LMP

Here is the third-way alternative in Hungarian politics

LMP Hungarian Green Party (Copy)

LMP will offer a “third-way alternative” in Hungarian politics, one that is markedly different from the policies of either the government or the other opposition parties, the deputy leader of the party said ahead of the opening of parliament’s autumn session on Monday.

At a press conference, Máté Kanász-Nagy criticised the other opposition parties for having been unable to depart from a policy of “homogenisation” which he called one of the main reasons for the left wing’s defeat in the 2022 general election. “Those parties have not been representing issues ever since, but have mostly shaken their fists and spoken in derogatory terms.”

LMP will instead be a “real advocate of issues” and will offer “rational thinking instead of hysteria, understanding instead of hatred, and a moderate tone in politics”, the deputy group leader said.

“We will take our proposals to the House and will represent the interests of Hungarians, even if the Fidesz-led government majority will not support any of those proposals,” said Kanász-Nagy.

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Among LMP’s proposals, he noted strengthening the system of environment protection institutions, representing social workers and civil servants and preventing the spread of battery plants. The party will also propose introducing a progressive tax regime and increasing the corporate tax for large companies, he said.

Opposition party wants Hungarian minister to resign

battery plant Debrecen hungary

Opposition party LMP is calling on Energy Minister Csaba Lantos to resign as according to them a government decree that came into effect on Friday favours polluting and environmentally destructive companies.

László Lóránt Keresztes, a member of LMP and the chairman of parliament’s sustainable development committee, said on Sunday that citing the wartime emergency, the government put into effect a decree that allows “polluting and environmentally destructive companies to avoid fines, and which makes it impossible to close plants in the event of serious environmental pollution”.

Keresztes said LMP has already announced that they will turn to the Constitutional Court of Hungary because of the “destruction” of the environmental protection institutional system.

Keresztes said the situation would not be solved even if, keeping to its promises, the government revokes the decree as “the licensing procedure for dangerous industrial plants and battery factories is chaotic”.

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He noted that “in several cases, the government allows waiving the strictest environmental protection licensing procedures” and the scandals surrounding the licensing procedures of polluting plants are still ongoing.

Keresztes said it must be made clear that “it is a complete surrender of sovereignty when the government sacrifices and puts up for sale Hungary’s natural treasures for the benefit of foreign manufacturers and investors”.

Opposition party claims Budapest is not prosecuting drivers

Budapest car traffic parking fees

Budapest has never been a city that is “prosecuting” drivers, with a great part of public spaces reserved for car infrastructure, a opposition LMP lawmaker said on Friday, marking World Car Free Day.

Bernadett Bakos said that despite only 30-40 percent of residents used cars in the city, cars occupied some 80 percent of public spaces. She added that the problem was that the number of cars increased by 1 million in Hungary, including by 300,000 in Budapest, in the past ten years.

The real solution to traffic jams would be reducing the number of cars instead of making developments for car users, she said.

Alternative means of transport, such as community and bicycle transport must be developed, Bakos said. It would be most important to return public spaces to pedestrians and enable a safe and healthy environment for them above ground in the centre of the city, she added.

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This Hungarian party promises honesty during next campaign

Hungarian green party honesty

Opposition LMP will represent an “honest attitude” in the upcoming European Parliament election campaign, the green party’s deputy group leader, Máté Kanász-Nagy, said on Monday.

Kanász-Nagy told a press conference that his party was best positioned to promote a “fair green transition” in Europe. He said parties campaigning in the context of the EP elections on a platform of low inflation and higher wages were being deceitful because “the European Parliament has no powers” to shape those areas.

Kanász-Nagy said Hungary’s alliances should be the focus of the election campaign, and he blamed the government for “dismantling ties with its natural allies in the region just to meet the expectations of the Russian president”. “We must put an end to the era of expecting cheap fossil fuels from the East to undergird European competitiveness,” he said. Meanwhile, he said LMP’s campaign was targeted against government efforts to “make Hungary into a battery-plant colony” adding that efforts to turn the country into “a waste dump for the East or the West” must be countered.

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Brother of PM Orbán’s summer holiday host to lead opposition party’s EP list

Péter Ungár EP list

Opposition party LMP co-leader Péter Ungár was chosen at the green party’s conference on Saturday to lead the party’s list in the 2024 European Parliament election.

