“At the same time, we also vigorously protest all decisions that go against the interests of the Hungarian people,” the statement signed by the Democratic Coalition, Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, the Socialists and Párbeszéd said.

The statement said the Orbán government “is about to enshrine into law the turning of public funds into private fortunes and the theft of public monies.”

The opposition insisted that a package of bills submitted to parliament by Andrea Mager, the minister responsible for managing state assets, proposed setting up a company to “manage residual assets”, with the sole purpose of “removing non-strategic assets from the public domain swiftly, cheaply and efficiently”.

“Orbán et al are carrying on with the privatisation wave they started during the second wave of the pandemic, which already involves hundreds of billions of forints — they are ready to take everything they can move,” the statement said.

Referring to next year’s elections, the parties pledged to “take back the country from the ruling elite … restore democracy, the rule of law and the independent judiciary, and give public assets back to Hungarians!”