Accusations fly in Parliamentary budget debate

Socialist MP Mónika Lamperth accused senior opposition party Fidesz of lying to voters during the second day of debate on the 2010 budget bill in Parliament yesterday.

“The Socialists are governing responsibly while Fidesz uses the budget debate as an election campaign rehearsal, trying to gauge the maximum untruth that the public will accept.”

Fidesz attacked the cabinet’s health budget and public transport plans; “according to police leaders, their 2010 budget is Ft 25 billion short,” Fidesz MP János Lázár said.

“Spending on public order and security has actually been increased by Ft 10 billion,” Socialist MP János Veres replied.

There was dissent from inside the Socialist Party, however; “the subsidy cut for bilingual schools is not acceptable and subsidies for arts teaching in primary schools should also be revised,” Socialist MP Mrs. Lajos Botka said.

In response to Botka’s comments, Fidesz MP Máriusz Révész said “we can only base our proposals on the government’s budget bill. Fidesz will certainly file motions to the budget bill on these topics, and if the Socialists do likewise, we will support them,” he added.

“This catastrophic budget is the result of eight years of catastrophic governance, for example the dismantling of the social welfare system,” Christian Democrat Miklós Soltész said. “The money that the government has given to its cronies would have been sufficient to support, for instance, disabled organisations,” Soltész added.

“How you dare to say that, when the Fidesz government cancelled the scheduled pension hike and froze family allowances?” Socialist MP László Keller responded.