The question is not whether or not Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been victorious in Brussels but how Hungary will recover from the social and economic crisis, co-leader of opposition LMP Máté Kanász-Nagy said over the weekend.
Speaking at an online press conference, Kanász-Nagy said that while Orbán “was fighting his veto battle in Brussels”, the situation in Hungary remained the same. He said the government was continuing to take funds away from municipalities and wanted to ban the acquisition of additional revenues while also floating the suspension of business tax collection. Kanász-Nagy said this threatened total bankruptcy in Hungary’s local government system. This is in contrast with the “free cities” initiative, which is supported by LMP as well, and which would give municipalities direct access to EU funding, he said.
“Viktor Orbán is not only tormenting municipalities but small businesses as well,” the LMP co-leader said, adding that a 40% penalty tax could grind small businesses paying the “kata” tax to a halt. He complained that hundreds of thousands of people had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, yet the government was not planning to extend the jobseekers’ allowance to nine months or pay 100% sick pay to those who fall ill with Covid. Kanász-Nagy called funding given to sports-related investments or luxury hotel constructions “unnecessary and harmful” subsidies. He said these should all be allocated to the health-care sector or businesses and municipalities in a pandemic situation.
hungarymatters.hu
pixabay
