BUDAPEST (Reuters) – A thousand Hungarians marched against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government on Saturday, facing a series of small demonstrations aimed at protesting the increase in taxes on small businesses.
The nationalist leader faces the most difficult period since taking power in 2010, with inflation at its highest for two decades, a forint at its lowest against the euro and a drop in allocations from the European Union, which blames Budapest. choices deemed anti-democratic.
Despite the blocking of a Budapest bridge on Tuesday, the government has raised the tax rate for hundreds of thousands of small businesses.
On Wednesday, the authorities also revised the ceiling on the price of public services for households, in the midst of soaring electricity and gas prices linked to the war in Ukraine.
“I have an acquaintance who only heats himself with electricity. His monthly bill was 30,000 forints (75 dollars) until now, which is not much, but from now on he will pay 153,000,” said said Miklos Nyiri, a 70-year-old protester.
“It’s a withdrawal, so the pension will be swallowed up by the electricity bill,” he added, believing however that the modest-sized demonstrations would probably not force Viktor Orban to change course.
Saturday’s rally came at the call of small-town mayor Peter Marki-Zay, a member of the defeated opposition in April’s parliamentary elections.
The low turnout at the rally shows that despite dissatisfaction with the latest reforms, anti-government sentiment has struggled to gain ground even in Budapest.
Ildiko Hende, 52, a cleaner in a bank, also deplored the low mobilization.
“I’ve been working for over 30 years, but what’s going on in this country right now is hell incarnate,” she said.
Viktor Orban has capped the prices of fuel and certain staple foods, which does not prevent inflation from reaching its highest level in two decades, 11.7% year-on-year in June, which forced the bank central react.
The forint is collapsing against the euro, fueling inflationary pressures.
“I just want to be able to lead a normal life, without having to count pennies at the end of each month,” said Hende. “The prices are so high it drives you crazy.”
(Report Gergely Szakacs; French version Elizabeth Pineau)