Opposition party wants significant payrise for teachers
Péter Takács, the interior ministry’s state secretary for health care, signed a strategic agreement with representatives of advocacy groups on Friday.
“We are looking for ways to provide the highest possible financial and moral compensation for health specialists,” the state secretary said. “It’s not enough to have good ideas; those need to be made a reality in cooperation with the stakeholders.” Takács said the advocacy groups were “tough negotiators, but all the more constructive”.
“The agreement will serve as a solid foundation enabling us to fight shoulder to shoulder for modern health care with a human face,” he said. The agreement was signed by Ágnes Cser, head of health-care and social workers’ union MSZEDDSZ, Zoltán Balogh, head of the Hungarian Chamber of Health-care Workers, and Lajos Toma, head of the Independent Trade Union of Ambulance Workers.
Momentum MEP: Education should create opportunities
Good education creates opportunities, and the Momentum Movement is preparing to govern with education in focus, the party’s MEP, Anna Donáth, told a conference in Budapest on Friday. At the conference organised by Momentum, the Tomorrow’s Hungary association and the Renew Hungary party family of the European Parliament, Donáth said such governance required “generous financing” and autonomy for schools and teachers, as well as high-quality, constantly renewed trainings for teachers.
Solving the “gravest crisis in Hungary, that of education” would ease others such as the cost of living crisis, she said. She said the lack of teachers was “dramatic” in Hungary. According to a European Commission survey, the number of weak-performing Hungarian students has grown “to a brutal degree” between 2011 and 2021, she said.
Momentum will aim to raise the funding of public education from 4.5 percent to 7 percent of GDP. Teachers’ wages should be raised to 100 percent of the minimum wage of degree holders, she added. Momentum has turned to the EC with a request to make the payment of EU funds to Hungary conditional on a public education reform. The party also launched a signature drive to support the proposal, she added.
Hungarian opposition: Payment of EU funds should be contingent of education reform
The opposition Momentum party has said payment of European Union funds to Hungary should be contingent on the government implementing a comprehensive reform of the country’s education system and raising teachers’ salaries.
Momentum MEP Anna Donáth told a news conference in Budapest on Tuesday that she would turn to the European Commission and ask it to make this a condition for the release of European funds to Hungary. Momentum wants teachers to receive an immediate 50 percent salary increase, she added.
The ruling Fidesz party issued a statement in response, saying that left-wing politicians “like Anna Donáth” were responsible for teachers not getting a salary hike because they had been working to block Hungary’s EU funding, thereby depriving teachers of the chance to earn HUF 800,000 (EUR 2,160) each month.
The statement added that Hungarian opposition MEPs Klára Dobrev, Csaba Molnár, Attila Ara-Kovács, Márton Gyöngyosi, Katalin Cseh, Sándor Rónai and István Újhelyi were doing the same, meanwhile earning 5-6 million forints each month.
Had the left wing not undermined their own country, Hungary would have already received the EU funds due to it, Fidesz said.
Budapest public transport in danger? Transport company takes out huge loan
The Budapest assembly on Wednesday approved an agreement between Budapest public transport company BKK and K&H Bank, of a HUF 24 billion (EUR 63.9 million) loan, as part of the municipality’s “survival programme”.
The proposal, submitted by Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss, was carried with 17 votes in favour, 2 against and 9 abstentions.
The loan will ensure BKK’s operation between June and September, and will have to be paid back by September 18, the proposal said.
Budapest assembly adopts position on war
The Budapest assembly on Wednesday passed a position in connection with the war in Ukraine.
The proposal, submitted originally by the ruling Fidesz and the Christian Democrats before being amended with changes proposed by the left-wing parties, incorporates the European Council’s statement condemning “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”. It was passed with 17 votes in favour, 10 against and one abstention.
The original proposal was submitted by Zsolt Wintermantel, Fidesz’s group leader in the city assembly. The version approved on Wednesday included amendments submitted by the group leaders of the Democratic Coalition, the Socialist Party, Momentum and Párbeszéd.
Wintermantel told reporters after the vote that the municipal council’s left-wing majority led by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony had rejected his party’s original pro-peace resolution, adding that the amendment proposals had turned the issue into a domestic political battle.
Government-opposition talks start about the future of education
Interior Minister Sándor Pintér has invited all parliamentary parties to a consultation on the new legislation on teachers’ career path, to be held on Wednesday.
