of small parties”,

adding that they were weak both on their own and together.

He said Jobbik, on the other hand, was offering an alternative to all Hungarians, including left-wing voters.

Democratic Coalition reaction

DK said that with his resignation, Botka had admitted the failure of his strategy. Party spokesman Zsolt Gréczy said that the “confusion” within the Socialist Party half a year before the election harmed the entire opposition.

He said DK regretted to see that Botka “was unable to adjust his strategy” when he saw he was failing to achieve his goals. DK has tried to talk with Botka several times, Gréczy said, and cited Ujhelyi as saying that the “disagreement with DK was not the root of the problems”.

DK will not appoint a PM candidate

, Gréczy said. The party’s list will be headed by leader Ferenc Gyurcsány, he said.

LMP reaction

Opposition LMP said in a statement that it respected Botka’s resignation as an internal affair. It added that the party would continue to fight against the Orban government and fight for social justice while striving to represent those who have lost faith following Botka’s resignation.

Liberal Party reaction

The leader of the Hungarian Liberal Party, which had recently entered into an election pact with the Socialists, said he regretted Botka’s resignation, since he had been a candidate not only of the Socialists but the democratic opposition overall. Gábor Fodor said the liberals continued to stand ready for talks on cooperating with the Socialists, adding that it was up to the Socialists.

Dialogue, Együtt reactions

Opposition Dialogue co-chair Gergely Karácsony said Botka’s resignation was a loss but also an opportunity for the opposition to start talks concerning individual candidates. Dialogue still believes that it is possible to replace the governmet, he said, and is open to talks with all opposition parties in order to select just one opposition candidate for each of the 106 constituencies to compete against Fidesz, he added.

Opposition Együtt said it acknowledged Botka’s withdrawal but continued to have trust in cooperation with LMP, Momentum and Dialogue in order to ensure that a single candidate of the democratic opposition competes in every constituency.

Photo: MTI

BREAKING NEWS – EU court dismisses Hungary, Slovakia migrant case – UPDATE

hungary eu flag

The European Court of Justice today dismissed a case launched by Hungary and Slovakia challenging the legality of the EU’s migrant resettlement scheme.

“The court dismisses the actions brought by Slovakia and Hungary against the provisional mechanism for the mandatory relocation of asylum seekers,” the Luxembourg-based court said in a statement. “The mechanism actually contributes to enabling Greece and Italy to deal with the impact of the 2015 migration crisis and is proportionate.”

The Hungarian government turned to the Luxembourg-based court in December 2015 over the quota scheme, asking the ECJ to annul the European Council resolution on relocating 120,000 refugees to member states on a mandatory basis.

The scheme was approved by the EU interior ministers in a majority vote a few months before despite Hungary’s objection. Subsequently, Hungary advanced ten arguments, substantive and procedural, in favour of abolishing the quota system.

It argued that obligation for Hungary to receive 1,294 asylum-seekers from Italy and Greece should be annulled.

In July the court’s advocate general in charge proposed that the case should be dismissed, arguing that the two countries’ legal arguments were unfounded.

The decision was made by the court’s 15-member Grand Chamber with a simple majority of votes.

As we wrote on August, the Ministry of Justice’s Minister of State for European and International Judicial Cooperation declared at a press conference in Budapest: “The Government will not back down in the quota case and has also made this absolutely clear in its reply to the European Commission”.

UPDATE

Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, told a news conference that the ruling was “outrageous and irresponsible”. “The real battle is only just beginning,” he said, vowing that Hungary would exhaust every avenue of legal appeal in order to guarantee that “not a single person is resettled in Hungary against the will of the Hungarian people”.

Szijjártó insisted that the court had made a politically motivated decision that would compromise Europe’s future and its security. He said the ruling went against the interests of European nations and the interests of the Hungarian nation. “Politics has raped European law,” he said.

The minister said the ruling went against Europe’s basic treaty in “declaring” that the European Commission’s powers override those of EU member states. “This is unacceptable and everything will be done to ensure that the country is protected,” he added.

Szijjártó said it was high time to put the issue of mandatory resettlement quotas “behind us”. The scheme, he said, had proven to be a bad response to illegal migration, since only 25 percent of the designated number of migrants had been successfully relocated just ahead of the Sept. 26 deadline.

