Zuschlag Says He Was Bribed By Socialists Not To Run In 2006 Election
Budapest, March 7 (MTI) – Former Socialist politician Janos Zuschlag, who was sentenced to prison for graft, said he had been bribed by the Socialist party in 2006 to step down as a parliamentary candidate. The opposition Socialist Party and Democratic Coalition both denied the accusations as false.
The Socialists, when learning that he was planning on running for office again in 2006, after giving back his mandate two years earlier, gave Zuschlag 50 million forints (EUR 161,780) in cash so that he would step down from the candidacy, Zuschlag told Friday’s business daily Napi Gazdasag in an interview.
Zuschlag had to return his mandate in 2004 for making a joke about the victims of the Holocaust at an official commemoration.
Later he was given a prison sentence of eight and a half years by a county court for siphoning off state funds totalling around 75 million forints (EUR 242,000) and channeling them into the Socialist party’s youth organisations. A Szeged court reduced the sentence to six years and Zuschlag was released in September last year. He and seven of 15 associates were convicted of setting up a network of local foundations in the mid-1990s and appointing trusted colleagues to head them with a view to embezzling state funds.
Zuschlag told Napi Gazdasag that when youth minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, former prime minister and now leader of the Democratic Coalition, had known about misdeeds in his office.
“Gyurcsany knew about everything, he had a say in everything and signed everything,” Zuschlag told the paper. He said that when Gyurcsany was in charge of tenders at the Ministry of Children, Youth and Sports, there were bids which “had to come out as winners” and the minister knew about this.
Zuschlag said that when an investigation started against him in 2004 for a long time he was not worried. Things only turned serious in 2007, when his home was searched and everyone “was nervous” then, he said, adding that Ildiko Lendvai, the head of the Socialists’ parliamentary group at the time, was worried that the case could go further up.
He said that another 50 million forints paid to the court in compensation was administered by his lawyer, and he did not ask for this.
“My lawyer came and said he had transferred 50 million forints from his lawyer’s account for compensation of damages,” he said, adding that the money probably came from a safe at the Socialists’ headquarters. Zuschlag said he had seen the safe and it looked like it contained a few hundred million forints in cash, which in his opinion were there to fund “fishy deals and the party leader’s campaigns”.
He said that the reason he decided to give an interview was the recent Gabor Simon case. He said it was shocking that the same party leaders who “had made a scapegoat out of me without reservations […] are still corrupt to the core”. He insisted that it is not possible Simon could have gained access to that much money alone.
Simon quit his post as the party’s deputy leader and gave up his seat in parliament in February, after reports that he had undeclared assets worth 240 million forints (EUR 780,000) held on an Austrian bank account.
Zsolt Greczy, a spokesman for the Democratic Coalition, told MTI that “a criminal” had been interviewed by the head of a research institute close to the ruling Fidesz party, Gabor Fodor G., which was a “strange” attempt at credibility.
He added that Zuschlag did not take the opportunity to prove his accusations when he was charged or even during his trial. At the same time the recordings made at his hearings are posted on the internet, revealing that Zuschlag had argued that Gyurcsany was not supportive of his corrupt dealings.
Bernadett Budai, a spokesperson for the Socialist party, said not a single word of Zuschlag’s was true. She told a press conference that Fidesz interests were behind the attempt to “warm up a ten-year old case”. She also charged the interview’s author with bias towards the governing Fidesz party and suggested that perhaps Zuschlag was advertising his book to be published next week.
The ruling Fidesz party awaits answers to the questions raised in the Zuschlag interview, the party’s spokesperson Gabriella Selmeczi, told a press conference. She said the party was “very surprised” to hear Zuschlag’s new story and are waiting for an explanation from the Socialists.
The radical nationalist Jobbik party said it was filing criminal complaints on several grounds regarding the interview that appeared in Friday’s Napi Gazdasag. Janos Volner, the party’s deputy leader, told a press conference that Jobbik will urge the government to start an investigation into how the left could be “dishing out money by the hundred millions” and whether the funds had any connection with organised crime.
Photo: www.parameter.sk
Fidesz loses, Jobbik gains support in February
Budapest, March 6 (MTI) – The radical nationalist Jobbik party has raised its voter support while Fidesz lost some of it and the opposition Unity alliance stayed unchanged, according to the latest poll published by Median.
