The party builds its policy on three main pillars: rebuilding legal security and democracy, social justice and social sensitivity, and combating the exploitation of our environment, Bertalan Tóth said on Friday.
Assessing the spring session of Parliament, the party president said that the coronavirus epidemic “rewrote our everyday lives”, but in the meantime the Fidesz government continued to work to strengthen its own power instead of protecting the lives, health and livelihoods of Hungarians.
The government continued to scourge local governments, harassing innocent people for their opinions and further curtailing freedom of expression, while helping its own economic circles get hundreds of billions of public money instead of helping people and dealing with the consequences of the crisis.
“That is why we continue to say that a change of government and even a change of era is needed,” he underlined.
Representatives of the Hungarian Socialist Party, local government representatives and party members also took part personally in defending the country from the epidemic: they did voluntary work, and the mayors of MSZP “performed excellently and passed the test.”
MPs of MSZP offered more than twenty million forints from their salaries for the purchase of protective gear and durable food, which were distributed throughout the country with the involvement of county presidents and their local activists.
The party took part in the defence “from the first minute”: it announced its five-point protection package to protect the life, health and livelihood of Hungarian people, which included proposals on protecting healthcare, health and social care workers, employees, Hungarian businesses, retirees, parents, students and educators.
As he said, the party has successfully fought for a one-time benefit of 500,000 forints for healthcare workers, but continues the struggle to ensure that workers in the social sector also receive this benefit.
They helped facilitate access to e-prescriptions, easier access to medical aids, the declaration of a credit moratorium, the government applied several of their proposals in the context of remote learning, and also made suggestions in connection with the high school graduation exams.
They have spoken out against domestic violence and uncovered cases that have highlighted the government’s flaws in epidemic management, such as the drastic and unjustifiable emptying of hospital beds, he said.
He emphasized that the Hungarian Socialist Party and its parliamentary group are also struggling to "build a democratic, tolerant, socially sensitive, just and environmentally conscious country."
The first pillar of MSZP's policy is legal security and the reconstruction of democracy.
The second is social justice and social sensitivity, “so that everyone has access to adequate healthcare, proper education; so that salaries rise everywhere, and that there no longer be more equals among equals; so that pensions are increased can ensure a living” and to tackle the housing crisis.
The third pillar is the fight against the exploitation of our environment.
MSZP prepares for opposition cooperation with this policy. The representatives of the party and its local organizations are also ready to participate in the pre-elections in all 106 constituencies, to pre-select the prime ministerial candidate, and to prepare for 2022 with a joint opposition list, a common program and a shared vision.
"Our main goal is a change of government, because we want to live in a more liveable, fairer and more cohesive country with more solidarity," he stressed.