In his acceptance speech, Ungár promised voters to focus on substantive issues and try to foster a calm and peaceful society. Ungár said other political parties merely offered “more hate”, while LMP sought to present an alternative to those who believed that “capital ranks above people” and “everything is for sale”.

Ungár said he had headed the party’s EP list since he was currently recognised as the LMP’s most suitable politician, but he did not intend to take his seat as an MEP. Erzsébet Schmuck is second on LMP’s EP election list, followed by Örs Tetlák, Máté Kanász-Nagy, Krisztina Hohn, János Kendernay and Gábor Hanák.

We wrote HERE about the latest Ungár-scandal: PM Orbán spent his Croatia holiday in the estate of Anna Ungár, Péter Ungár’s sister. Their mother, Mária Schmidt, the director of the House of Terror in Budapest and one of the ideologists of the Orbán regime, said their families have been spending time with each other for decades. In 2013, for example, Péter and Schmidt took part in the wedding of Orbán’s eldest daughter, Ráchel. Do not forget to check out the VIDEO in the article!

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  • Green party: only a government change can save Lake FertÅ‘

PM Viktor Orbán on holiday with opposition politician in Croatia — VIDEO

Orbán plan EU funds

Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, was on holiday in Croatia, and the interesting thing is that he was hosted by the sister of an opposition politician.

A video shows Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán emerging from the Croatian sea and entering a villa.

The exact location was found on the basis of a video taken in Abbazia. The villa is owned by the sister of LMP co-chairman Péter Ungár.

“Our research in the Croatian property registry yielded perplexing results, as the database shows that the villa in question, nearly 350 square metres in size, is the exclusive property of the sister of Péter Ungár, the co-chairman of the LMP parliamentary group. The identity of the name is ruled out, as the address of Péter Ungár’s sister in the Croatian property register (in Hungary) is the same as the address in the Hungarian company register,” Gulyáságyú Média writes.

Reactions

The Hungarian prime minister’s press secretary did not react to the events, rtl.hu writes.

“One of the aspects of Hungarian politics that has been discussed in some detail is the close relationship between my mother and the prime minister, who visits my mother’s house in Budapest relatively often,” said Péter Ungár, who admitted that the villa does belong to his sister. However, he added that he has no say over who she hosts there.

Ungár’s sister declined to comment on the case.

Hungarian opposition says slash use of farm chemicals

agriculture tractor agricultural policy

Opposition LMP has called for the use of agricultural chemicals to be slashed, and it will resubmit its bill on phasing out the pesticide glyphosate.

The European Union is considering what to do about the potentially carcinogenic chemical and will make a decision in October, László Lóránt Keresztes, the chairman of parliament’s sustainable development committee, told a press conference on Tuesday.

He called on the government to consider prohibiting the chemical’s use nationwide, and LMP has also turned to several ministers with a request that they review a study carried out by the European Greens and the European Plant Protection Action Network (PAN Europe) showing the large presence of glyphosate in European natural waters.

Glyphosate poses a risk to the environment, damaging aquatic organisms in current concentrations, according to the study.

Opposition party slams plans of battery plant in Hungarian village

Battery plant Hungary

Opposition LMP is initiating that the local mayor call a referendum to ask residents in Alsózsolca, in northern Hungary, about the planned battery recycling plant by a Slovene investor, Erzsébet Schmuck, the party’s co-leader, said on Sunday.

The Hungarian foreign minister announced last week that Slovenia’s Andrada Group would build a battery recycling plant using “the world’s latest technology” in the town. He said that new plant would ensure that “electric batteries will be produced in Hungary without any impact on the environment … with the recycling of batteries also ensured.”

Schmuck told an online press conference that in Hungary “none of the localities can feel safe because of the government’s forging ahead with its large-scale plan of becoming a leading power in battery production”. She criticised the government for having neglected the opinion of local residents which she said should have been asked under an international treaty on the right of citizens to learn in advance about projects affecting their life and environment.

Péter Révész, the party’s local councillor, told the same press conference that the licensing process of battery plants was non-transparent with “the interests of investors overriding environmental protection requirements”. Károly Tibor Angyal, secretary of the party’s national board, insisted that the battery plant investments were a “campaign of bluff” on the part of ruling Fidesz. He said such plants were being set up in places that were already dealing with labour shortages. “New positions [at these plants] are getting filled with foreign guest workers for much lower wages which will ultimately push Hungarian wages down,” he said.