Fidesz still leads at 36 percent, as against 23 percent support for Unity, 14 percent for Jobbik and 3 percent for LMP, on the whole voter sample, the poll said.
Every second respondent said they wanted a change of government while 40 percent want the Orban cabinet to stay in place.
Among voters with a clear party preference, Fidesz leads 49 to 30 percent against Unity. Jobbik had 18 percent and LMP 3 percent in this voter group. Fidesz’s support dropped from 52 percent in January in the same group, while Unity had 30 percent, Jobbik 14 percent and LMP 2 percent.
The proportion of people who did not have or did not disclose their party preference dropped from 24 percent in January to 23 percent in February. Willingness to take part in the vote stood at 57 percent, up from 40 percent the same time last year, Median said.
The majority of voters who have not chosen a party to vote for want a change in government, which is not surprising, given that they are the ones who may find it harder to choose where to cast their opposition vote, Median’s analysis said.
Respondents were well aware of the case of Gabor Simon, a senior Socialist official who left the party and his parliamentary mandate after accusations of graft. Fully 91 percent had heard about the case and 57 percent believed it would have a negative impact on the left’s chances in the election. At the same time 53 percent of respondents said there were similar cases or even more serious at among politicians of every political party, including Fidesz.
The percentage of voters who rated the government’s performance favourably dropped from 44 in January to 40 percent in February. The rate of respondents who see things going in the right direction fell from 40 to 36 percent.
The politicians’ popularity list was topped by President Janos Ader, followed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Jobbik leader Gabor Vona was ranked 7th, Attila Mesterhazy, leader of the Socialist party, 9th and Gordon Bajnai, leader of the electoral alliance E14-PM 10th.
The poll was conducted on Feb. 21-25 on a sample of 1,200.
Photo: Facebook – Béli Balázs, lorincimagazin.blog.hu, MTI
Election 2014 – Record Number Of National Lists: Thirty-one National Party Submitted
(MTI) – A total of 31 national party lists had been submitted to the National Election Office (NVI) by the Tuesday afternoon deadline. Additionally, all 13 national minorities had also submitted their lists.
Accordingly, a record number of national lists — 44 in all — is expected to apply in this year’s national election scheduled for April 6. The 31 parties concerned include the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance, the opposition left-of-centre Unity alliance (comprising the Socialist Party, Together – Party for a New Era, Democratic Coalition, Dialogue for Hungary and the Liberal Party), the radical nationalist Jobbik and the green Politics Can Be Different (LMP). Non-parliamentary forces entering a national list include the Social Democratic Civic Party, the Democratic Community of Welfare and Freedom (the successor to the Hungarian Democratic Forum MDF), the Homeland Not For Sale Party, Maria Seres’s Allies and ex-Socialist Katalin Szili’s Community for Social Justice.
The 13 national minority lists were submitted by the Armenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian and Ukrainian communities.
Under Hungary’s election law, parties that enter individual candidates in at least 27 constituencies in nine counties and Budapest can field a national list. Should it turn out that a party submitting a national list has fewer candidates than that, its name will not be put on the voting slip. Until 7pm on Tuesday, NVI has registered 1,269 individual candidates in the 106 constituencies. Fidesz, Unity and Jobbik will enter a candidate in each constituency, followed by LMP with 97 constituencies.
Photo: kapcsolat.hu
Election 2014 – State has paid out HUF 657bn for company stakes, says opposition
Budapest, March 4 (MTI) – Between 2010 and 2013 the state has spent 657 billion forints (EUR 2.1bn) on buying stakes in companies and wasting taxpayers’ money in the process, opposition E-PM politician Gabor Scheiring told a news conference today.
In the meantime, the business partners of Prime Minister Viktor Orban have “done very well” out of the deals, he insisted.
The lawmaker qualified by parliamentary rules as an independent, noted among the purchases the state’s stake in oil and gas company MOL, which falls into the category of a “straightforward loss”, given that the stake cost 500 billion forints and that “to the present day, there is now a non-realised loss of around 214 billion forints” for the state.
Scheiring said the “political gambling” has cost the taxpayers billions in other ways, as, for example, when it bought the gas businesses of E.ON and MOL. In the case of E.ON 260 billion had been set aside in the budget. According to the estimates of experts, the state massively overpaid for the business, he said, adding that the goal of the prime minister had been to free up gas contained in reserves in order to artificially push down prices.
