Hungary’s governing Fidesz-Christian Democratic party alliance cynically refuses to work together with the other parliamentary parties and the opposition is marred by division, the head of the green Politics Can Be Different (LMP) party told MTI on Sunday.
Andras Schiffer said that those in the governing majority do not even attempt to coordinate with MPs of other parties about their proposals. Governing in a majority the Fidesz-KDNP alliance makes every effort to “dismantle all constitutional checks and balances that hinder the development of a Fidesz-led autocracy,” he added.
Of legislation approved since the new government entered into power, Schiffer said the amended regulations were of particualr concern that favour Fidesz at the upcoming local council elections in the autumn and the new rules on the composition of the parliamentary committee that nominates constitutional court judges.
Commenting on Thursday’s vote on the new media law, Schiffer said that it was scandalous how “Fidesz-KDNP approved hastily submitted and confusing amendment proposals without their MPs having a clue about what these proposals actually were about.”
Schiffer criticised the government for introducing a bank levy without guaranteeing the protection of debtors. He said the planned introduction of a single tier tax would result in some bank managers to have 25 million forints (EUR 87,000) more left in their pocket and the reduction in corporate tax worked mainly to the benefit of multinational corporations.
At the same time, Schiffer welcomed new legislation on easing the granting of citizenship to ethnic Hungarians, as well as the creation of a Trianon memorial day and compensation to victims of police brutality in the autumn of 2006.
On the other opposition parties he said that “the Socialists, when they were in government, had a tendency to place themselves above the constitutional state, but they are still a democratic party.” As a result, LMP is seeking dialogue with the Socialists in parliament, he added.
Contrary to the Socialists, MPs of the radical nationalist Jobbik party regularly question constitutional procedures and equal rights and human dignity to all, Schiffer said. As a result, cooperation with Jobbik is impossible to imagine, he added. Still, this does not mean that occasionally LMP should not agree with Jobbik on certain issues, Schiffer said.
Maybe someone needs to grow up and realize that Politics Can’t Be Different.
@C’est Moi
Politics can be different in other countries, why not in Hungary? Are you saying that Hungarians aren’t smart enough to realize when they’re being lied to and taken advantage of?
Olitics can be different,but not with the LMP,Green is the new Red.
Szabad,
There is much room to tinker with economic and political models.
However, healthy democracies don’t waste time in engaging in xenophobia, racial stereotyping, and scape-goating.
Healthy democracies don’t weaken constitutitional protections or pander to nationalism.
Hungary is virtually isolated from the rest of Europe by a mentality that is frankly a good 100 years behind the times.
Most Europeans would be shocked to see how Hungarians think and current day Hungary is not seen as a model for the rest of Europe.
However, healthy democracies don’t waste time in engaging in xenophobia, racial stereotyping, and scape-goating.
Anonymous [shouldn't that be AiB?] at July 26, 2010 2:53 PM
Well, Athenian democracy suffered from its lack of protections for individual rights. Don’t like someone’s politics, take them to court for slandering the gods. Socrates paid the price.
The US democracy was severely flawed. The country was formed on a basis of a compromise – unity in exchange for the right to own slaves.
So we fought a civil war and then another long struggle.
It’s hard to claim that America achieved full democracy until women and blacks had the right to vote and fully participate in the political and civic life of the nation.
The more I think about, the more it seems democracies tend to slide into fascism and war when extreme nationalism takes control.
A health democracy requires a hard headed approach to a country’s history. Not a glorification.
Granting blacks their civil rights, apologizing to Japanese war interns, the Marshall Plan, and
contributing to the rebuilding of Dresden’s Frauen Kirche strike me as a signs of mature democracy.
Healthy democracies transcend nationalism and narrow self interest.
lmp seeks dialogue with the socialists, but cant imagine cooperating with jobbik. what is so politically ‘different’ about this??? szdsz would have said exactly the same thing. the socialists are of the old, dirty, corrupt politics, which jobbik oppose and lmp would too if they were really ‘different’. lmp are full of crap.