The consultation will come after three months of “comprehensive consultation with professional organisations and society” on the matter, a foundation of teachers’ “significant wage increases”, the interior ministry said in a statement on Friday. Pinter invited representatives of Fidesz-Christian Democrats (KDNP), the Democratic Coalition (DK), the Socialists, Momentum, Jobbik and Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland), it said.
The ministry hopes that “leftist parties are willing to engage in calm, constructive dialogue rather than fueling demonstrations often ending in violence, and working openly to obstruct the payment of the EU monies that would fund wage hikes,” the statement added. The ministry has adopted the proposals of trade unions, the National Teachers’ Council and other professional and civil organisation on dozens of points in the past months. Until Hungary receives the European Union funding “the country is entitled to”, the government will raise teachers’ wages by 10 percent, starting in January. Once the resources are accessible, teachers could see the “largest wage hike since the change of regime”, which would bring their average wages above 800,000 forints (EUR 2,100) a month by 2026, the statement said.
The amendment would also simplify teachers’ career path, establish a performance evaluation system and a change in their employment status. Their administrative burdens would decrease, it said.
Guy Verhofstadt: Europe is not the problem, Orbán is
Guy Verhofstadt MEP, former ALDE group leader and former Prime Minister of Belgium, was the guest of honour at Hungarian opposition party Momentum’s conference in Budapest on Friday. Mr Verhofstadt spoke about EU member states, Brexit and Orbán, among others.
No EU Member State is strong enough to be a global political actor
The opposition party Momentum issued a statement after the conference. According to the statement, Verhofstadt said, among other things, that although no EU member state is strong enough to act as a global political actor, the European Union and the European continent together can already compete with China, Russia, the US and India. “We must regain European sovereignty,” the Belgian MEP said.
He also reacted to Viktor Orbán’s comparison of the European Union to Hitler’s empire-building ambitions last week (Orbán said, when talking about European unity, that “Byzantium, Charlemagne, Otto, Napoleon, Hitler all dreamed of European unity on different bases”). Verhofstadt said the European project was precisely to bring peace to the continent after centuries of bloodshed, Telex writes.
Straying away from the EU has never ended well
He also said that those states that are on the periphery of the EU have never fared well; recession and inflation follow a move away from the EU. According to Verhofstadt, the British have learned this lesson, having “realised since the referendum that they were stupid”. Hungary must stay in the EU because “the problem is not Europe, it is Orbán”, he said.
Momentum MEP Anna Donáth told the conference that Hungary must regain the diplomatic influence it gained during the regime change, and “as a truly sovereign country, we must put our own ideas on the table when reforming the EU”. Greater integration is needed in areas such as foreign policy and the military, energy security, the green transition, ensuring European prosperity, and European funding for education and health.
Europe is Europe because of its diversity
At the same time, she expects national autonomy for the culture and way of life of nation states. “Europe is Europe because it is diverse, multilingual and multi-ethnic. It is a heterogeneous federation in terms of its traditions, history and culture. Therefore, Europe must respect and even strengthen the autonomy of nation states in shaping their culture and way of life,” said the Momentum MEP.
PHOTOS, VIDEO: Opposition party removed fence in front of Orbán’s office
Politicians and supporters of opposition Momentum on Tuesday removed the metal fence in front of the prime minister’s office, today’s action being the sixth time they have done so.
Momentum said in a statement that despite “the police overreactions and tear gas attacks” of recent days, the party has once again removed the “unlawfully erected fence” in front of the former Carmelite Monastery, which houses the prime minister‘s office, in the Castle District. Today’s action was held to mark Europe Day, they said. “Removing the fence is removing the regime,” Momentum said. “There is no place for a fence in a European country, and on May 9, on Europe Day, we removed the fence,” it added.
The party’s lawmakers and politicians arrived in the company of around 50 activists at the prime minister’s office at 7am in the morning, and they plan to guard over the removed fence for several hours, Momentum said. “We will keep removing the fence as long as this is necessary,” it said. “It stands unlawfully, separating the government from the people and from reality,” it added. “In reality, Hungary has European record-high inflation at 25 percent, health care and education have been destroyed and the government keeps misleading people with constant lies,” Momentum said.
Here is a video:
Dobrev: Hungary has highest inflation, among lowest wages in Europe
Hungary has the highest inflation in Europe, and when it comes to wages, it trails near the bottom, opposition DK’s MEP and shadow prime minister Klara Dobrev said on Monday. Dobrev told a public forum in Szombathely that wages were higher even in neighbouring countries like Slovakia and Romania, which, she insisted, was the fault of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government. She said that over a decade, when European Union funding would have allowed the revamping of all hospitals and schools — making education competitive and bringing wages up to a fair level in order to close the gap with the rest of Europe — the money instead went to the oligarchs of the Orban government.
