Opposition lawmakers have vowed to set up parliamentary committees to investigate government measures related to the coronavirus epidemic.
The three committees proposed should look into government decisions concerning the government’s response to the economic crisis, efforts to contain the epidemic, and coronavirus vaccine purchases, the Democratic Coalition (DK), Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, the Socialist Party, and Párbeszéd said in a joint statement. The allied opposition parties insisted that the government had reacted “badly and extremely late” to challenges posed by the pandemic and the consequent economic problems, and had made “a number of ill-advised decisions” impacting health services and the economy. The government has “let down” companies and employees, while “it is keeping residents in the dark concerning a vaccination schedule”, the statement said. A decision has also been made to buy vaccine from China “amid great public distrust” concerning that product, which is not being licenced by the European Medicines Agency, it added.
Ruling Fidesz said in reaction that “the left wing constantly slams efforts taken against the pandemic,” and it called on the opposition to withdraw Lajos Korózs, head of parliament’s welfare committee, saying he was linked to a “fake video” misrepresenting government’s measures and had “falsified mortality statistics”.
Meanwhile, Máté Kocsis, Fidesz’s parliamentary group leader, said the opposition should set up investigative committees in Brussels instead. “It’s hard to imagine a more deceitful move even from them,” Kocsis said on Facebook in reaction to the opposition’s statement. Members of “the Gyurcsány coalition” have been “attacking the government’s defence against the epidemic for nearly a year now”, Kocsis said. He added that the reason why EU member states did not have enough vaccines was because “the Brussels bureaucracy has been incapable of organising their procurement”. Kocsis also cited a leading left-wing advisor telling a western daily that the “Left’s strategy” was to “attack measures against the epidemic” in the hopes of making political gains in 2022 if the death toll and case numbers are high this year.
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