Ex-Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz, who tops the Socialist Party’s list for the June 7 European parliamentary elections, on Monday called it “incomprehensible” and “thought-provoking” that the EP election campaign had become a scene of “home policy skirmishes”.
“While we seek to elect deputies to represent Hungary in a community based on mutual respect, tolerance and the rejection of conflicts and hatred, there is a side whose campaign focuses exclusively on the domestic political situation,” Goncz told a news conference in Nyiregyhaza, NE Hungary.
In times of economic crisis, she said, the role of solidarity, a classical priority of the European left wing, is particularly upgraded, she said.
It is very important for Hungary that the European Union should take a more resolute, united stand against discrimination and racism. “Unfortunately, there are alarming trends in Hungary set off by the emergence of, and the demonstrations of power by, the Hungarian Guard and the Jobbik party,” she said.
Jobbik is a non-parliamentary radical nationalist party, which according to recent polls, is supported by around five percent of voters – enough to gain seats in both the European and the Hungarian parliament. The Hungarian Guard is Jobbik’s paramilitary arm.