The majority of Hungarians still want Hungary to belong to the EU and NATO, and they want a European standard of living, she added. Dobrev said the reason that Hungarians faced food prices that many of them could not afford and people’s living standards had dropped was not the sanctions and the war but the ill-fated economic policies of the Orban government.
MEP Donáth: Hungary at furthest point from Europe
Opposition Momentum has argued that Hungary has never been “so far from Europe”, in a statement to mark the 19th anniversary of the country’s accession to the European Union.
The Momentum Movement on Monday put an EU flag on the fence in front of the Carmelite Monastery in the Castle District which houses the Prime Minister’s Office.
“[W]e must remind ourselves that there’s no European prosperity without European values and freedom,” MEP Anna Donáth said.
She insisted that the fence cordoning off the PM’s office building symbolised the gulf between Hungary and the rest of Europe. Referring to a recent student demonstration there, she said police had resorted to defending the cordon with tear gas.
Donáth also decried the absence of EU flags on public buildings in Hungary. “There’s nothing to celebrate,” she said.
Referring to a proposed law on the status of teachers, she said the new rules would deprive teachers “of their basic human and employment rights”, and she called the bill an act of “revenge” by the government.
Is this the Hungarian reality? Fidesz would win 3/4 party majority in election
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.
Fidesz would win by an even greater percentage now than a year ago
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.
Read also:
- Government: Europe should not be an empire
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.
Read also:
- PM Orbán held extraordinary cabinet meeting
- LIST: Here’s why Hungary has not received the EU funds yet
New poll shows how the Hungarian governing party and the opposition stand
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.
Hungarian opposition: Revolutionaries formed community that valued freedom
The young revolutionaries of 1848 “took control of their fate” by forming a community of people who valued freedom and the nation, Anna Donáth, an MEP of opposition Momentum, said, marking the 175th anniversary of the 1848-49 revolution and freedom fight on Wednesday.
Every generation has a right and a duty to “take control of its fate”, Donáth said. “What else are these national holidays about but remembering those who did everything they could for the future so that we could be freer, happier, more honest and more credible?” she asked.
Although Hungary’s freedom fights throughout history “never ended with the most positive outcomes”, they were not fought in vain, she said, “because we’re here and so are the new generations”.
Momentum MP Endre Tóth said that if the party worked hard and took risks, it could “secure freedom again” locally and across the country.
Read alsoSlovak President fears her country could step onto Orbán’s path
PHOTOS, VIDEO: Demonstrations held in Budapest against the Russian aggression
Several opposition movements and a political party held demonstrations yesterday condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine on the first anniversary of its breakout. Below, you may read what happened and check out some photos and a video. Moreover, Budapest’s famous Fisherman’s Bastion shone in the colours of the Ukrainian national flag in the evening.
Budapest demonstration with Mayor Karácsony
Budapest stands by Ukraine, by peace, solidarity and Euro-Atlantic cooperation, the city’s mayor said on Friday, marking the Ukraine war’s first anniversary, adding that standing by Ukraine was a matter of faith and conviction, dictated by humanity and morals. “There will be peace only if Ukraine wins,” Gergely Karácsony said, opening a poster exhibition. “And peace will be brought about if Ukraine’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity is restored for which Euro-Atlantic cooperation and solidarity are essential.”
“The war is there, in the eyes, in the look…” he said. Karácsony said his message to politicians who “still preach about a ceasefire, talk back and forth about sanctions and business interests, who simply ignore solidarity and rub shoulders with aggressors” was that “you should be brave not only in words, but in your deeds”. “Have the courage to go to Kyiv and Bucha, and look people there in the eye! And if that is too much to ask, you just come out here, and look in the eyes … and then feel ashamed!”
The Budapest mayor, of the opposition, said “Hungary is not synonymous with the government that has lost its moral compass, as well as its allies”. “We haven’t lost our moral compass, neither have we lost our friends. We cannot accept that Hungary again stands on the wrong, ‘evil’ side of history.” He noted that Budapest had already provided accommodation to some 50,000 Ukrainian refugees and distributed 300,000 meal portions to them. István Balog, the charge d’affaires of Ukraine to Budapest, said 24 February, 2022 was one of the most tragic days ever for Ukrainian people. In the moment Russia attacked Ukraine, “our hearts got frozen and the open wounds we have suffered ever since could only heal if we get rid of the terrible evil that slyly attacked our land,” he said.
