Budapest (MTI) – The government spent 735 billion forints (EUR 2.4bn) on “useless luxury projects” last year, while the cost of tax reductions and wage hikes added up to only half of that total, opposition LMP group leader Erzsébet Schmuck told a press conference on Thursday.
As examples of “detrimental spending” Schmuck mentioned the government’s sports stadium construction programme, building new museums in Budapest’s City Park, efforts to enlarge the government’s “media empire”, assistance to international companies, and preparations for the 2024 Olympics. She noted that the government would spend about 1,000 billion forints on similar schemes this year.
Schmuck said that Hungary’s GDP growth, which she put at 2 percent this year and which she said was lagging behind that of Romania, Slovakia or Poland, benefitted Hungary’s rich and poor differently. She insisted that people “close to ruling Fidesz” gained, while average people were given “morsels”.