"The government is very supportive and respectful of pensioners, so we are grateful that they are helping us again," Roza Lang Murvai, president of the National Civic Association of Retirees (ONYPE), told Magyar Nemzet. She said that the government had decided that old-age pensioners and people receiving early retirement benefits can also apply for home renovation grants in municipalities with a population of less than 5,000.
ONYPE president stressed that, like the payment of the 13th month pension due in February, this is a great help for pensioners, with which the government is providing major support to around 420,000 elderly people.
They need to replace their windows or modernize their heating system just as much as the under-25s do, and would find it difficult to do it otherwise. "As a retiree leader, I have spoken to quite a few of my fellow pensioners, and they are all very happy about this initiative," she said.
Equal Conditions
She added that they consider it excellent that retirees can access the support under the same conditions as younger applicants, meaning they can receive up to three million forints (about 75 hundred euros), half of which can be used for material costs and the other half for labor expenses. Most retirees meet the requirements: they own at least 50% of the property, have no criminal record, and typically do not have outstanding public debts exceeding 5,000 forints (about 13 euros), as they diligently fulfill their payment obligations.
The belief that rural pensioners are all old-fashioned and lagging behind is untrue. They are a very intelligent, hard-working and reliable group of people, and society needs them. The extension of home renovation support is a major step forward in the lives of retirees, further proving how much the government values them,
Lang Murvai emphasized.
Peter Magyar Against Retirees
However, not everyone respects and values retirees as much as the current government. According to reports, Peter Magyar's Tisza Party seeks to deprive the elderly of their well-deserved benefits, as party politicians have repeatedly opposed the 13th-month pension and supported calls for restriction of it in the European Parliament.
Tisza Party's program writer, Maria Zita Petschnig, recently openly criticized this type of benefit. Her statements align with the policies of the anti-Hungarian European People’s Party led by Manfred Weber and the Brussels elite that supports war and migration. Peter Magyar’s politics increasingly resemble the failed leftist Gyurcsany–Bajnai era in Hungary, during which the 13th-month pension was also discontinued for retirees.