Here is Karácsony’s Facebook post and some photos of the event:
Furthermore, in the evening, Budapest’s emblematic Fisherman’s Bastion shone in the colours of the Ukrainian national flag: blue and yellow. Here is a photo:
Momentum Movement demonstration in the evening
Hungary’s second greatest opposition party, the Momentum Movement, held its demonstration at the Russian embassy in Budapest. There were a lot of Ukrainian nationals taking part. Jaroszlava Hartányi, the chairwoman of the Budapest Ukrainian nationality self-government, said there would only be peace if the Russians left Ukraine. Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony added he felt ashamed when he travelled to Kyiv because of the Hungarian government. “You are saving Hungary’s honour”, he told the protesters, 24.hu wrote.
Katalin Cseh, an MEP of Momentum, said there was another Hungary and PM Viktor Orbán did not dare to go to Ukraine after the outbreak of the war. Gábor Iványi, head of the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship, said there would be no peace until PM Orbán and President Putin leave politics. Ferenc Gelencsér, the chairman of the Momentum Movement, highlighted that there would only be peace if the Russian soldiers left Ukraine.
HERE is a video of the demonstration.
Opposition parties: Orbán is liar, Putinist hangman, traitor, etc
Hungarian opposition parties on Saturday reacted to a keynote speech by Viktor Orbán, saying the prime minister had failed to address Hungary’s “real problems”.
Commenting on Orbán’s speech today assessing the state of the nation over the past year, the Democratic Coalition said in a statement that Orban had “made a desperate attempt” to explain away “his government’s failings” over the past 12 years. The leftist party said Orban had become isolated in Europe and had lost Hungary’s EU funding as well as his European allies.
The right-wing Jobbik party’s leader Mátron Gyöngyösi said Orban was “a danger to Hungary”, and called the prime minister “Putin’s last ally in Europe” who wanted “Hungary out of the European Union”. “Orbán preaches peace, but he’s at war with his European allies…” he said. Under Orbán’s watch, Hungarians were witnessing the highest food-price inflation in Europe, he said, and he accused the prime minister of waging “a war against teachers” and “cheating nurses” out of a promised pay increase.
LMP lawmaker Máté Kanász-Nagy said in a video on Facebook that Orbán in his speech had shirked responsibility, while failing to explain how the government intended to handle the country’s “suffocating” energy dependence.
- Read also: Orbán’s State of the Nation speech: the NATO should have accepted Russia’s territorial gains
The radical Mi Hazánk party said Orbán in his speech should have unveiled a plan to create a national economy based on the food industry with a view to halting “brutal” inflation. He said the population was dwindling, Hungarians were getting poorer, and people found it hard to afford basic foods.
The liberal Momentum party’s leader Ferenc Gelencsér said in a statement that politics in Hungary was “a nightmare” of “lies played on a loop by blind populists”. He said price caps were “not working” and that Orban’s work-based society did not provide the security of a livelihood. Furthermore, he said that under the Fidesz government, “Russia is our friend and the EU is our enemy”.
Ágnes Kunhalmi, the co-leader of the Socialist Party, said in a statement that Orbán had shifted the blame for the country’s woes to factors such as the war and the EU from his own policymaking, and the prime minister “repeated his lie that the opposition is pro-war”. Also, Orbán’s charge that the opposition demanded the abolition of price caps was “untrue”, she said.
The liberal Párbeszéd party said in statement that Orbán should have admitted in his speech that “Hungarian food inflation in 2022 was top of the European scoreboard” and that families were overwhelmed by utility bills they are unable to pay”. Orbán, it added, had also failed to take the blame for Hungary being the “shame of Europe” and admit that he was alone in supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Read alsoHungarians get rid of the forint, use foreign currencies
Momentum Movement: Radical change needed in Hungarian opposition
Momentum MEP Anna Donáth said the opposition must show a credible vision if is to replace Viktor Orbán’s regime, addressing her party’s conference on Saturday.
At the event streamed on Momentum’s Facebook page, Donáth, who is returning to politics after a maternity leave, pledged honesty and hard work, which she said her party needed to regain its credibility. She called for a radical change in opposition politics, arguing that what the opposition had been doing since 2010 would not be enough to replace Fidesz or complete the change of regime.
