Founded in 2009, Lehet Más A Politika (Politics Can Be Different) – the Hungarian green party – shares common ideologies with most of the green parties in the world. The political organization champions environmental protection, sustainable development and the fight against corruption. Their EP program points in the same direction.
Europe will either be green or not at all. This Lehet Más A Politika’s (LMP) motto, and unsurprisingly, the party’s EP program focuses heavily on climate change and environmental protection.
While introducing the party’s program to the press, LMP top candidate Gábor Vágó discussed the unprecedented threat the ongoing climate catastrophe presents to civilization.
In its program, the green party states that the EU needs a collective climate protection law. LMP supports a proposal backed by several EU member countries to spend a quarter of the EU’s finances on tackling climate change.
The Hungarian green party stresses the need to also transform energy production, propagating “Atomstop”. It also aims to improve air quality. In a recent radical proposal, the party would only allow electric cars and would replace discount airlines with high-speed trains from 2030.
In regards to social policies, the party would address Hungary’s “wage crisis” by introducing a common European minimum wage. It also encourages the closing of the economic gender gap as there are many workplaces that make childbearing impossible for women. The party propagates for the introduction of the so-called “Tobin tax”, an EU financial transaction tax (FTT). LMP promises its MEPs will work to stop corruption and ensure the transparent distribution of EU funds.
LMP expects at least two seats in the upcoming EP election. However, most surveys show that due to the five percent electoral threshold required to become eligible, sending even one MEP to the European Parliament might prove impossible for the party. Interestingly, in a recent interview, former LMP co-President Bernadett Szél stated she supports Opposition MSZP-P candidate Benedek Jávor over Gábor Vágó, further weakening the party.
In the featured photo LMP’s top candidate in EP elections Gábor Vágó. Photo by Tamás Kovács/MTI.