Among the “gentleman’s hobbies” of Orban, he mentioned the purchase of Ferencvaros soccer stadium and related construction costing the state 12.4 billion forints.
Fidesz, responding to the charges in a statement, said that unlike the previous government led by Ferenc Gyurcsany, the current government had been making efforts to “regain”, maintain and further develop national assets. By contrast, the Gyurcsany-led government merely “sold off, stole and privatised” them, Fidesz said.
Photo: parbeszedmagyarorszagert.hu
Election 2014 – Jobbik national list registered for April general election
(MTI) – The national list of radical nationalist Jobbik, headed by party leader Gabor Vona, was registered by the National Election Committee on Saturday.
Under Hungary’s election law, parties that enter individual candidates in at least 27 constituencies in nine counties and Budapest can field a national list.
The National Election Committee said 105 candidates of Jobbik had been registered by committees in individual constituencies by Saturday morning.
At its Saturday meeting, the committee also registered the national lists of the Romanian and Armenian minorities. The National Election Office had already registered four minorities earlier this week: the Polish, German, Ruthenian and Serbian minorities’ lists.
The deadline for announcing national lists is 4pm on March 4.
Photo: MTI
Unity pledges “modern, European” republic
(MTI) – Hungary’s leftist parties have formed the Unity alliance to build a “fair, modern, European new republic”, Socialist leader Attila Mesterhazy, Unity’s prime minister candidate, told an election rally in western Hungary’s Zalaegerszeg on Friday.
Parties of the Left want to recreate “democracy, justice, welfare, economic growth and new jobs”, Mesterhazy said.
Concerning the government’s recently publishing reports concerning former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany’s “lies speech” in 2006, Mesterhazy said that “such attacks will only make Unity stronger”, and suggested that the interior ministry had published selected information as seen necessary by the ruling parties.
On the subject of the government’s utilities cuts programme, the Socialist leader said that the scheme was “unjust and not sustainable” but rejected allegations that the Left, should it win the elections, would want to reverse it. The Socialists propose that the cuts should be tied to incomes or consumption, and support that European funds should be used to assist residents in insulating their homes or installing modern ways of heating, he added.
Unemployment is Hungary’s greatest problem, Mesterhazy said, and insisted that the next government should help create jobs that ensure decent wages to employees. Unity wants to significantly increase the number of new jobs and build a knowledge-based economy, rather than making Hungary “an assembly plant”, he said.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Four National Minority Lists Registered For April 6
(MTI) – The national lists of four minorities in Hungary have been registered for the April 6 parliamentary election, the National Election Committee (NVB) said on Thursday afternoon.
Related article: Quick Guide To The Upcoming Election In Hungary
The national list of the Polish minority was the first to be registered by the NVB, on Tuesday. The lists include that of the German, the Rusin and the Serb minorities, the NVB said.
Under Hungary’s new election procedures law, in order to send a so-called minority spokesperson to the country’s next parliament it is enough if one of their registered voters casts a valid vote on April 6 for the minority’s list.
The spokespersons will have the sole right to address the assembly. The deadline for announcing national lists is 4pm on March 4.
Photo: www.budaorsiinfo.hu
Jobbik calls on Fidesz, Socialists to stop “playground scrap”
Budapest, February 27 (MTI) – The ruling Fidesz and opposition Socialist parties should drop their “playground scrap” over the leaking of the infamous “lies speech” of former PM Ferenc Gyurcsany, leader of radical nationalist Jobbik Gabor Vona told a press conference today.
Fidesz and the Socialists had better come up with election programmes instead, Vona said. He called on Attila Mesterhazy, the left-of-centre Unity alliance’s prime-minister candidate, and Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the leader of Fidesz, to debate him in public.
Neither the ruling party nor the Socialists have anything to tell voters and were engaged in mud-slinging instead, he said. Jobbik, on the other hand, wants to win votes through its programme and a “positive campaign”, Vona said.
A government office under the authority of the minister of the interior recently published parts of an official report on the 2006 “lies speech” Gyurcsany, a Socialist prime minister and current leader of the Democratic Coalition, unleashing a storm of protest from opposition parties, who accused the government of campaign opportunism.
Photo: MTI
Quick Guide To The Upcoming Election In Hungary
According to President János Áder’s announcement, parliamentary elections in Hungary are to be held on 6 April, at the earliest possible date. With a supermajority in Hungarian legislation, the Fidesz-KDNP coalition and its landslide victory in 2010 marked a major turning point in Hungarian politics. Although 2013 saw an increase in the number of political parties and the cooperation of the left wing parties running for the elections with a joint party list was born , a recent poll suggests that support for Fidesz remains strong .
