DK calls for stopping Ukrainians from abusing Hungarian pension system

Gergely Arato said that since 2010, Ukrainian citizens had been setting up fictitious addresses in Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg County in north-east Hungary. They have been abusing a former Hungarian-Soviet agreement under which they could gain eligibility for Hungarian pension, which is significantly more than Ukrainian pension, with the help of fake documents and citing working years in the former Soviet Union and Ukraine, he added.

In addition to picking up pensions ranging 200,000-300,000 forints (EUR 556-834) monthly, they have been using health care services in Hungary despite the fact that they had never worked in Hungary, he said.

The government in power in 2009 started preparing the cancellation of the agreement but it was never completed by the governments of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he added.

Arato said it was “shocking” that a government would be “handing out money to Ukrainian pensioners out of political interest” while Hungarian pensioners are only “bribed with campaign-like bonuses before the elections”.

After the 2022 election, a democratic government under DK prime ministerial candidate Klara Dobrev would end the abuse of the pension system, he said.