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Hungarian Parliament votes to give Orban an almost 100% pay rise
The Hungarian Parliament has passed a law that nearly doubles Viktor Orban’s wage from 2.8 million forints ($7,380) to 4.8 million ($ 12,647). The Prime Minister’s salary is now ten times the Hungarian average and more than twenty times the minimum wage in the country, according to the Hungarian outlet, Telex. The raise comes at a time when the Central European country is suffering from a record high inflation.
The proposal also includes paragraphs about other members of the government. Under the new law, the salaries of the political director of the Prime Minister, the State Secretary, the Government Commissioner, and other high-ranking government members will be decided by Orban.
Meanwhile, the bill would cut the financial subsidies of the opposition parties by half.
Ukrainians disklike Hungarian PM the most after Putin and Lukashenka, survey finds
According to a new survey by the Ukrainian pollster Rating, Ukrainians have the most negative attitude towards Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban after Vladimir Putin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Respondents had the most favorable opinion of Polish President Andrzej Duda (92 percent), British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (89 percent), and US President Joe Biden (89 percent).
Ukrainians had the most unfavorable view of Putin (98 percent) and Lukashenka (95 percent). The Belarusian and Russian presidents were followed by Viktor Orban in this ranking, with 33 percent of respondents having a comprehensively negative attitude towards him and 20 percent having a negative one. Only 5 percent had an altogether positive attitude towards the Hungarian Prime Minister.
Investigative outlet reveals scale of wealth accumulated by Hungarian PM’s family
Viktor Orban’s father, Győző Orbán has been able to withdraw billions in dividends from the company (Dolomit Kft) he owns the majority of, Hungarian investigative outlet G7 reports. Last year, he received 953.6 million forints ( $ 2,507,793) in dividends.
The Prime Minister’s son-in-law, István Tiborcz’s firm, BDPST Zrt. has allegedly made an after-tax profit of 12 billion forints last year. The investigative outlet stated that he earned about 8 billion forints since 2015. Family members of the prime minister mentioned earlier have profited from funds received through government-funded projects.
Zelensky calls Orban to discuss Ukraine's EU accession
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to discuss Kyiv's bid to join the European Union (EU) on Tuesday.
According to Bertalan Havasi, the press chief of Orban's office, the Hungarian PM confirmed his country's support for Ukraine's EU candidate status, Hungarian State News Agewncy Office (MTI) writes.
Orban reportedly said the EU should remove the bureaucratic obstacles to Ukraine's EU accession as soon as possible. Havasi said the PM intends to represent this position at the upcoming EU summit.
Orban told Zelensky that Hungary has already welcomed almost 800,000 Ukrainian refugees and that his government is ready for continued cooperation in further energy projects, Orban's press chief said. On behalf of the people of Ukraine, Zelensky thanked the Hungarian people for their help.
The phone call signals ease of tensions between the two leaders.