The National Assembly approved next year’s budget by just two votes shortly before midnight on Thursday, ending a 14-hour session that saw the governing Civic Union’s majority come within a whisker of collapse. The final tally was 76 in favor and 74 against.
Outside, several hundred public-sector union members had gathered in front of the Assembly building since the afternoon. Police formed a cordon at the steps, and the protest remained peaceful.
How the votes fell
The Civic Union holds 73 of the Assembly’s 150 seats. It secured a majority only after three members of the Green Alliance voted with the government, breaking with their party, which had announced it would abstain. The opposition Progress Party voted against as a bloc.
The three Green Alliance members said their decision followed a late concession: an extra 120 million euros for public transport and home insulation.
I didn’t come here to make a statement. I came to get buses running and homes warmer. Tonight, we got both.
Lea Maric, Green Alliance member of the National Assembly
What’s in the budget
The budget raises health care spending by 6 percent, gives public-sector workers a 3 percent pay rise and freezes fuel taxes for another year. The government expects the deficit to fall to 2.9 percent of economic output.
Finance minister Daniel Kovacs defended the plan as “responsible and fair” in his closing speech, saying it protected household incomes without adding to long-term debt.
Progress Party leader Irena Holm called the result a “budget bought at the last minute”. “A government that needs midnight deals to pass its central law does not have a majority, it has a problem,” she told reporters in the Assembly lobby.
Anger outside
The unions protesting outside wanted a 5 percent pay rise and warned that the approved increase would not keep up with living costs. “We’ll be back,” said Tomas Brenner, head of the largest public-sector union, as the crowd began to disperse after the result was announced.
The budget now goes to the head of state for signature and is expected to take effect on January 1. The Green Alliance leadership said it would meet next week to discuss the three members who broke ranks.
Comments 3
Say what you want, but the Greens got real money for buses out of it.
Two votes. That tells you everything about how fragile this government is.
3 percent doesn’t even cover my rent increase this year. The unions are right.