Magyar: Hungary needs ‘love, peace, burying of trenches’

Speaking at a gathering in the city centre, Magyar said “this is the largest political demonstration of the past decades”.

After marking Mothers’ Day, Magyar pledged that the party would double the family allowance if it received the mandate to govern.

Magyar, who also serves as deputy leader of the Tisza (Tisztelet es Szabadsag, Respect and Freedom) party, said Hungary had received 40 thousand billion forints in European Union funding so far, and insisted that a significant portion of that money was in “private equity, yachts, castles, hotels, Bordeaux vineyards and offshore accounts.” He said Hungary was being operated as a “family company” which his party would dismantle if they came to power.

Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, Magyar said the party was pro-peace and stood for peace talks as soon as possible.

The European parliamentary and local elections in June would be “a watershed moment”, and would be decided between the ruling Fidesz party and Tisza, Magyar said. “Those voting for Fidesz in 2024 would vote for the threat of war and war agitation, and those voting for Tisza will vote for peace, the future, and the safety and happinness of our children and grandchildren,” he said.

Regarding the issue of battery manufacturing plants in Hungary, Magyar said the plants were putting people and the environment at risk, and had been built after “the dismantling of oversight institutions.” Should his party come to power, they will restore the environmental ministry and strengthen the authorities in question, and tighten laws and oversight, as well as ensure that the localities should benefit from the financial profit of the investments, he said.

Magyar also said his party had garnered the recommendations to set up a list in “almost every county”.