Miklós Tamás Gáspár on dismantling the welfare state

A few weeks ago, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány announced the introduction of a "work test" for the unemployed aimed at establishing who is competent to work and who is not. In future only those who are willing to do community service are to receive government benefits. According to philosopher Miklós Tamás Gáspár, this will dismantle the last remnants of the welfare state: "This is a historical step - back into the 18th century when joblessness (or 'hanging about with criminal intent') was an offence for which people were punished, for example by being sentenced to doing community service. ... This is what the introduction of the work test aims to do. The welfare system used to play a protective role; now it's suddenly supposed to adopt a policing function and exclude as many people as possible from the impoverished welfare structures and block all remaining escape routes through controls and harassment."

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