LMP

Is this the Hungarian reality? Fidesz would win 3/4 party majority in election

Orbán and Giorgia Meloni Italy Hungary

The ruling alliance of Fidesz and the Christian Democrats would win a 3/4 majority in parliament if elections were held this Sunday, according to a fresh poll by the pro-government Nézőpont Institute.

Among decided voters, Fidesz-KDNP’s list would capture 51 percent of the vote in a general election, Nézőpont said in statement, noting that the poll’s margin of error meant this could be considered identical to the 52 percent won by the ruling parties in 2022.

A united opposition would receive 26 percent of the vote, 10 percent less than in 2022, Nézőpont said.

The radical opposition Mi Hazánk would garner 12 percent of the vote, doubling its share from 2022. The satirical Two-Tailed Dog Party would receive 8 percent, clearing the 5 percent threshold to enter parliament.

Fidesz-KDNP’s votes would translate into 148 seats in Hungary’s 199-seat parliament, up from the current 135.

The left-wing opposition (DK, Jobbik, Momentum, LMP, MSZP) would have 30 seats, 27 less than their current 57. Meanwhile, Mi Hazánk would double its number of MPs with 12 seats, making it the largest opposition group.

The Two-Tailed Dog Party would have 8 seats.

Nézőpont’s phone poll was carried out between March 27 and 29 with a sample of 1,000 adults.

We already published a poll by IDEA, details HERE.

Hungarian green party slams the government

Máté Kanász-Nagy

Fossil fuels must be phased out, the deputy group leader of opposition LMP said on Thursday, slamming the government’s decision to vote against a European Union proposal to curb gas consumption by 15 percent.

The government insists on an economic policy that ruins the environment, Máté Kanász-Nagy told a press conference.

At a time when 90 percent of the gas consumed comes from imports, the government is planning to build gas-fuelled plants to provide electricity for battery plants, Kanász-Nagy said. The imports would probably come from Russia, he added.

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Instead, Kanász-Nagy called for an insulation programme for residential buildings and support for sustainable energy sources.

Hungary and Poland voted against a proposal of the European Commission to extend earlier legislation cutting the use of natural gas by 15 percent on Tuesday. At the time, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó warned that artificially curbing industrial consumption raised the risk of economic regression, and accused the EC of curbing member states’ competencies on energy issues.

Fidesz would win by an even greater percentage now than a year ago

Hungary Kossuth Square parliament 2023

Fidesz would win an even bigger victory than it did a year ago with the same support (52 percent) if parliamentary elections were held on Sunday, as the combined opposition (30 percent) would perform even worse, according to the results of a survey by think tank Társadalomkutató, sent to MTI on Thursday.

The survey, conducted between March 27 and 29 by interviewing 1,000 people by phone, shows that, one year on, the governing parties still enjoy the support of every other voter and would be able to repeat their victory in the 2022 election.

Support for the opposition parties of the former left-wing alliance, which won 36 percent of domestic votes in 2022, has dwindled further, to 30 percent in the survey, the analysts added.

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The parties of the alliance show a mixed picture: strongest among them is the Democratic Coalition, with 12 percent of voter support, followed by Momentum with 6 percent and Jobbik with 4 percent. They are followed by LMP with 3 percent, the Socialist Party with 2 percent and Párbeszéd with 1 percent, all falling short of the support necessary for entering parliament. Péter Márky-Zay’s Everybody’s Hungary People’s Party, which has officially become a political party since the 2022 election, only enjoyed the support of 2 percent of those interviewed in the survey.

Voters who left the former left-wing alliance presumably back other parties now: the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party, with its current support of 10 percent, would clearly cross the threshold for parliamentary entry.

The radical right-wing Mi Hazánk party has further improved its 6 percent election result; if elections were held on Sunday, 8 percent of voters would back them, according to the survey.

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New poll shows how the Hungarian governing party and the opposition stand

Hungary Kossuth Square parliament 2023

Public support for ruling Fidesz among voting age adults has not changed and stands at 29 percent, according to a survey conducted by the IDEA institute in early March, the weekly 168 ora reported on Monday.

Support for Fidesz among people with clear-cut party preferences was gauged at 48 percent, the report said, adding that

“Fidesz’s dominant position is not endangered by any of the opposition parties”.

