He said ending corruption is a necessary “0 step” and more money must be spent on health care and education. “While Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has a craze for football, my craze would be health services and hospitals,” he said.

Vona said he was planning a fair and sustainable pension system and differentiated pension increases would be necessary to make sure that small and medium pensions do not lose their purchasing power. The Jobbik leader described migration an “alarming threat” but added that emigration is “tragic reality”.

The reason Hungarians go to live abroad today is not because they are after adventures, he insisted. If Jobbik enters government, “radical help” will be offered to career starters and for home creation because there is no future without young people in Hungary, he added.

Vona said that instead of joining forces with failed parties that have lost their credit and are responsible for the current situation, Jobbik must join forces with the people that want a change in government. Ruling Fidesz said in response that Vona had “sold” and corrupted Jobbik.

Referring to Lajos Simicska, a businessman with media and advertising interests and once a key figure in Fidesz until he fell out with Orbán, Fidesz said that the “Jobbik- Simicska corruption” has negated not only Jobbik’s former nationalist policies but also raises the suspicion of crime and illegal party financing.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Szigetváry Zsolt