MSZP’s welfare promises criticized

A pro-government columnist and an alt-left blogger accuse the MSZP of not helping Hungarian families enough.

Magyar Idők’s Gergely Kiss finds the MSZP’s demand for ‘even lower’ utility prices complacent. The E.ON energy provider has started a campaign to attract more customers. They offer natural gas at a 5 per cent lower price than the public utility providers. After the announcement, the opposition parties criticized the government’s utility tariff cuts, while the government accused E.ON of intervening in the election campaign. It also remarked that E.ON’s offer only targeted big customers, not households. Kiss recalls that since 2010, the government has cut utility prices by 25 per cent. The Socialists, who now demand even bigger cuts, did nothing to lower prices during their 8 year reign before 2010, by limiting the profits of energy multinationals, Kiss fumes.

In Mérce, Szilárd Pap lambasts the MSZP for not defending the interests of families facing eviction. Left-wing parties including the LMP, Dialogue and Together tabled an amendment to the public housing regulations in order to make it impossible for local councils to evict families with children unless they provide alternative accommodation for them. In the House committee, the MSZP and the Democratic Coalition abstained, while Fidesz MPs voted against including the bill on the agenda. The alt-left blogger thinks that the Socialists’ welfare program has little credibility, as the party is reluctant to support policy changes that would help Hungarian families in need. Pap also recalls that MSZP mayors in Budapest are among those who have introduced anti-homeless regulations.

Tags: 2018, MSZP, utility tariffs, welfare