MP says opposition working to keep Hungary’s poors from sponging

Leading opposition party Fidesz is refusing to support proposed modifications to the “social law” governing benefits for individuals and families. According to nepszava.hu, Fidesz-Christian Democrat MP Sándor Czomba – who is a member of Parliament’s employment and labor committee – explained that the mooted changes will favor unemployment over work, and otherwise make Hungarians living on the margins even more marginal than they already are.

At a party press conference on Wednesday, Czomba said that despite claims it will help people find jobs, the legislation will achieve the opposite, adding that his party will try to modify the law before it passes, though if they succeed, the bill will be transformed entirely. As the law currently stands, in certain cases people can earn more from benefits than by working, he added.

In the case of a four-member family, they would only see a Ft 7,000 increase in monthly income if one of the parents went off benefits and found employment at the minimum wage, and only a Ft 27,000 increase if both parents found work, which Czomba said he found unlikely, adding there was no reason why they would work to earn just a little bit more.

Czomba said the best way to motivate people to find work is for there to be a big difference between what a person can make off benefits or by working, pointing out that when Fidesz left office in 2002, that was the case, although it is no longer so today.

He continued that he did not believe that the amount of money given in social aid was too much, but that there were too many loopholes in the law that people could take advantage of. Czomba also challenged government assertions that Ft 50 billion more will go into social projects, saying that the 2009 budget only allocates the same Ft 97.5 billion that the 2008 budget did.