The European sanctions policy and the withholding of EU catch-up resources greatly affect disadvantaged people, including the Roma, in Hungary - according to a statement given to Mandiner by Attila Sztojka, the government commissioner responsible for Roma relations.
Hungary and its disadvantaged people, including tens of thousands of Roma, are being hit hard by Brussels' sanctions policy - stated Attila Sztojka, Member of Parliament (Fidesz-KDNP), the government commissioner responsible for Roma relations, based on the assumption that energy and food prices, inflation in general this is his main stimulus.
According to the government commissioner, it is therefore vitally important that the utility reduction initiated by the government continues to apply to disadvantaged people, who typically consume at the level of average consumption. This provides them with a daily safety net, as well as bringing basic food items under a price limit.
Attila Sztojka recalled: due to the basic living situation of those who need to catch up, as a result of the inevitable market processes caused by the sanctions, despite the carefully defined price restrictions, the expenditure side is larger. This is where the bad effects of sanctions appear the most. At the same time, according to him, whoever speaks disparagingly about the price limiting measures necessary for basic subsistence is playing for daily political gain.
He also drew attention to the fact that the withholding of development resources from the European Union budget between 2021-27 also makes life difficult for the disadvantaged. According to him, in this field it is blatantly obvious that the criticisms of our country aimed at the use of resources are illegitimate. After all, the effectiveness of the use is faithfully shown by the social utility, above all by the large increase in the level of employment and the definite improvement in the proportion of those who obtain a school education for the affected strata.
"If we look at the professional and political results of catching up - he detailed - it is clear that the development resources devoted to this in the last ten years have achieved their goal, as the number of people living in poverty has not automatically decreased by almost one million people, and the level of employment has also increased by the same number of people. If I narrow the phenomenon down to the Roma, there are 50 percent more people working among the Roma than in 2010. In none of the three decades of regime change did so many Roma work and in such a proportion!"
He added that increasing the number of jobs was far from enough for success; it was also necessary to enable the disadvantaged to integrate into the world of work. This was supplemented by EU resources and programs, because, as he said, Hungarian policy thought in terms of a complex support system and adopted measures reflecting this. "After all, in order for, say, a Gypsy row person to hold a job, he must have adequate housing, to mention just one of the basics," he explained.
Read the full Mandiner article
Author: István Joó
Picture: Dávid Mátrai