Photo: MTI

FIDESZ

Ruling Fidesz group leader Lajos Kósa said that the ruling “gives the green light for the European Commission to implement the Soros plan”. He insisted that under a scheme devised by billionaire George Soros the EU must accommodate one million immigrants a year. He added that Hungary was against any such plan because it would compromise Europe’s security and national interests.

Jobbik

Opposition Jobbik rejected the ECJ’s decision, calling it “outrageous”. No court or EU member state can force another nation to “alter its ethnic makeup” against its will, Jobbik spokesman Ádám Mirkóczki told a press conference. He said his party would re-submit to parliament a bill that would prohibit the settlement of all migrants in Hungary, regardless of whether they are rich of poor.

Socialists (MSZP)

The Socialist Party said Orban had lost the migrant quota case against the EU and would also lose next year’s general election because his “politics are built on lies which the people have had enough of”. In a statement, the party said Hungary’s position in the EU would “continue to weaken”, the costs of which would have to be borne by Hungarian families.

EPP

Manfred Weber, group leader of the European People’s Party, of which Hungary’s ruling Fidesz is a member, said in a statement that all EU members must observe and implement the European Court’s quota ruling. He suggested that the ruling may open up opportunities for engineering a common European migration policy that would “heal wounds” within the community. He said that all parties should be ready to make compromises, adding that “solidarity is not a one-way street”.

European Socialists and Democrats

Gianni Pittella, group leader of the European Socialists and Democrats, said Hungary and Slovakia should meet their obligations and start receiving the “couple hundred” asylum seekers they have been assigned, otherwise they would be fined. “Solidarity works in both directions,” he said, adding it was “shameful” that Orban had demanded further funds from the EU “to erect a pointless fence” while failing to meet obligations arising from Hungary’s EU membership.

LMP

A lawmaker of green opposition LMP said the constitution compels the Hungarian government to comply with the ECJ’s decision on the migrant resettlement scheme. Speaking at a press conference on a different subject, Márta Demeter called the government’s actions “hysterical”. Noting the government scheme to settle people in the country under the residency bond scheme which “allowed 20,000 people into the country and into the EU with virtually no vetting”, she said the government had no moral basis on which to criticise the court’s decision.

Liberals

The Liberals told a press conference that the ruling was a “thrashing” for the Hungarian government. the party’s foreign policy spokesman István Szent-Iványi said the government’s migration policy was wrong and had led to “senseless campaigns and a senseless referendum”. The infringement procedure on Hungary’s refusal to accept 1,294 asylum seekers allocated by the quota is likely to have a similar outcome, he said.

Democratic Coalition

The Democratic Coalition accused the government of deliberately going into the lawsuit knowing it would lose. The ruling would then give Prime Minister Viktor Orbán a pretext on which to announce Hungary’s withdrawal from the EU, the party’s spokesman, Zsolt Gréczy, insisted. He added that the government had mounted an anti-Brussels billboard campaign. Referring to US financier George Soros, he also insisted that Orbán would mount a new campaign claiming that the “whole of the EU is only a Soros organisation”.

Photo: MTI

Liberals call on Budapest mayor to sack transport company chief

The Liberal Party has called on István Tarlós, the mayor of Budapest, to sack the chief of the capital city’s transport authority (BKK), a party official said on Tuesday.

Viktor Szabadai, the party’s Budapest leader, told a press conference that the latest mishap to affect the aging Soviet-built metro 3 line, occurring at the Árpád Bridge station, showed that BKK chief Kálmán Daboczi was unfit for his post.

He called it “scandalous” that after a heavy rain on Saturday, the station was flooded and tracks were inundated up until Sunday morning’s opening of service.

Heavy rain leading to flooding of the track which incorporates a third rail to provide electric power “posed a danger, even if passengers were not allowed to enter the station at the time,” he said.

He demanded to know who was responsible for the weekend mishap, and referring to renovation work taking place at the station in question, requested information about which company was carrying out the work and whether it had also been assigned to other upgrade projects in Budapest. Szabadai also said he wanted to know whether it was true that BKK had indicated on several occasions that the company carrying out the renovation work was not doing a proper job and had sought damages.

A Hungarian micro-party calls for boycott on Jobbik

Daily News Hungary

The Liberal Party has called on Hungary’s “democratic” opposition not to cooperate with opposition Jobbik Party, which the Liberals see as “gravely anti-democratic and racist”.