Concerning the opposition, the pollster said that if the general elections were held now, the Democratic Coalition (DK) would garner 12 percent of the votes, Mi Hazánk 6 percent, and Momentum 5 percent, clearing the parliamentary threshold.

All other parliamentary parties — LMP, Jobbik, the Socialist Party, and Párbeszád — would garner one percent each, and the satyrical non-parliamentary Two-tailed Dog four percent, and would not make it to parliament.

The ratio of voters without a party preference was gauged at 38 percent, 2 percentage points higher than earlier.

The survey was conducted on Facebook between March 25 and February 16 on a representative sample.

 

Government confiscated farmland from Győr to build a battery plant?

Battery plant Hungary

A government decision reclassifying the utilisation of an area of 400 hectares will take away all farmland around the city of Győr, in north-west Hungary, paving the way for the construction of a battery plant, a spokesperson of opposition LMP said on Friday.

Anna Süveg told a press conference that her party was protesting against the decision together with locals. She said that hundreds of lorries would be crossing an area next to the Győrszentiván district of the city every day instead of its current use of growing plants. The new regulations would allow the establishment of an industrial area with considerable noise and odour pollution, as well as the risk of fire, explosions and contamination hazards, she added.

The party is organising a protest with local civilians in front of the city hall on Monday, she said. Locals have already expressed dissatisfaction at various forums because the hazardous investment project was planned to be carried out without any consultations with them, she added. Süveg said the plant is likely to operate 24/7 with machinery generating noise even during holidays.

battery plants
Read alsoNo more battery factories to be installed in Hungary? National referendum initiative submitted

LMP proposes reinforced child protection services

Daily News Hungary Logo Új

The opposition LMP party is proposing a payrise for staff in child-care institutions as well as increased per capita funding for those facilities, deputy group leader Máté Kanász-Nagy told a press conference on Monday.

“Reinforcing the welfare and child-care systems will do more towards the protection of children than propaganda,” he said.

LMP advocates Hungary’s earlier child protection law adopted in 1997, because “that serves to protect children rather than the government’s propaganda legislation,” said Kanász-Nagy.

He also called for reinforcing signal mechanisms in child protection, adding that “it applies to not only institutions but to all of us”.

The party will submit to parliament a draft decree on their proposals, the deputy group leader said.

Latest poll: only four opposition parties above the parliamentary threshold

orbán

The ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat parties have maintained solid lead ahead of the opposition parties with support of 52 percent, a recent poll conducted by pro-government Nézőpont Institute and released on Monday showed.

Among the opposition parties, the Democratic Coalition (DK) remained the strongest, supported by 12 percent, and can be seen “as a winner” since last April’s general election, according to the poll published in daily Magyar Nemzet.

The radical Mi Hazánk party, which entered parliament last year, has significantly increased its voter base to 9 percent.

Support for the satirical Two-Tailed Dog party has gun up three-fold, to also 9 percent, Nézőpont said.

The pollster said Momentum would just make it into parliament by clearing the five-percent threshold.

Among the other opposition parties, neither Jobbik, nor the Socialists, LMP or Párbeszéd would receive enough votes to enter parliament if the election was held on Sunday, said the poll.

As we wrote on Saturday, opposition Jobbik Movement for a Better Hungary has changed its name, details HERE.

viktor orbán pm
Read also Opposition parties: Orbán is liar, Putinist hangman, traitor, etc

An explosion has shaken a Hungarian county

Heves County

A mine explosion shook Heves county over the weekend and people living in Recsk made complaints that they were not warned in advance. Some residents were so scared that they fled their homes in panic. 

An explosion shook Heves county 

Residents of the villages of Heves County experienced two explosions over the weekend. This was not the first time that detonations were detected by local residents, writes Index. On 7 February, the residents of Heves county heard explosion-like sounds. The Kövesligethy Radó Seismological Observatory also indicated at the time that they had detected phenomena similar to an earthquake, which they believed could have been caused by an explosion.

Later, local disaster management was also asked whether they were aware of any kind of explosion, but they gave a negative reply. The National Guard was also contacted after the incident. They admitted that their machines were in operation on Tuesday, and this could have caused a sonic boom, but they considered it unlikely that all of this could have been detected by the measuring instruments of the seismological observatory, as well as by the locals.

It turned out to be a mine explosion

Since then, there were two more explosions on Friday in Heves County. As it turned out, explosions were carried out in one of the mines that was being reopened. However, as residents were not informed about the situation, some of them were so scared that they fled their homes in panic. LMP posted a Facebook video about the worried residents who explained they had no idea about the cause of the explosion.

