Hungarian MPs agreed on Monday June 8 to reduce their income by 40% to help relieve public finances and convey the image of probity demanded by the new Prime Minister Péter Magyar in a tense budgetary context.
“It’s about humility,” the conservative declared last month to RTL to justify this measure, adopted unanimously by the 189 parliamentarians present, quickly after his victory in the legislative elections in April. From next month, the basic salary of Hungarian MPs will be €3,690 gross, with the savings representing, according to the conservative majority, one year of parliament’s operating costs.
Reimbursement of mobile phone bills is being abolished, alongside cuts to parliamentary allowances for office rent, accommodation and staff. Péter Magyar linked this reform to the necessary savings to be made in a context of necessary sobriety and the fight against corruption in this member country of the European Union (EU).
During the sixteen years in power of nationalist Viktor Orbán, it cost Hungary at least 186 billion euros according to Ferenc Biro, the head of the Integrity Authority, a national body. In an interview given on Sunday to a citizen collective mobilized on democratic issues (“De Akciokozosseg”), this official affirmed that the former government had asked him not to carry out his control mission.