This year’s elections will be full of novelties as a result of a new law passed in 2011. Only 199 MPs (earlier: 386) will be elected in one round instead of two: 106 MPs will be chosen from individual electoral districts and 93 from national lists. The most criticised part of the law allegedly sets up electoral districts in a way that favours the governing parties. For the first time, all Hungarian citizens can vote: no registered permanent address or place of residence is required anymore, you only have to register!
The minority list was introduced to empower minorities to send representatives to Parliament. In this way, among the 93 MPs elected from national lists, there will be a few minority representatives, probably one or two. If a minority does not obtain any seats, they will have the opportunity to send a minority spokesman to the National Assembly.
Instead of nomination slips, signatures are collected.
There will be no pause in election campaigns anymore.
The major challenger of the coalition government will be the recently founded left wing electoral alliance often referred to as ‘Unity’ (Hungarian Socialist Party, Together – PM Alliance, Democratic Coalition, Liberals and Dialogue for Hungary) led by Attila Mesterhazy. The other challenger is Gabor Vona, Jobbik’s prime minister candidate.
The ruling parties are supported by 38%, the Tárki survey published yesterday in Hungary Matters (MTI) reports. “Parties of the leftist Unity alliance enjoy a combined 21%, unchanged from January. The radical nationalist Jobbik party has also increased its support from 8 percent to 15. Four percent said they preferred the opposition LMP party (up from 1 percent in January). Among decided voters, 49 percent voiced support for Fidesz (unchanged), and 27 percent for Unity, down 8 percent from January. In this group, 14 percent supported Jobbik in January, and 19 in February. LMP has also increased their voter base from 2 percent to 6”, MTI said.
Written by Magdolna Magonyi
Photo: www.budaorsiinfo.hu
Election 2014 – ‘Unity’ joint national list registered after Fidesz-Christian Democrats
(MTI) – The joint national list of the opposition Socialists, E14, DK, PM and the Liberal Party, led by Socialist leader Attila Mesterhazy, was registered for the April general election by the National Election Committee on Tuesday.
Under Hungary’s election law, parties that enter individual candidates in at least 27 constituencies in nine counties and Budapest can field a national list.
The National Election Committee said 81 candidates of the left-wing alliance had been registered by committees in individual constituencies by Tuesday.
The deadline for announcing national lists is 4pm on March 4.
The joint list of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats was registered on 21 February.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Bokros’s Moma to support Unity from outside
Budapest, February 19 (MTI) – The Movement for a Modern Hungary (Moma), headed by one-time Socialist finance minister Lajos Bokros, will support the parties of the Unity alliance under an agreement discussed today.
Bokros, who is now a conservative MEP, said his party would support Unity from the outside but would not run on the alliance’s party list or field individual candidates in the April 6 election. He added that the agreement did not involve the European parliamentary elections.
Attila Mesterhazy, the Socialist party leader and prime minister candidate for Unity, said that the alliance’s goals include restoring constitutional rule, a proportionate, two-round election system, propping up economic growth and eliminating corruption.
Bokros said as a centre-right, conservative party, the Moma has disagreements with the left, but it is Unity that is most likely to restore constitutional order in the country, as the left had not once attempted to dismantle it since the transition to democracy, Bokros said.
Photo: MTI
Election 2014 – Bajnai: Hungary’s future at stake
(MTI) – Hungarians will vote on their future on April 6, deciding whether the country becomes an ex-Soviet state, an “Orbanistan” or a normal, prospering, peaceful country, Gordon Bajnai, head of the E14-PM alliance, said on Monday.
Fidesz has started constructing “Orbanistan” but it needs another four years to complete the project and remain in power “for forty years”, the ex-premier told an election forum in Budapest.
Bajnai blamed Prime Minister Viktor Orban for having diverted the country from the road it had embarked on after its transition to democracy over two decades ago.
Commenting Orban’s state-of-the-nation address on Sunday, Bajnai said the prime minister was not telling the truth when he spoke about growing employment.
In reality “unemployment has been renamed to public work”, while the private sector is employing fewer workers than during the deepest crisis, he said.
