We released some of the funds, including a part of those intended for teachers. I consider the issue of teachers’ salaries a serious problem, since a nation is only as good as its teachers. They need to be adequately compensated, and I don’t understand countries that fail to do so. This decision was made after we had realised that we didn’t want to punish the teachers. The Hungarian government stated that a wage increase would happen once the funds were released. I agree that the Hungarian government hasn’t done enough in this regard, and we could have continued to press for answers. However, this money goes directly to the teachers, so we accepted what the Hungarian government did. The most important question, by the way, was the issue of monitoring teachers’ computers, whether employers could access them. Amendments were made in this regard. This was also the subject of a heated debate with the committee’s chairman as well. In the end, the deciding factor was that the teachers had indicated their need for a pay raise. We will check whether the money indeed goes to the teachers
– said Nicolas Schmit, the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, in a background conversation with 24.hu during his visit to Budapest. Schmit visited the Hungarian capital to speak at the congress held by the Democratic Coalition, the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), and Dialogue, supporting the Hungarian left-wing EP list. Schmit is the lead EP candidate of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the major left-wing political group in the European Parliament. In other words, if the socialists were to win the most seats in the EP elections, Schmit would be proposed for the position of President of the Commission.
Vörös Szilárd Nicolas Schmit at the campaign opening event of DK–MSZP–Párbeszéd in the Congress Center on April 14, 2024.