Families, the elderly and social workers cannot rely on the government in the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic, the Socialist party said. Lajos Korózs, the Socialist head of parliament’s welfare committee, has called on the government to provide more funding for local authorities, SMEs and private individuals. Korózs told an online press conference that social workers are not eligible for the allowances provided for health-care workers, even though “they work like slaves and contribute to the epidemic protection efforts”. Regarding the government’s decision on the bonus for pensioners, Korózs said that “for an average pension”, the sum “promised for next year” hardly came to 3,000 forints (EUR 8.3), adding that was no help “for people who have to buy food tomorrow”.
Socialist deputy leader Imre Komjáthi called on the government to take measures to protect those losing their jobs. Ministry estimates put that number around 100,000 in the past 22 days, with 5,000-6,000 added to their number each day, he said. Komjáthi called for a firing stop at multinationals and public service, and for raising the duration and amount of the jobseekers’ allowance.