Liberal executive Ádám Sermer told a press conference on Tuesday that Jobbik would not want to lose its far-right voters, and has helped establish the Power and Determination movement, a radical force close to Jobbik, to represent “racist, anti-Gypsy, anti-Semitic and anti-gay” ideals while relieving the party itself of “the serious burden of racism”.

Sermer called on voters “not to believe Jobbik’s communications”, which have veered to the centre in tone, and demanded that Jobbik admit that it “would not get rid of its skinheads because Jobbik is in need of their support”.

Sermer insisted that some opposition parties were “flirting” with Jobbik, but declined to name actual parties. He noted, however, that the Socialist Party had recently voiced readiness to enter into negotiations with all parties with the exception of former Socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany’s Democratic Coalition. “The fact that Jobbik is among parties with whom pre-election talks are a possibility, indicates that we have been very much blindfolded by Jobbik’s communication”, he argued.

Sermer was asked about recent remarks by Jobbik leader Gábor Vona, who said that Jobbik had “never been anti-Semitic or anti-Gypsy” but was ready to apologise for “ill-advised remarks” to the Roma and Jewish communities. Referring to Ásotthalom, a town in southern Hungary, whose notorious deputy mayor was delegated by Jobbik, Sermer said the municipality had passed “racist, anti-constitutional and stigmatising” decrees. “As long as Jobbik’s policies are racist and anti-democratic, violating European values, it won’t matter whom Vona apologises to”, Sermer said.

The Liberal party failed to reach the 1 percent mark, the latest poll released by the Tárki Research Institute on July showed. They said, ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance is the most popular, and Jobbik is the strongest opposition party.

Liberals call on city to name starting date of metro renovation

metro line 3 budapest

The mayor of Budapest has promised that work on renovating the city’s third metro line would start in September yet there are no signs if this happening, a Liberal politician said on Friday.

Viktor Szabadai, the party’s Budapest leader, called on the metropolitan council to state exactly when work would begin.

He told a press conference that the city currently did not have enough replacement buses or drivers for the line which serves more than half a million commuters, and he called on the council to clarify “where they intend to get the vehicles and drivers from”.

On June, Budapest transport company BKV has demanded that the manufacturer of trains for the third metro line, Metrovagonmas, pay a fine of 800 million forints (EUR 2.6m) for delivering reconditioned trains in an unacceptable condition.

The Liberal politician also complained that trains lacked air conditioning and not all stations would be wheelchair-accessible.

As we wrote this Tuesday, while Budapest is busy renovating Metro Line 3 and constructing the new 5-kilometre-long tramway, a new tram- and metro line is being built in Warsaw, two new metro lines in Bucharest and a 20-kilometre-long tramway in Prague.

Photo: Daily News Hungary

Opposition criticise Orbán for neglecting education, health care

Jobbik party Vona

The opposition parties criticised Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his failure to address the crucial issues of the nation in his parliamentary speech on Monday.

Jobbik

Opposition Jobbik accused the prime minister of neglecting health care and education. Party leader Gábor Vona said Orbán has made Hungary a European leader in terms of corruption. “Corruption is at the core of the government and businessman Lőrinc Mészáros is Orbán’s personal stooge,” he added.

Vona said Jobbik’s initiative for an EU wage union aims to help people succeed in their homeland. In order to achieve this, wages need to be increased, he said and asked Orbán why he would not support the initiative.

If Jobbik wins the election next year, the border fence will stay intact but there will also be a border guard force there to ensure that no migrants enter Hungary, regardless of whether they are poor or rich, Vona said, referring to the residency bonds scheme.

Socialists

mszp Tóth BertalanThe Socialists called for a fairer Hungary, a country which belongs to the “first circle” of the European Union rather than to the peripheries.

Group leader Bertalan Tóth said that the government’s “national consultation” survey failed to ask people’s opinion about such important issues as education, health care, emigration and whether they agree with high spending on stadiums. He said the Hungarian economy was growing thanks to European Union funds while only the rich get to enjoy the benefits of tax cuts and the operation of the state costs more than in the past.

LMP

The green LMP called on Orbán to resolve “everyday problems” and settle issues in education and health care. Group leader Bernadett Szél also urged Orbán to call a referendum on the Paks nuclear power plant upgrade project.

