- Title: HUNGARY: Far right set to enter European parliament
- Date: 29th May 2009
- Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (FILE - 2009) (REUTERS) GUARDS LINED UP IN HEROES SQUARE VARIOUS OF GUARDS STANDING IN LINE
- Embargoed: 13th June 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Hungary
- Country: Hungary
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA16ZZ3U2N7RMOR4JFP08HXQIIB
- Story Text: At one of the hundreds of election forums held by Hungary's far right party, Jobbik, activists and supporters gather to hear European Parliamentary candidate, Krisztina Morvai speak about her programme.
Referring to the party's main slogan, "Hungary belongs to the Hungarians" she tells the audience Hungary is endangered by various foreign interests.
''We should be afraid that we will lose our country, that practically a second Palestine will be created in Hungary. People are losing their jobs continuously, they are constantly worried about losing their jobs," she tells the crowd.
Hungary's radical right looks likely to win at least one seat in the European Parliament, capitalising on discontent over the country's deep economic crisis and resentment of its large Roma minority.
Based on recent poll readings, Jobbik would also get a group into the Hungarian parliament if elections were held now. They are due next year.
Jobbik says it wants to preserve Hungary's national heritage, to tie welfare benefits to work and create a special police unit to tackle "Gypsy crime".
It backs the Hungarian Guard, a radical nationalist organisation which has been criticised for staging intimidating marches nationwide to protest against the spread of petty crime they say is mostly committed by Roma.
On the European stage, Jobbik seeks to renegotiate the part of the treaty that took Hungary into the EU in 2004, that allows foreigners to buy land from 2011 and backs autonomy claims by ethnic Hungarians in EU countries such as Romania and Slovakia.
Formally launched in 2003, Jobbik scored 5 and 6 percent in two recent opinion polls, which analysts say would translate into 12 to 15 seats in the 386-seat Hungarian parliament.
Hungary's minority Socialist government scored just 11 percent and more than 40 percent of voters are still undecided.
''The people who have been left behind, the workers, intellectuals and farmers who have been left behind and ignored have lost their patience," Csanad Szegedi, Jobbik's vice president, told Reuters.
"Here in Borsod county and northern Hungary the gypsy crime, corruption and unemployment have grown to such an extent that understandably people have no trust in either of the political parties,' he added.' Jobbik has a presence across Hungary, but in places like Miskolc, an industrial town in the north where unemployment is at 16 percent and the Roma population is large, it is especially strong.
"The fact that they will be able to get one MP in can strengthen those voter tendencies, so that people will no longer look at votes for them as lost ballots," said Levente Boros Bank, a political scientist at the University of Miskolc. Referring to another right-wing party, he added, "The MIEP failed because there was a campaign on the right that said that it was useless to vote for an MIEP-type party because it would be a lost vote, as they would not get into the European Parliament or the Hungarian parliament. But this can now help the parliamentary election success of Jobbik in 2010.'' Jobbik's vice-president said one of the main issues was the way the state welfare rules affect the Roma community.
Szegedi said family support rules amounted to a "publicly financed Gypsy breeding programme".
"The Hungarian state treats Gypsies as animals right now, they don't regard them as humans. They get money and aid not in order to work but instead they get money to procreate. And it's the Hungarian state that regards them as animals and conducts a kind of gypsy breeding programme. And this is the fault of the Hungarian state and not the gypsies because the gypsies are encouraged to do so,'' he said.
Hungary has one of the largest Roma communities in eastern Europe, making up 5 to 7 percent of the population of 10 million, and they have remained on the margins for decades.
Roma leaders say Jobbik's agenda is dangerous.
''It's very dangerous to seek popularity with such slogans. It's very dangerous because those who are seeking popularity with the gypsy crime slogan don't notice what tensions they generate among the simple people who only watch television, and they don't notice that they are initiating the creation of a scape-goat," said Gabor Varadi, Roma minority representative in Miskolc.
Some Miskolc residents are concerned by the Jobbik message.
''They are a small, young, aggressive party. Unfortunately as I've said they don't have a past, and I think from a political point of view there is no need for petty little games,' said Miklos Kiss.
Others say they will vote for them.
"They have a programme that fills a gap in Hungarian political life,'' said 23-year old student Robert Kovacs.
''On the one hand I support them from one point of view, because something must be done in this country, there are many problems and I think they represent a force that could perhaps do something as they don't compromise. But on the other hand, I think they rally round people of extreme views too much,'' said graduate student Gabor Sebok. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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