Vona: One million signatures needed for wage union initiative

Gyöngyös, May 25 (MTI) – Countries participating in a bid launched by opoosition Jobbik to equalise wages throughout the European Union have one year to collect a total of one million signatures in support of the initiative, party leader Gábor Vona said on Thursday.

The European Commission approved the European citizens’ initiative prepared jointly by eight central and eastern European member states last week, giving them the green light to start collecting supporting signatures.

The campaign will have to gather a minimum number of signatories in at least seven member states on its way to the one million signatures. The minimum number of signatories varies by member state, as it must be 750 multiplied by the number of MEPs elected from the given member state.

This means that a minimum of 17,250 valid signatures will need to be collected in Hungary, Vona said, adding that his party intends to exceed that number many times over.

The civil initiative calls for cementing the principle of “equal pay for equal work” among the EU’s basic principles, Vona said.

He said signatures would also be collected electronically, with strict data protection conditions. The data of those signing the petition electronically will be sent to EU servers, he said.

Source: MTI