“The ‘Stop Orbán’ protest held on Tuesday in Brussels by the Radical European Democrats (RED) is not about Hungary’s new labour code. It’s not about Hungary’s judicial system. It’s not about rule of law and democracy. This is the Soros network, the international Left engaged in a concerted campaign effort, desperate to find some sliver of hope for their own electoral chances and to smear a popular, democratically elected government that staunchly opposes immigration and insists on national sovereignty”, State Secretary for International Communications and Relations Zoltán Kovács said in a blog post on the abouthungary.hu website.

“Anyone who has bothered to look at the details of the law, can see that the claims of our political opponents are a farce. The new rules make it possible for employees to voluntarily work more overtime hours”, the State Secretary emphasised.

Citing a chart on overtime published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), he explained that the new rules are taking Hungary closer to the OECD average, “but if you’re worried about ‘slavery’ you should probably look at some of those other labour markets”.

“The Hungarian Justice system has long been a part of the Austrian and German legal tradition, where the constitutional courts are clearly independent. These new courts would do nothing to undermine that”, Mr. Kovács stressed.

He strongly criticised the “unsavoury” coalition patched together by the parties taking part in the demonstration, which have compiled a common list for the European Parliamentary elections in May. These include the Hungarian socialists, the liberals and the greens, but also the “far-right, anti-Semitic anti-Roma” Jobbik party. Yes, the same party, whose vice president once called for a list to be drawn up “to find out how many MPs or government officials of Jewish origin there are who pose a certain national security threat.”, Mr. Kovács pointed out.

“For years, Leftists, the liberal media establishment, and the pro-migration Brussels elite have tried to smear the Orbán Government as ‘anti-Semitic’ and ‘xenophobic’. Sargentini even had the audacity to include a passage about ‘rights of persons belonging to minorities, including Roma and Jews’ in her report. But what do they do when Hungary’s left cosies up to the real xenophobes? They simply turn a blind eye”, Mr. Kovács added.

(MTI)