Hungary's opposition flags 'New Deal' to kickstart stagnating economy

NAGYKANIZSA, Hungary (Reuters) -Hungary's opposition leader Peter Magyar said on Saturday his Tisza party will launch a "Hungarian New Deal" to revive the stagnating economy with massive investment and predictable policy if it wins elections next year.

Magyar, whose centre-right party has a firm lead over the ruling Fidesz in most opinion polls, poses the biggest political challenge to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who after 15 years in power finds himself struggling to boost the inflation-hit economy.

The risk of steep U.S. tariffs on EU imports also looms large over recovery prospects and Saturday's announcement of 30% tariffs on the EU by President Donald Trump is bad news for the Central European country.

Magyar announced his Hungarian New Deal plan to supporters at his party's congress in the western city of Nagykanizsa.

"We need economic growth, investments, predictable financial and economic policy in Hungary," Magyar said, adding that Tisza would crack down on corruption and buy back state assets that he said had been stolen over the past 15 years.

The main pillars of Tisza's plan will be a major healthcare reform with additional funding of 500 billion forints ($1.5 billion) annually, a large-scale rental flat and home construction programme, a modernisation of state railways using EU and national funds, and investments in energy efficiency for households and in education.

Magyar, a former government insider who burst into Hungarian politics last year, again pledged to unlock some 20 billion euros of suspended EU funds that Hungary has not received for years due to clashes between Brussels and Orban over a perceived erosion of democracy and corruption -- accusations that Orban denies.

The parliamentary election is set to take place early next year, though no date has been set. In June parliament passed Orban's 2026 election year budget, including steep tax cuts for families, a key demographic group for Fidesz.

"People are fed up with this regime. And Tisza is a kind of 'collecting party' which stood behind all this (discontent). People want change," said Edit Piroska Borsi, a retired teacher at the congress.

($1 = 341.6200 forints)

(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Additional reporting by Krisztina Fenyo; Editing by Hugh Lawson)