Instead of the national government that Orbán has promised, he is involved in a permanent national consultation, she added. Szel said a Russian code had run on the national consultation website and asked Orbán to reveal why “data showing the most personal opinions of Hungarian citizens” had been made available to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She criticised Orbán for accusing Brussels of siding with the terrorists and said Orbán should stop calling those people terrorists with whom he would sit together at meetings for heads of state and government. If Orban were brave enough, he would invite a referendum on Paks instead of holding national consultations, she added.

Liberals

The Hungarian Liberal Party called on the government to withdraw the bill on the transparency of foreign-funded NGOs, the party leader told a press briefing on Monday.

The government is conducting a “political witch hunt” against civil organisations, Gábor Fodor said. He initiated that parliament should approve a resolution, taking a stand for the independence of civil society.

Fodor insisted that state-run companies should not be allowed to finance NGOs without a proper tendering process. The operation of the National Cooperation Fund, a state fund overseen by the minister responsible for cooperation with civil organisations, should be reviewed, he said.

Hungarian liberals calls for parliament to confirm support for Rome Declaration

EU flag

Budapest, May 22 (MTI) – The opposition Hungarian Liberal Party calls for parliament to confirm that Hungary supports the European Union’s Rome Declaration which was signed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, party leader Gábor Fodor said on Monday.

Fodor said he had submitted to parliament a draft declaration which includes the Hungarian translation of the Rome Declaration and a request to the government to make every effort for implementing it.

The Liberals want to force the government to show its true colours in connection with the European Union, he said. They believe the government speaks differently about Europe in Hungary and abroad, Fodor added.

He called on the government to clearly state whether it is dedicated to the principles of the European Union. If the lawmakers of the ruling party do not support the resolution, it should be made clear “that what they communicate abroad is a lie”, he added.

Opposition parties insist Hungary’s residency bonds were open to abuse

Budapest, May 2 (MTI) – After a meeting on Tuesday of a shadow committee examining Hungary’s residency bond scheme, opposition politicians said the scheme had been open to abuse and had presented the opportunity to launder money.

Under the scheme launched in 2013, applications for residence were fast-tracked for foreign nationals who bought securities backed by the bonds with a face value of 300,000 euros.

In January this year the Government Debt Management Agency (AKK) announced new bonds would no longer be issued, citing favourable developments in the country’s financing conditions. Applications for the purchase of residency bonds were open until March 31.

György Lukács László of the Jobbik party told a news conference that the committee had concluded the legal construction of the bonds had been so complex as to be open to abuse. He said the mechanism for money transfers should be investigated in light of the opportunity to launder money and finance terrorism.

Márta Demeter, an independent lawmaker, told journalists after the meeting it was scandalous that lawmakers had been gifted the power to decide on the bonds.

Ádám Sermer, head of the youth arm of the Liberal party, said the payment procedure had been such that no actual transaction had needed to take place. After paying a brokerage fee, the money for the 300,000 euro fee “did not move at all”, he said.

AKK figures from December 31, 2016 show that residency bonds with a total face value of 1.239 billion euros were sold up to that point.

Liberals call for EU flag to be displayed on Parliament

EU flag

Budapest (MTI) – The leader of the Hungarian Liberal Party on Monday called for the European Union flag to be displayed on the facade of Parliament to mark the anniversary of the founding of the community.

Events will be held in several European cities on March 25 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome that laid the foundations for today’s EU, Gábor Fodor said.

“It’s a shame that Budapest is not a part of that,” he told a press conference.

Meanwhile, referring to the controversy surrounding Heineken, whose logo features a five-pointed red star, Fodor criticised the bill submitted by governing lawmakers on banning the use of totalitarian symbols for commercial purposes. He called the government’s “attack” against the company over its logo “petty” and “asinine”, noting that the company employed 500 people and is a strategic partner of the Hungarian government.

March 15 – Dialogue and Liberals commemoration in Budapest

Budapest, March 15 (MTI) – Freedom without equality remains but a compromise between elites, a co-leader of the opposition Dialogue party told a commemoration of the 1848-49 revolution and freedom fight on Wednesday. Gabor Fodor, the leader of the Hungarian Liberal Party, said the hope of a modern liberal Hungary is still alive, that is the hope that the Hungarian people will again be able to attain its freedom and win against an oppressive power.

Dialogue calls for equality

Referring to the ideas of revolutionary 19th-century writer Mihály Táncsics, Gergely Karácsony said that “tyranny can only be overcome if people are freed from the yokes of poverty and ignorance.”

