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Socialist MEP accuses Hungarian govt of lying about teacher wage hikes
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Socialist Party MEP István Ujhelyi has accused the government of lying about the wage hikes demanded by teachers, saying he had been “surprised” to hear Hungarian officials say that Brussels was the one blocking the pay rises.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Ujhelyi said that a proposal submitted by the government almost two years ago on how it intended to spend the nearly 13,000 billion forints’ (EUR 32.6bn) worth of European Union funding Hungary is entitled to in the 2021-2027 budgetary period “contained no mention of wage hikes for teachers”.
Ujhelyi said his party had warned back then that the proposal would be rejected by EU institutions because it had been drafted without any consultations with those concerned. “There’s a reason why Hungary and the EU have not reached an agreement,” he said.
Ujhelyi said teacher unions and interest representation groups had “won” their fight for higher wages, arguing that the government had amended its proposal to earmark around 400 billion forints (EUR 1bn) for pay hikes for teachers.