“I was half-asleep when I noticed that my bed started shaking. The glasses kept clinking to one another in the cupboard. Finally, we ran out into the street”, said a local woman.”We should have received information about the explosion. At the last meeting, the contractor said that at the time of the first explosion, he would be present and we would get through it together. We have not received any information on the date though,” said a local resident. They also added that they would like the mayor to take action regarding the matter.

The opening of the mine divides the locals

A company based in Debrecen started mining activities in Recsk and locals are divided on the matter, reports heol.hu. However, it does not seem likely that an explosion would have occurred in Recsk on Tuesday, as the detonations were then reported from the other, southeastern part of Heves county.

Green opposition launches petition against new battery plants in Hungary

lmp battery plant

Opposition LMP has launched a nationwide petition to “make sure that battery plants cannot be constructed without the consent of the people,” party co-leader Erzsébet Schmuck said on Monday.

LMP has already launched a national referendum drive, currently pending approval of the National Election Committee, Schmuck told a press conference at Budapest’s Nyugati Square, one of the sites where the party is collecting signatures.

The government “has been long hatching plans” to turn Hungary into a “bridge” between western car manufacturers and eastern battery producers, she said. By 2020, Hungary was second in the European Union in battery production, and all production phases save raw material production are present in the country today, she said.

Schmuck insisted that eastern foreign battery producers were drawn to the country by the “dismantled environmental protection system” and the market advantages of having plants in an EU member state. Hungarian workforce is cheap, and “it looks like there is always enough farmland available”, she said. The 200 hectare industrial park in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, the site of a planned plant of Chinese manufacturer CATL, was built on high quality farmland, she added.

Máté Kanász-Nagy, LMP’s deputy group leader, said the party has initiated a meeting of parliament’s sustainable development committee. He said he hoped that Energy Minister Csaba Lantos and Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, would attend the meeting on Tuesday.

iváncsa battery factory sk
Read alsoHungarian green party calls for a referendum on the establishment of battery factories

Hungarian green party calls for a referendum on the establishment of battery factories

iváncsa battery factory sk

A battery plant near Komárom, in northern Hungary, might be endangering citizens’ health as the cumulative effect of the plant’s multiple units on the environment has not been tested, opposition LMP warned on Thursday, after a public hearing at city hall.

Party spokesman József Gál told a press conference that the drinking water supply of the city would not be able to cover the needs of the plants. The use of water from springwater wells around nearby Tata are already depleting karst water in the area, he said.

Humidity in the air around the plants might concentrate pollution there, he added.

Gál slammed the Fidesz mayor of Komárom, Attila Molnár, for not answering questions on the battery plant.

LMP has initiated a referendum to make new battery plants conditional on residents’ consent, he noted.

At the public hearing, which was originally on the city budget, Molnár called the dispute on the plant expansion “political profiteering”.

battery plants
Read alsoNo more battery factories to be installed in Hungary? National referendum initiative submitted

No more battery factories to be installed in Hungary? National referendum initiative submitted

battery plants

Opposition LMP has initiated a referendum to make setting up battery plants conditional on local citizens’ consent.

László Lóránt Keresztes, the head of parliament’s sustainable development committee, held a press conference after submitting the necessary documents at the National Election Office.

Protecting natural treasures and promoting national economic independence are key at a time of crises, he said.

The government’s decision to “turn Hungary into a battery manufacturing power” through political decisions goes contrary to those goals, he said. Battery manufacturing is also water and energy-consuming at a time when those resources are in short supply in the country, he said.

Keresztes insisted the government was not handling the environmental issues the battery plants have presented, and “took foreign investors’ side” without gauging locals’ views on the matter.

As we wrote earlier, a public hearing in Debrecen was disturbed by the booing and yelling of the residents of the Eastern Hungarian city. Representatives of the Chinese CATL battery manufacturer and the mayor of Debrecen attended the event to present a 7.4bn EUR investment to the locals, details HERE.

Battery manufacturing car China NIO
Read alsoHungarians may say ‘NO’ on gigantic Chinese investment on referendum?

Hungarian green party turns to ombudsman over mine regulations

Tetlák Örs LMP

The opposition LMP party is turning to the ombudsman over a government decree which they say paves the way for open-cast mining in environmentally sensitive ecological corridors and protected areas.

