Charity begins at home: Hungary lawmakers vote unanimously to cut salaries by 40% in rare show of political austerity

Hungary’s parliament on Monday unanimously approved a sharp reduction in lawmakers’ salaries and allowances, backing Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s efforts to curb administrative spending and restore strained public finances.

All 189 lawmakers present in the 199-member National Assembly voted in favour of the bill submitted by the ruling Tisza party.

The legislation will reduce MPs’ monthly base salaries by 40%, bringing them down to around 3,690 euros before taxes from next month, according to AFP.

The move fulfils a key pledge by Magyar, who swept to power in April on promises of reform and tackling corruption.

Critics had long accused former prime minister Viktor Orban of maintaining high parliamentary salaries to placate opposition lawmakers.

Pay cuts extend beyond MPs

According to news agency AFP, the salary reductions will also apply to the prime minister, the parliamentary speaker and members of parliamentary committees. Reimbursements for mobile phone bills will be eliminated, while allowances for office rent, housing and staff will also be cut.

“Besides humanity, it is (about) self-restraint... and humility,” Magyar told broadcaster RTL last month while defending the measures.

As per The Budapest Times, the legislation also proposes reductions in support and budgetary resources allocated to parliamentary groups as part of a broader cost-cutting package.

Government seeks fiscal overhaul

The salary cuts come as Magyar’s government grapples with a large budget deficit inherited from the previous administration.

According to Reuters, Hungary’s budget recorded a 43.5 billion forint (€140 million) surplus in May, but the deficit for the first five months of the year still stood at 3.806 trillion forints, or 90.2% of the government’s full-year target.

Magyar has argued that the savings generated by the parliamentary cuts would equal a full year of operating costs over the legislature’s four-year term.

The government has also pledged anti-corruption reforms and a broader fiscal overhaul as it seeks to stabilise public finances and unlock billions of euros in European Union funding currently withheld over rule-of-law concerns.

Magyar has repeatedly linked Hungary’s fiscal difficulties to alleged corruption under Orban’s 16-year rule, while promising wider reforms aimed at increasing transparency and accountability.