Steven N.Viktor Orbán addressed the economic downturn caused by the war in his regular Friday morning radio interview this week. In the interview, the Hungarian Prime Minister recalled the parliamentary debate earlier in the week, in which, he said, opposition MPs came up with sudden demands for salary increases for public workers.
While the opposition demanded higher pay for teachers, nurses, policemen, and firefighters, Orbán stated that “talk of 20-30-40% increases, and doubling salaries” shows they do not understand how difficult the situation is.
I’m trying to say both then and now that there’s a war situation going on, and we’re not attacking, we’re defending. Now is not the time to take a step or two forward, say in development projects or even in the wage issue – now is the time for us to defend what we have achieved.
-the Prime Minister commented on Kossuth Rádió.
Orbán also said that “success and a result today is for us to not slide back, but be able to find our footing and not allow the war situation to push us backwards in terms of economic development and living standards.”
Politicians from the opposition, such as Jobbik’s Péter Jakab and András Fekete-Győr from Momentum, have asked Orbán why, with such high inflation and the consequent increase in the cost of living, his monthly salary was recently increased from 1.5 million (US $3,910) to 3.5 million Ft ($9,123).
However, Kossuth Rádió host Katalin Nagy did not ask the Prime Minister this question. [HVG]