Bajnai also challenged Orban’s statement about the decrease in public debt. In fact, public debt has increased by 4,000-5,000 billion forints (EUR 13-16bn) since 2010 even if the Paks investment project is not taken into account, he said.
Bajnai criticised President Janos Ader for having signed the law on upgrading the Paks nuclear power plant and the National Election Committee for having rejected E14-PM’s related referendum initiative.
Photo: MTI
OSCE to send limited observation mission to monitor April election
(MTI) – The OSCE’s mission visiting Hungary last month has recommended dispatching a Limited Election Observation Mission for the upcoming parliamentary election, according to a release posted on OSCE’s website.
After President Janos Ader called in January the parliamentary election for April 6, the Hungarian foreign ministry invited the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to observe the election, said OSCE.
In accordance with its mandate, the ODIHR undertook a Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) to Budapest from January 20 to 23 to assess the pre-election environment and the preparations for the elections, it said.
Members of the NAM met Hungarian state and ministry officials, representatives of the political parties and the National Election Office, as well as of the media and civil groups.
Based on these, the majority of the OSCE mission expressed confidence in the ability of the election administration to organise the ballot professionally. Many, however, expressed doubts as to the intention of the legal changes that lacked opposition support and could make the election process and the election campaign more complicated, OSCE said,
On this basis, the OSCE/ODIHR mission has recommended the deployment of a Limited Election Observation Mission for April 6.
While the mission would visit a limited number of polling stations on the day of the election, systematic observation of election day proceedings is not envisaged, OSCE said.
LMP unveils programme to “re-establish” higher education
(MTI) – The opposition LMP party has drafted a programme for putting Hungary’s higher education system on “right track” after a “downward path” during the past four-year term of the government, spokesman Erno Peto told a press conference on Sunday.
Listing concerns, lawmaker Agnes Osztolykan said that under Viktor Orban’s government, the number of fully state-funded university seats shrank, while the scope of paid-for courses expanded. Regulations were constantly altered, and restrictive conditions for students trained from public funds were first enshrined in a law and then in the constitution, she said.
The number of students applying for higher education dropped from 140,000 to 100,000, and of those admitted from 100,000 to 70,000, she said.
State funding for higher education decreased from 180-190 billion forints (EUR 582m-615m) in 2010 to 120-130 billion by the end of the governing cycle, she said.
LMP’s programme envisages spending 5-6 percent of the central budget on higher education and “opening wide the doors” of universities to ensure that four in every ten young Hungarians could earn a diploma, said Peto.
Further, LMP is for saving and developing universities in the countryside, scrapping tuition fees and restrictions on students on public funds, increasing the wages of higher education employees, as well as supporting student entrepreneurs, he said.
Photo: irasbelikerdes.blog.hu / Facebook
Orban: Economic performance best in over ten years
Budapest, February 16 (MTI) – Hungary’s economy has produced the best results in more than ten years, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said today.
Giving a state-of-the-nation address in Budapest’s Millenaris Teatrum, Orban said that public utility fees had been cut for the first time in forty years. Employment and the minimum wage have increased and the rate of inflation has dropped to a level unprecedented for decades. The economy is growing and the government has defended and even increased the value of pensions. The budget deficit has been kept under 3 percent of GDP for years, he added.
Orban said the victory of Fidesz in the 2010 election brought about the second change in regime in twenty years.
For twenty years, the post-communist system was unable to prove its advantages over the old system and people “got fed up with it” so a second change in regime was required, he said.
“Hungarians had to be organised into a new national and political community through the adoption of a new constitution. Hungary’s sovereignty had to be restored, order re-established and an agreement struck with the public to guarantee a new and fairer system for the distribution of burdens,”
The primary goal of the government was to strengthen the community because the pledge to a successful Hungary was a strong state and a capable government, he said.
Hungary has arrived at the threshold of a great era of prosperity, Orban said, encouraging voters “to cross that threshold together”.
Hungarians should insist on “straightforward talk”, without slipping back to the “world of circumlocution” when “a blatant lie” was interpreted as a failure to “unfurl all details of truth”, Orban said, referring to ex-premier Ferenc Gyurcsany’s “lies speech”.
Orban said that Hungarians are slowly regaining confidence.
“We have become fed up with the politics that always focussed on how to please the West, the bankers and the foreign press,”
“I am still astonished at seeing how they take their courage to tell us what to think, how to remember, what goals to set and what to do and what not,” he said.