It is poverty and ignorance, a kind of 21st-century serfdom depriving the poor of access to schooling, that keeps Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s regime in power, he said.

Karácsony stressed the need to establish a fourth republic in which “freedom and equality go hand in hand and strengthen one another.”

Fodor: Hope of liberal Hungary still alive

Speaking at his party’s March 15 commemoration near the Pilvax Cafe, a historic scene of the revolution, on Wednesday, Fodor said “those who gathered here in 1848 had far less chance of winning against the Habsburg empire than us,” adding that the “democratic parties” have a chance to win if their desire to regain freedom is greater than their will to exclude each other from the political scene.

Photo: MTI

Presidential election 2017 – Hungarian parties react to Áder’s re-election

Budapest, March 13 (MTI) – Hungary’s political parties expressed mixed views of parliament’s re-election of János Áder for another five-year term as president of the republic on Monday.

Christian Democrats

The co-ruling Christian Democrats said Áder’s record as president guaranteed that he would continue to prioritise bettering the lives of Hungarians and protecting the environment while in office. The party said it was counting on Áder’s help in meeting “the numerous unexpected and unpredictable challenges we meet each day”, and urged the president to “have his voice heard” and safeguard the rule of law in Hungary.

Jobbik

Opposition Jobbik said neither of the two candidates was fit to serve as president. János Volner, the party’s parliamentary group leader, explained that the reason why his group stayed away from the vote was that they prefer that the president of the republic be elected directly by the public. Volner said neither Áder nor Majtényi was able to represent the unity of the nation, arguing that both were committed to a given set of political views as opposed to being above political parties. He branded the vote a “facade” the result of which he said was a foregone conclusion.

 

LMP

Opposition LMP said there had been nothing tangible “to react to” either in Áder’s activities as president over his past term or in the content of his parliamentary speech. Co-leader Ákos Hadházy told a press conference that Majtényi’s address indicated to him that someone serving in the post of president does have a room for manoeuvre allowing him to initiate a legislation or even a referendum. If national unity and environment protection would be really important for Áder, he should have been the first to initiate a referendum on the Paks upgrade project, he said.

Liberals

Liberal leader Gabor Fodor said he expected Ader to act as a more ardent advocate of freedom rights and the rule of law than he was during his previous term. He congratulated Ader on his party’s behalf but called on the newly elected president to be more vocal concerning the Paks upgrade project, violations of the freedom of the press, poverty and the “hate campaign” against migrants. Fodor said his party was “proud” of Majtenyi, who clearly represented the principles championed by the liberals themselves.

Dialogue

The opposition Dialogue party called Majtenyi the “moral winner” of Monday’s election, a candidate who had shouldered the task of representing values of the republic amid a “hate campaign” waged against him. He was a candidate who continued to speak for eradicating graft, maintaining democracy and preserving the nation’s unity, while also being an advocate for eliminating poverty and social inequality, Dialogue said in a statement. The party’s two leaders criticised the newly elected president for his failure to address in his speech the current “shattered” state of democracy, deepening poverty and spreading corruption. Nor did he speak of the “nefarious laws forced through parliament by the governing parties” he had signed without a wink, such as the classification as state secret of the Paks upgrade project and further moves to “squash” the election system, it said.

FIDESZ

Speaking after the parliamentary vote which re-elected Áder for another five-year term, Kósa insisted that the ruling parties’ candidate had based his address on “examples of national unity”, including Hungarian-Serbian reconciliation, while Majtényi “who called for avoiding divisions, addressed all but supporters of the government.”

Although Majtényi spoke about a lack of freedom of expression, he could address parliament as an opposition candidate and his speech was broadcast live by public television, Kósa said.

Áder was re-elected as president of the republic earlier today with 131 votes while Majtényi was backed by 39 lawmakers.

Photo: MTI

Liberals call on Orbán to provide partial access to communist informer files

Budapest (MTI) – Files on secret service informants of Hungary’s communist era should be opened up, at the very least to the targets of informants without the redaction of names, the Liberal Party leader told a press conference on Monday.

Gábor Fodor said that while Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “essentially blames Western Europe” for the crimes of communism, “he is doing everything he can to restrict freedoms” in his own country.

The issue of the secret files has long “poisoned” the atmosphere in Hungary, Fodor said, adding that the right-wing governments have not gone to any great effort to resolve them.