“The April 3 [election] showed that this regime cannot be overcome by a colourless, odourless alliance based on the smallest common denominator,” she said. This system will also end one day, because it is based on lies, she said, but whoever promises to prematurely replace the Hungarian government is also telling lies.
Donáth named the creation of a people-centred economy and an education offering opportunities for all, and the fight against climate change as the key challenges ahead of Hungary. She called for compassion, and a strong democracy instead of a strong leader. She said that Hungary’s place is in the West, on the side of freedom and liberal democracy, adding that commitment to the west cannot mean that Hungary cannot criticise Western institutions.
Donáth said it was vital that Ukraine won the war it is fighting to defend its homeland.
Momentum chairman Ferenc Gelencsér said Hungary was a party state today, in a way scarily similar to how it was before 1989. He noted that when the environmental organisation Duna Kör was established in 1984, the regime considered its members foreign agents and enemies of the Hungarian economy. This is exactly what they say about those opposing the planned battery plant in Debrecen, he said.
Budapest deputy mayor Gábor Kerpel-Fronius said Momentum had the knowledge, drive and power to change Hungary, and politicians who dare to speak the truth.
Read alsoRepublican Senate: Hungary’s high inflation is due to Ukrainian refugees
Hungarian opposition to deliver aggregators, power inverters to Berehove, Kyiv
The opposition Momentum party is delivering HUF 12 million (EUR 30,300) worth of power aggregators and inverters to Kyiv and Berehove (Beregszász), in western Ukraine, the party’s deputy group leader said on Thursday.
Momentum has raised more than HUF 6 million through donations for Ukraine in less than two weeks, Márton Tompos told a press conference streamed on Facebook. The party will double this sum and spend it on three dozen pieces of equipment which it will deliver to Berehove and Kyiv, he added.
Tompos said he will leave for Ukraine with Momentum leader Ferenc Gelencsér and MEP Katalin Cseh on Friday.
Read alsoHungarian radical party urges comprehensive health strategy
Two-thirds victory for the opposition in Jászberény
Opposition candidate Lóránt Budai won a huge victory in Sunday’s by-election in Jászberény, with the opposition alliance’s candidate winning in ten out of ten individual districts.
With a turnout of nearly 60% (59.75%), the right-wing mayoral candidate for Közösen Jászberényért received more than twice as many votes as Orsolya Besenyi, who was supported by Fidesz but called herself independent.
In all ten single-member constituencies, the candidate of the Joint Party for Jászberény won, with all opposition parties (Jobbik, MSZP, Momentum and the All Hungary Movement) except DK participating in the alliance.
In the newly constituted body of representatives, including the mayor, there will be 11 members of the Közösen Jászberényért association, while Fidesz-KDNP won four seats from the compensation list. The Mi Hazánk Mozgalom (Our Homeland Movement) did not make it into the board.
read also – Police officer’s death: Socialists, Jobbik propose committee hearing of interior minister, police chief
Hungarian universities excluded from Erasmus, here are the opposition reactions
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.
Read alsoEverything you want to know about studying in Hungary
Latest poll: War and crisis? Orbán and Fidesz can’t fail
Fresh polling data shows that Hungary’s ruling parties, with support of 56 percent of the electorate, could end up with 16 out of Hungary’s 21 European parliamentary mandates.
The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), with support of 14 percent, would receive 3 EP mandates, while Momentum and the radical Mi Hazánk parties (both with 6 percent) would each secure a single mandate, according to a survey the Nézőpont Institute released on Monday.
Each of the other parties on their own (combined support of 18 percent) would fail the clear the 5 percent parliamentary threshold, the survey found.
“If DK and Momentum managed to entice voters from those parties, it would obviously impact the number of their mandates,”
Nézőpont said, adding that in 2019 both parties took away votes from the green LMP party.
In the phone poll of 1,000 people conducted from Jan. 2 to 4, more than 50 percent of respondents declared an intention to participate in the vote.
The governing Fidesz and Christian Democratic parties maintained a stable lead with 48 percent support, while the DK had the support of 7 percent. Mi Hazank had the backing of 5 percent, while Momentum was on 3 percent and Socialist Party and LMP each had 1 percent. Párbeszéd, formerly led by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, registered zero support, Nézőpont said.
The pollster said that a strong sign of the opposition side’s woes was that the satirical Two-Tailed Dog party, which has called for the entire opposition to be replaced, had the support of 4 percent.