Orban emphasised that there is still room for reducing labour taxes, cutting energy prices to the lowest level, giving a job to all who want to work, enabling all young people to attend good schools that give them a chance in life, and enabling young people to raise as many children as they want, the prime minister said in his 16th annual address.
Main opposition Socialist leader and prime ministerial candidate of the Unity alliance of left-wing parties Attila Mesterhazy described Orban’s state-of-the-nation address as “a mendacious and cowardly speech” which had nothing to do with reality and people’s current problems. The prime minister either has no idea about the condition of the country that he governs or he does not dare face reality. Mesterhazy said over the past four years living standards dropped for eight out of every ten Hungarians and four million people live below the poverty line, with 500,000 children suffering from hunger each day.
Radical nationalist Jobbik said that contrary to what Orban said, the second Fidesz government has been characterised by half a million Hungarians leaving the country, no solution for FX loan holders, failure to improve order and safety, and lack of accountability. Hungary stands at first place in Europe only in terms of the high VAT rate, spokeswoman Dora Duro said.
Small opposition LMP said Orban’s speech demonstrated that he was living in a “parallel reality.” Party group leader Andras Schiffer said Orban failed to give an account of the scandal surrounding tobacconist licences, land lease scams and the “legalisation of corruption”.
The co-ruling Christian Democrats said they agreed with Orban in saying that the government had firmly protected Hungary from internal and external threats. It is every Hungarian’s success that respect of labour has been restored, utility fees have been cut and families are in much better position than they were four years ago.
Photo: MTI
Vona: Jobbik will help the hard working Roma but not the dishonourable
(MTI) – The radical nationalist Jobbik party plans to launch a “wave of protests” to help FX loan holders because the government “has done nothing” for them, party leader Gabor Vona told Jobbik’s campaign launch event on Saturday.
Vona told some 4,000 people that if Jobbik wins power, “order will be certainly established within four years” and the party will not neglect young people, children, women and the elderly.
Commenting on “Hungarian-Roma coexistence,” he said Jobbik divides society into honourable and dishonourable people and it is not Jobbik’s fault that the Roma are “represented more” in the latter group.
Jobbik will help the hard working Roma but not the dishonourable, he added.
Vona said Jobbik will not join forces with any other political party and those that want change in Hungary today should support Jobbik.
Jobbik spokeswoman Dora Duro said VAT on basic child care products will be reduced to 5 percent if the party enters government and parents with two or more children will be granted significant tax cuts.
Photo: MTI
Fidesz: Hungary saw institutional improvement in past 4 yrs
(MTI) – Hungary is not the same in 2014 as it was in 2010; the institutional conditions have been laid down so that the country no longer sits on Europe’s dunce stool, the deputy prime minister said at a public forum on Friday.
The budget deficit has been steadily below 3 percent of GDP, which helps foreign companies orient themselves towards Hungary if they are looking for a place to invest in Central Europe with a stable budgetary policy, Tibor Navracsics said.
He urged voters to look at what each government had done for them, and noted that Fidesz had raised the minimum wage, offered jobs in the public works programme, helped troubled forex borrowers with the rate cap scheme, among others.
He said the government pursues a policy of the nation wanting to help every Hungarian, and needs support to continue this work.
Photo: www.kormany.hu
Election 2014 – Socialist leader meets representatives of EU, OECD members
Budapest, February 11 (MTI) – Socialist leader Attila Mesterhazy met representatives of 32 EU and OECD member states at a working breakfast in Budapest on Tuesday, the opposition party told MTI in a statement.
At the event attended among the guests by 25 ambassadors, Hungarian-related domestic and foreign policy issues and developments during the recent period leading up to this year’s election were discussed, said the statement.
Mesterhazy insisted that the political contest is still open “despite all efforts against by the governing forces.”
The party leader stated his firm belief in the election victory of the current “democratic opposition”.
Mesterhazy, the prime minister candidate of the Unity left alliance, unveiled the major pillars of the programme of his government, if elected, and the first major measures it would implement, the party said.
At the event Tibor Szanyi, who tops the Socialists’ list of MEP candidates, gave an outline of the party’s programme and the candidates for the May European parliamentary elections, calling Hungary’s European “reintegration” a number-one priority.
Ambassadors requesting so also held one-on-one discussion with Mesterhazy on the event’s sidelines, said the party statement.
Photo: erdely.ma