Will Jobbik declare bankruptcy?
February 4th, 2019As Jobbik is brought to the brink of insolvency by fines meted out for illegal campaign financing, two pro-government outlets accuse Jobbik’s leadership of selling out it principles – and incompetence, to boot.
On Thursday, the State Audit Office fined Jobbik again for illicit campaign financing. Including the earlier fines (see BudaPost December 11, 2017), Jobbik has been ordered to pay fines totalling 1 billion Forints (€3.15 million). On Friday, Jobbik leader Tamás Sneider called an extraordinary party congress. He warned that among other business, the congress may discuss whether the Jobbik party and its Parliamentary faction should dissolve itself.
Magyar Idők’s Ferenc Kis believes that its leadership has driven Jobbik into a deep moral and financial crisis. The pro-government columnist finds it peculiar that after violating campaign finance regulations, Jobbik leader accuses the State Audit Office of not respecting democratic rules. Kis contends that the Jobbik leadership wants to use the opportunity to blame Jobbik’s failure to boost its popularity on the government through fomenting hysteria. Kis uses the opportunity to claim that the Jobbik leadership is completely incompetent and is in league with the “enemies of the Hungarian nation” whenever its interests deem this necessary. As for the party’s potential insolvency, Kis recalls that the former liberal party, the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) also had to dissolve itself, after it was buried under mountainous debts.
In Figyelő, Gergő Máté Tokaji hopes that Jobbik will go insolvent and “end up in the dustbin of history” next to the former SZDSZ. The pro-government columnist accuses Jobbik of irresponsibly spending both public money, as well as the donations of its supporters who offered the party more than 100 million in Forints to cover the previous fines meted out by the State Audit Office. Tokaji claims that the dissolution of Jobbik would be good riddance for the Hungarian society.