DK proposes wage hike package

Detailing the package, Klara Dobrev told a press conference that DK would introduce European regulations on the minimum wage and strengthen education, vocational training and unions.

The party has also devised a tax regime enabling “much fairer wage hikes”, with a special focus on taxes on small and medium-sized businesses, Dobrev said.

Under the package, only businesses that offer competitive wages would be eligible for state and European Union subsidies in future, she said.

Dobrev accused the government of wasteful spending on “showcase investments”, politicians’ salaries, “the enrichment of the businesses of billionaires linked to ruling Fidesz” as well as “dishonest propaganda”.

She said cutting such expenditures alone would save the budget more than 1,780 billion forints (EUR 4.8bn).

In response, ruling Fidesz said that “the whole of the dollar left supports war”, adding that the alleged attitude could “compromise the jobs and wages of Hungarians”.

“The five things [DK leader Ferenc] Gyurcsany and his people would inevitably bring about are war, spending cuts, an economic collapse, unemployment, and migrants,” Fidesz said in a statement.

Fidesz also slammed DK for declining to support next year’s budget which would “ensure protection for the country, jobs, families, pensioners, low utility fees, and which would facilitate further pay hikes in the public sector”.