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Hungarian national bank asked to publish list of owners of private funds

national bank of Hungary -mnb nbh

The opposition LMP is submitting a draft proposal to parliament seeking to make private funds a matter of public record, the party’s spokesperson told a press conference on Sunday.

Anna Süveg of LMP called on the National Bank of Hungary to publish the data of the owners of private capital funds in the meantime for the sake of transparency in the case of “these offshore-like companies”.

The NBH has a legal obligation check that financial institutions and their owners are not engaged in money laundering or terrorism, she said. Such data, including the provenance of assets, are in the public interest, given the likely involvement of public funds, she added.

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Accidents, illnesses in battery plants in Hungary: new law comes?

Battery plant Hungary

The opposition LMP is submitting a proposal to parliament on tightening regulations on the permissions, controls and sanctions regarding battery plants.

Deputy group head Máté Kanász-Nagy told a press conference on Friday that the media lately abounded with reports of problems in battery plants including irregularities, environmental pollution and accidents. Authorities have found 40 instances of grave irregularities in the Samsung factory in God, in central Hungary, alone, he said.

LMP is submitting a draft proposal to parliament early next week, calling for stricter regulations on issuing permits for battery plants, and for strengthening authorities’ independence and resources to boost more effective controls, he said.

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Multiple accidents, sicknesses

Napi.hu wrote that in June, multiple workers became sick in the SK On Hungary Ltd’s battery manufacturing plant in Iváncsa. The reason was that the factory worked with toxic and carcinogenic materials. However, they forgot to report that to the state authorities. In their Komárom plant, 12 workers were taken to the hospital. In a reply to a Hungarian MP, they said they use NCM powder (nickel-cobalt-manganium-lythium-oxide) and electrolyte, both toxic and carcinogenic. Photo of the Iváncsa plant:

Meanwhile, Forbes wrote that the Nográd County Government Office suspended the activity of a battery processing plant in Bátonyterenye. The factory in South Korean ownership continuously broke operation and waste management rules.

Orbán does not allow disclosure of the former Hungarian communist state agents

LMP is on Wednesday submitting a bill on seeking to disclose files on communist-era state security apparatus “for the 28th time”.

The opposition party’s lawmaker László Lóránt Keresztes spoke to the press on the occasion of European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Totalitarian Dictatorships. “Dictatorship’s secrets can’t be the bedrock of a democracy,” he said, adding that LMP had brought the bill, which sought to reveal how “state security turned their political power into economic power”, multiple times before MPs since 2014.

The ruling Fidesz-led parliamentary majority stymied the attempt 27 times, he added. He insisted that “every government” in office since the change in political system bore “a heavy responsibility for all of this”.

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Hungary’s climate law weak?

Hungarian parliament

Opposition LMP has urged the Constitutional Court to rule on the climate law dating back to an appeal against legislation the party made two years ago in an effort to oblige the government to come up with a stricter law.

The law violates people’s constitutional right to a healthy environment by setting weaker targets than European Union regulations, the green party’s co-leader, Erzsébet Schmuck, told a press conference on Wednesday. More ambitious targets are needed when it comes to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, she added. In the meantime, climate change has speeded up, resulting in droughts, flash floods and heat waves in the country, she said.

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Hungary will become a battery colony?

Battery plant Hungary

The green party LMP has vowed to do everything legally possible to “prevent Hungary from becoming a battery-plant colony”.

Máté Kanász-Nagy, the party’s deputy parliamentary group leader, told a press conference on Tuesday that the government had been “unwilling” to publicly reveal plans to build a battery plant in Nyiregyhaza, in north-eastern Hungary.

LMP has written to the minister of foreign affairs and trade with a request for details of the investment such as the plant’s water and energy needs, whether the plant would have an impact on farmland, and how much direct state support the investor would receive.

Further, the party wanted to know whether any preliminary environmental impact assessments had been carried out and whether the city’s administration had been involved in the planning, he said. LMP received a three-paragraph reply to the dozens of questions contained in the letter which amounted to a “cynical confession”, he added.

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Hungarian green party wants transparency of private equity fund owners

The opposition LMP has launched an online signature drive aimed at introducing new legislation on keeping a public record of the names of the owners of private equity funds.

LMP spokesman József Gál told a press conference on Monday that the tax and customs authority NAV had “deleted their names from its database” earlier this year, adding that “nobody has taken responsibility” for the erasure of information that used to be in the public domain.

