Orban: Election Win Confirms “Nation-Based” Policies to Follow – Opposition Response

Budapest, October 13 (MTI) – Sunday’s election victory has confirmed that the governing parties must continue to pursue policies which are “nation-based”, and follow ideas of a “people’s party” in the upcoming years, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Hungary’s parliament on Monday.

Addressing lawmakers after Fidesz’s landslide win in the local election, Orban said “it was time to leave an era of ideologies and ‘isms’ behind”. He said the current situation was fit to further strengthen unity in the country.

If this unity is used well, full employment can be reached, Orban said. He said that while four years ago 3.6 million people were in employment and 1.8 million paid taxes, today these numbers are 4 million each, respectively. Economic growth is above 3 percent and the jobless rate 8 percent, he added. He noted that 57,000 Roma families took jobs for the first time.

He said Sunday’s vote has confirmed the idea that welfare societies in Europe were crumbling, “as it transpires that welfare cannot be the basis of things, it is at best a consequence of none other than work.”

People have agreed to policies which focus on families and support them and one of the most important goals of the upcoming period is to prevent that people should be trapped in having to choose between work and family, Orban said.

The Fidesz-Christian Democrats alliance will continue to serve the full “three-thirds” of the population and hear out those who did not vote for them.

Orban asked lawmakers to make use of this fortunate period and strengthen unity and togetherness in the country.

Opposition parties criticised Orban for his remarks.

A Hungary where the political majority is not related to the larger part of society cannot be strong or successful, the group leader of the opposition Socialists said. Jozsef Tobias said that in the past four years the government had deprived municipalities of most of their powers, and demanded that the central government should provide local governments with all the means necessary to manage the social crisis. He insisted that every third Hungarian child lives in poverty and 3.4 million people earn less than 65,000 forints (EUR 212.4) per month.