Economy 3 December 2024, 8:59am

Péter Magyar promises to unlock frozen EU funds and adopt the euro if elected

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Péter Magyar would follow the example of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: he would immediately recover frozen EU funds in the event of a change of government. In an interview with Bloomberg published on Monday, the politician from the largest opposition party, the Tisza Party, spoke in detail about his economic policy plans for the first time.

In the article, the news agency writes that Péter Magyar has a plan to end the country's economic crisis. He would defeat current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the next parliamentary election, bring the frozen EU funds home and steer the country towards the adoption of the euro. The Bloomberg article mentions that some polls already show Péter Magyar's party in the lead.

As a first step, the opposition politician would endow the EU prosecutor's office with the power to investigate corruption in Hungary.

This is one of the reasons why the Commission has blocked EU money for Hungary.

“EU funds would be the first item on our agenda,” the Tisza Party president said after a Székesfehérvár rally. “It’s a key task to emulate Tusk in preparing and negotiating that. We need that money.”

With the recession-ridden economy, the politician said that

a "fresh start" was needed

after successive years of missing fiscal and economic growth targets. At this point, the news agency mentions that the government has often resorted to imposing special taxes as a solution to tackle fiscal slippages.

“A new government with more predictable economic policies would win back the trust of markets if it doesn’t change laws daily or doesn’t seek to penalize foreign investors,” Péter Magyar said in the interview. He expects that the country's risk premium will then fall, and he believes that government debt will be much cheaper to refinance. He said that the money would be used to finance areas he considers neglected, such as health and education.

The politician also spoke about the possible adoption of the euro.

We want a predictable forint exchange rate and we’d like to have a date for joining the euro area,

Péter Magyar noted. The domestic currency hit a new two-year low in Monday's trading.

“I know the euro has advantages and disadvantages,” Magyar said. “But it gives stability and predictability for the markets, for Hungarian entrepreneurs and Hungarians", he added in conclusion.