“The government wants to make the real owners invisible in an effort to protect the government-linked, money-laundering elite,” he insisted.

Opposition party would support small enterprises and young entrepreneurs – UPDATED

Hungarian economy GDP

A party leader of opposition LMP urged the launch of a new business Start programme to benefit small enterprises and young entrepreneurs on Saturday, International Youth Day.

Örs Tetlák, who sits on LMP’s board, said national employment nonprofit OFA’s Business Start II programme was “drowned in scandal” when the registration site crashed because of strong interest on August 1. He noted that the programme had offered businesses 4.5 million forints (EUR 11,700) from a 6 billion forint allocation.

Tetlák said businesses should be allowed to apply for 9 million forints, while the amount earmarked for the programme should be raised to 120 billion forints. The modifications could create 13,000 jobs, he added.

Tetlák said just as many jobs could be created with one-tenth of the tax revenue the government spends on battery plants, pointing to 1,200 billion forints in subsidies for foreign-owned battery manufacturers the government has awarded so far. A “healthy and well-functioning” economy should be built on local small businesses, not multinationals that repatriate their profits while paying “laughably low” taxes, he added.

LMP urges railway upgrades instead of line closures

Opposition LMP advocates railway upgrades and renovation instead of shutting down lines, party MP Bernadett Bakos said at a press conference on Sunday. Bakos said the government had shut down ten spur lines from August and was weighing the closure of a further seven, while replacing passenger rail service with buses that were “much less comfortable and use far more energy”.

She suggested a shortage of rolling stock could be remedied, for a ten-year transitional period, with the purchase of used diesels for 20 billion forints (EUR 52m). Bakos pointed to “hundreds of billions of forints” of support for battery factories even though electric vehicles “won’t solve transportation problems” and said the government was sending a message to youth to drive, rather than take the train, by subsidising drivers education.

Government policies have “forced” people to rely on cars, raising the number of vehicles on Hungarian roads by a million over ten years, putting a big burden on the environment, she said. Everywhere else in Europe, spur lines are being renovated, as railways are the “foundation of green transportation policy”, she added.

Opposition: Hungarian home care subsidy at an unacceptable level

Elderly Old Lady

Opposition LMP has decided to re-submit a proposal initiating that the allowance for people taking care of sick family members at home should be raised to the level of the minimum wage, a party spokesman told a press conference on Monday.

József Gál of LMP pointed to Hungary’s ageing society and insufficient places in seniors’ care homes, and said there was a growing need for family members to take care of the elderly and sick at home. “However, the government is reluctant to raise the current monthly allowance of HUF 68,500 (EUR 176) to an acceptable level,” he said. Gál added the ruling parties had “invariably swept the bill off the table” several times before.

Chinese communists infected PM Orbán’s phone?

Viktor Orbán speech selfie

Opposition LMP has called on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to end his communication activities on TikTok because it poses data protection and cybersecurity risks, the deputy leader of the party’s parliamentary group said on Saturday.

It would be reassuring if the prime minister did not use TikTok on his official devices, Máté Kanász-Nagy told an online press conference, adding that the ownership structure of the application is closely linked to the Chinese state and the Chinese Communist party.

Kanász-Nagy said TikTok has access to calendar entries, contact lists as well as GPS data, meaning that sensitive personal and government data can be accessed by unauthorised persons. LMP has submitted a bill that would ban the use of TikTok on official devices used for work in the state and municipal sectors, Kanasz-Nagy said, adding that several countries have made similar decisions recently.

Viktor Orbán is very popular on TikTok. Currently, he has more than 80 thousand followers on the app. His most popular video, a conversation with Transylvanian young Hungarians, already has more than 1.2 million viewers, napi.hu wrote. Orbán appeared on TikTok last December with a video about migration and war.

Forests intentionally destroyed in Hungary?

Forestry

The opposition LMP has called on the government to scrap a decree allowing for “economic destruction of forests”, passed a year ago and aimed at ensuring firewood supplies.

LMP spokesperson Anna Süveg told a press conference on Friday that “Hungary’s forests are still endangered” due to the “amateurish” government decree “passed in a rush, in a fright of the energy crisis.”

“Winter is drawing near and forests are threatened again by destruction,” she said, adding that “producing marketable firewood or financing showcase investments come before leaving forests unviolated”. Süveg said her party would re-submit a relevant draft in September, noting that the proposal had once been voted down by parliament’s Fidesz-led majority.