Steven N.
Fidesz has betrayed Hungarian Gypsies, as well as the majority of society, making it unworthy of any vote from an ethnic Roma, claims opposition party Dialogue.
Bence Tordai, deputy leader of the party’s parliamentary caucus (pictured), said at an online press conference on Facebook yesterday that Attila Sztojka, Government Commissioner for Roma Relations, had tried to both bribe and extort Roma politicians to support Fidesz. Tordai’s accusation was based on audio leaked to the press a few days ago of a meeting between the commissioner and Roma representatives in Budapest last month.
Tordai felt that the Sztojka’s statements were in fact an attack on democracy. As such, the party has addressed its concerns in writing to Interior Minister Sándor Pintér to determine which government contracts Attila Sztojka was referring to in the recording, and whether national Roma local government representatives were being wiretapped, which the government commissioner appeared to allude to. As Sztojka himself noted, he is the head of the Directorate General for Social Opportunities within the Ministry of the Interior, and as such, he claimed to “know a lot of things about everybody.”
Momentum politician Lajos Lőcsei believes that the leaked footage proves that the government is eavesdropping and intimidating public figures “who do not belong to their inner circle,” which is why “we have to say ‘no’ to the corrupt elite leadership of Fidesz.”
Sándor Berki, Dialogue’s ethnic and minority rapporteur, said that the recording shows Fidesz’s true position on Roma policy, and that current Roma public figures need to be replaced for any advancement on Roma-related issues.