The opinions of local communities in the affected areas of Recsk, Pilismarót, north of Budapest, and Madocsa, in the south, should be heard, board member Örs Tetlák told an online press briefing. The quality of life of residents should not be made secondary to profits, he added.

“The Protection of natural resources, especially that of farmland, forests and waterways, is part of our national heritage under the constitution,” Tetlák said.

The party expects the ombudsman for the protection of future generations and his deputy to review the legislation and advise parliament on aligning it with the Fundamental Law, he said.

The fire and police department saved a deer
Read alsoPHOTOS: Firefighters save a deer in the garden of a Hungarian family house

Government making Hungary a battery production empire by reducing environment protection?

Battery manufacturing car China NIO

Opposition LMP is calling for legal regulations to stipulate regular checks of water samples in battery plants and wants a committee hearing of the energy minister concerning reports about a battery plant in Göd.

LMP lawmaker László Lóránt Keresztes, head of parliament’s sustainable development committee, told a press conference on Wednesday that according to information acquired by investigative website Átlátszó through a court procedure, no water samples had been taken from a well at the Göd plant since 2016 and it was covered over in 2018. Hazardous substances used by the plant had been found in local water resources according to tests ordered by the Göd-ÉRT organisation at the time, he added.

The government wants to make Hungary a “battery production empire” without introducing even the minimum level of measures that could be expected in the interest of the population, he insisted. LMP will again submit a proposal to parliament to introduce legal regulations that oblige battery plants to regularly check water samples, he added.

NIO battery plant Budapest
Read alsoChinese NIO to build its first European plant near Budapest

Opposition: Hungarian government penalising protesting teachers

Teacher demonstration Hungary January

The opposition LMP party said a government decree penalising teachers who have mounted protests was both legally and morally unfounded, and it demanded its withdrawal.

Teachers can be penalised for their current actions at any time until the end of the school year under the decree, the party’s deputy group leader Antal Csárdi told a press briefing on Friday, adding that the decree was contrary to the rule of law and a departure from the labor code. He said this deprivation of rights was more serious than the restriction of the right to strike, adding that the aim of the decree was to intimidate teachers who spoke out against poor teaching conditions and their hardships making a living.

Noting headline inflation of 24.5 percent in December and a 14 percent rise in the minimum wage, he said that by comparison a salary increase of just 10 percent was awarded to teachers.

The PSZ teacher union has claimed the government “has backed down” in connection with civil disobedience by teachers from Szentgotthard.

Most of the teaching staff, 29 teachers, “with their united stand proved that sacking an entire teaching staff when there is a big shortage of teachers does not work,” PSZ said in a statement on Friday, adding that it will join a strike announced by the PDSZ teacher union.

PSZ said it had promised to carry on protesting until the demands of teachers and the trade union are met, adding that they called on all education staff to participate in a one-week work stoppage starting on Jan. 23. The statement added: “What 2022 failed to solve, 2023 will!”

education hungary demonstration
Read alsoHungarian government: teachers’ average salary could rise to EUR 1,940 in three years

VIDEO: scandal in Debrecen, Chinese investors booed – UPDATED

VIDEO Scandal Debrecen CATL China investment

A public hearing in Debrecen was disturbed by the booing and yelling of the residents of the Eastern Hungarian city. Representatives of the Chinese CATL battery manufacturer and the mayor of Debrecen attended the event to present a 7.4bn EUR investment to the locals.

According to index.hu, the new CATL plant would be inaugurated in 2025. László Papp, the city’s mayor (Fidesz-KDNP), said the development would not threaten the locals but create a large number of new workplaces. However, many disagree that the investment will be beneficial for Hungary’s second-biggest city. A big crowd started to boo at the public hearing the moment a CATL representative began his speech, index.hu said.

Here is a video:

The opposition LMP party has accused the government of turning Hungary into a battery-manufacturing powerhouse at the expense of the country’s environment and natural resources. The water and natural resources of the eastern city of Debrecen must not be allowed to be compromised for the sake of Chinese investors, László Lóránt Keresztes, Chairman of Parliament’s Sustainable Development Committee, told an online press briefing on Tuesday.

The green party MP noted that battery plants guzzle up water and energy, and require big infrastructure developments funded by the taxpayer. Quoting László Palkovics, the former Minister of Technology, the Debrecen plant was “anything but environmentally friendly”.

