Socialists claim government diverted money from allocation for free school meals

Budapest, January 8 (MTI) – The opposition Socialists have accused the government of “dishonesty and theft”, claiming that almost 6 billion forints (EUR 19m) have been diverted from allocations made at the end of last year for free school and nursery meals and family allowances.

A government decree published at the end of last year stated that 3.7 billion forints have been diverted from the allocation for school meals, Socialist member of parliament’s welfare committee Ildiko Borbely told a press conference on Friday.

From this sum, 1.5 billion forints have been spent on building a sports hall in Monor, southeast of Budapest, 2.1 billion forints have been granted to the town of Hodmezovasarhely, in southern Hungary, and 20 million forints to Alcsutdoboz, a village west of Budapest, she said.

Another decree shows that 2.1 billion forints has been siphoned off the allocation for family allowances. From this the economy ministry spent 1.5 billion forints for public procurements and 704 million forints for church events.