Socialists: Voters to decide on whether Europeans continue to enjoy social security

The European Parliament election on May 26 will decide whether progressive parties continue to implement programmes that uphold the material and physical security of European citizens, Hungary’s Socialist leader said on Saturday.

Bertalan Tóth, who tops the EP list for the Socialist-Párbeszéd alliance, said at a press conference that the other option was that far-right, populist politicians would gain a majority. They, he said, would pull the European community apart and hand pre-eminence to nation states.

The European Union should be about the minimum wage and pension as well as family allowances, he said. It should also be about guaranteeing basic services, he added.

Tóth branded Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ‘”a coward” for refusing to accept an invitation debate the European Socialist group’s spitzenkandidat Frans Timmermans.

László Andor, a former Hungarian EU commissioner who is now head of the Institute for Social Democracy, said the European social fund was a serious financial resource. It is important to make sure that such resources get to those who deserve them, he said.