Read alsoHungary is a battery power, but is it worth it?

UPDATE – DK’s reaction

Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said the people of Debrecen “want no part of the Chinese battery plant”. Speaking about a recent disaster management forum in connection with the CATL plant being built in the city, Zoltán Varga, DK’s local MP, told a press conference that Debrecen residents did not want a plant in the city that would be a danger to their environment, their health and the future of their children and grandchildren.

Varga insisted that it had become clear at Monday’s forum that by supporting the investment, ruling Fidesz’s “local troops betrayed and failed Debrecen”.

Hungarian universities excluded from Erasmus, here are the opposition reactions

Corvinus University of Budapest

The Democratic Coalition (DK), Jobbik, Momentum and LMP opposition parties have issued a statement objecting to the government policy of allowing politicians to sit on the boards of trustees of universities run by foundations.

The statement was made after a press report suggesting that universities run by foundations will not receive fresh funding as part of the EU’s Erasmus programme – under which students from Hungary can study abroad — and Horizon Europe research and innovation schemes, details HERE: Breaking news! EU withdraws Erasmus support from Hungarian foundation universities

DK is introducing a bill to prohibit state leaders and incumbent lawmakers from sitting on boards of trustees of universities managed by foundations, the party’s deputy group leader, Gergely Arató, told an online press briefing on Monday. He added that the European Commission had already declared as “unacceptable” the government putting public universities “in the hands of trustees led by politicians”.

Jobbik deputy group leader Koloman Brenner said students and lecturers should not be punished for the government’s policy of putting certain universities into the hands of foundations. He called on the government to start negotiations with foundation-run institutions — especially the large scientific universities — on returning them to the state as a matter of urgency.

Momentum MEP Katalin Cseh said in a statement that her party had turned to the Commission asking it not to exclude Hungarian students from the Erasmus programme owing to “the corruption of [PM Viktor] Orban and his people”.

LMP said in a statement that the ruling Fidesz party had not consulted anyone before changing the Hungarian university system. Reforming Hungary’s higher education sector, it added, was “a national matter”, and the country’s future prosperity was at stake. LMP wants strict rules on conflict of interest to be established, it said.

Hungary Semmelweis University
Read alsoEverything you want to know about studying in Hungary

Hungarian opposition calls for repeal of decree allowing mines on nature conservation sites

Máté Kanász-Nagy

Opposition LMP has called on the government to immediately repeal a decree that allows for mines to be opened on nature conservation sites.

LMP also wants the “green ombudsman” to look into the decree issued on Dec. 30 allowing for the opening and expansion of opencast mines in ecological corridors as well as the opening of mines to be used for energy-related purposes on Natura 2000 sites, Máté Kanász-Nagy, the green party’s deputy group leader, told a press conference.

Kanász-Nagy said the decree would allow for the harming of nature conservation sites for the purpose of expanding mines, urging Gyula Bándi, the deputy ombudsman for the protection of future generations, to do everything in his power to have the decree repealed.

Opencast mines destroy the landscape and reduce biodiversity, Kanász-Nagy said, calling it “absurd” that the government had issued the decree citing the state of emergency declared over the war.

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Read alsoOrbán rejected utility support to some Budapest districts, mayors to file lawsuit

Hungarian green party calls for steps against burning household garbage

plastic, garbage, hungary

The opposition LMP has called on the government to take immediate steps against the burning of household waste as heating fuel.

Party board member Örs Tetlák told a press conference on Tuesday that air pollution led to some 10,000 premature deaths annually and to nearly 100,000 ilnesses.

Tetlák, who is also the deputy mayor of Érd, near Budapest, said the practice to burn household waste for heating purposes had been spreading with the growing energy crisis.

Poisonous fumes from burning painted window frames or bales of clothing cause cancer, heart failure and are extremely dangerous for children, Tetlák warned.

He called on the government to phase out coal and lignite heating and to ban selling bad quality firewood and burning garden waste. The government should also launch a programme to revamp the energy use of low-income homes, and to consider income levels when setting energy prices.

He also called for reinstating the right of local authorities to take meaningful steps against polluters. According to surveys, only some 15 percent of those heating with garbage do so for purely economic reasons. One-third of polluters do so due to lack of information or carelessness, he added.

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Read alsoPrognosis: Hungary to see record deterioration in living standards in 2023