The opposition Momentum party has said payment of European Union funds to Hungary should be contingent on the government implementing a comprehensive reform of the country’s education system and raising teachers’ salaries. Momentum MEP Anna Donáth told a news conference in Budapest on Tuesday that she would turn to the European Commission and ask it to make this a condition for the release of European funds to Hungary. Momentum wants teachers to receive an immediate 50% salary increase, she added.
The ruling Fidesz party issued a statement in response, saying that left-wing politicians “like Anna Donáth” were responsible for teachers not getting a salary hike because they had been working to block Hungary’s EU funding, thereby depriving teachers of the chance to earn 800,000 forints (EUR 2,160) each month. The statement added that Hungarian opposition MEPs Klára Dobrev, Csaba Molnár, Attila Ara-Kovács, Márton Gyöngyösi, Katalin Cseh, Sándor Rónai and István Ujhelyi were doing the same, meanwhile earning 5-6 million forints each month. Had the left wing not undermined their own country, Hungary would have already received the EU funds due to it, Fidesz said.