Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Wednesday (12) that he will impose a price cap on six staple foods in an attempt to contain inflation. The decision comes less than three months before elections that could end the prime minister’s nearly 12-year term.
According to the conservative leader, the measure applies to wheat flour, sugar, milk, sunflower oil, pork leg and chicken breast. As of February, all markets in the country must resume selling these products at the price that was in effect on October 15th.
“Prices are rising across Europe due to an increase in energy prices,” Orbán explained in a video posted on Facebook after a government meeting. In the statement, the prime minister stressed that the measure aims to “protect Hungarian families”.
Inflation in Hungary has risen above the continent’s average. In November, the 12-month price increase was 7.4%, the highest in 14 years and above analysts’ expectations. In the same month, inflation in the euro zone was 4.9%, according to Eurostat, the bloc’s statistics agency – Hungary belongs to the European Union, but does not adopt the euro as its official currency.
Economists consulted by the Reuters news agency estimate that in December Hungarian inflation will be close to 7.2%; the average in the euro area should be 5%.
In November, Orbán had already set a cap of 480 guilders (R$8.60) on fuel prices for three months. The measure could still be extended, after a review scheduled for February. The prime minister also imposed a cap on mortgage interest, citing protection for borrowers, after the Hungarian central bank raised interest rates by a higher-than-expected rate.
The politician’s concern with the day-to-day economy takes place in the midst of preparations for national elections, scheduled for April 3. This is expected to be the fiercest election since the rightist took power in 2010.
In October, six opposition parties announced the launch of a single candidate, as a way of trying to win votes from various political wings. After a two-round vote, the choice was the conservative Péter Márki-Zay, 49, mayor of the city of Hódmezövásárhely, 170 km from Budapest, and considered a stronghold of Orbán’s Fidesz party.
In 2018, in the municipal elections, he also led a front of parties to defeat the acronym of the central government. This Tuesday, after the premier’s announcement, Márki-Zay said that setting a price ceiling is admitting that the economy is in a “tragic state”.
“An atrocious government that starts fighting prices in the last 12 weeks of its 12-year rule, with a majority [parlamentar] two-thirds should leave,” he said in a Facebook post. He also promised, if he wins the election, to set the tax on staple foods at 5%.
The broad opposition alliance is seen as the only way to overthrow Orbán, as in power he promoted reforms that altered the electoral system, in order to control two-thirds of Parliament even though he received 42% of the vote in the 2014 election.
Due to this distortion, as a result of the reduction in the number of electoral districts and the alteration of the perimeters of the constituencies to favor Fidesz (the so-called “gerrymandering”), the front needs to do more than choose a single candidate if it wants to evict Orbán.
The plans are to release just one name in each of the 106 electoral districts and a common list for the other 93 seats in Parliament, as well as a joint electoral program. The Democratic Coalition, the Socialists, the liberals and the conservatives of Jobbik, now considered center-right, but which was once ultra-rightist, form part of the front.
Research so far does not allow predicting the outcome of the April election. According to the news website Politico, Orbán’s party currently has 49% of the voting intentions, against 45% of the opposition front.
Amid the organization of rivals, the prime minister also multiplied, in October, the transfer of funds to pro-government social media accounts, according to the independent website Telex. Part of the money went to the Megafone Center, touted as a sort of “hate office” in the premier’s circle.
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