Socialists submit proposal for food subsidy scheme

Addressing an online press conference, Ujhelyi said the support scheme would be geared towards families with children where the per capita income is at or below the subsistence level. Single-parent households, impoverished pensioners, those with severe disabilities, social welfare recipients and university students with social scholarships would also be eligible for the subsidy, he added.

The subsidy would be financed from European Union resources, Ujhelyi said, adding, however, that Hungary would only have access to those funds if the government “changes its policies that violate the rule of law” and introduced anti-corruption measures.

Ujhelyi said a similar subsidy had been introduced recently in Romania.

Victor Negrescu, an MEP of Romania’s Social Democratic Party and the former minister for European affairs, told the same press conference that the so-called Support for Romania scheme had been introduced to counter high inflation and rising energy prices. The 3.5 billion euro food subsidy scheme is aimed at supporting small and medium-sized businesses, farmers as well as social groups in need, he said.