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OPPOSITION SLAMS PROPOSED HOUSE RULE CHANGES AS 'ACT OF REVENGE'

 

The opposition parliamentary parties slammed changes to house rules proposed by the ruling parties as “an act of revenge” and a move planned as part of a “vendetta” against them.
Jobbik deputy group leader László György Lukács told a press conference he held jointly with other opposition party representatives that the proposed changes would curb the rights of MPs. He said the proposal showed that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had been “frightened by the outcome of the October 13 [local] elections”.
Socialist Party group leader Bertalan Tóth said that by submitting the amendment proposal, Fidesz was actually exacting revenge on the opposition for its attempts to prevent the “slave law” from being passed last year. Gergely Arató, deputy group leader of the Democratic Coalition, said the proposed changes were about taking revenge on opposition voters who had elected opposition MPs and “ousted corrupt, ostentatious and arrogant” Fidesz politicians in a number of electoral districts.
LMP deputy group leader Antal Csárdi said the amendment proposal was meant to enshrine “existing legal violations” into law. He said he had tried to enter state institutions on a number of occasions but had never been allowed in. Párbeszéd group leader Tímea Szabó said the package was a part of Orbán’s “vendetta”. She said the opposition’s message to the prime minister was that they would not be intimidated, even if they were subjected to fines equalling their yearly salaries.