Over the past half-year incompetence was the dominant feature of Hungary’s Socialist minority government, for it failed to make any genuine decision or take any step forward, a senior official of the main opposition Fidesz party told a news conference in Budapest on Tuesday.
Hungary is falling behind the other three Visegrad countries – the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia – in terms of both economic growth and industrial output, Fidesz parliamentary leader Tibor Navracsics said.
In his view, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany’s announcement earlier on Tuesday that the government would continue implementing its policies and programme is cause for grave concern, as the government, he said, has no programme at all.
“What Gyurcsany wants is to go down to the Hungarian book of records as the prime minister who held office for the longest time, no matter what price Hungary has to pay for it,” he said.
Navracsics reiterated that his party considers early elections to be the “shortest, most straightforward and most honest way” of getting out of the current crisis.
Asked about tax issues, Navracsics said Fidesz would advocate tax cuts, which would reduce the burdens of businesses and give a boost to the economy.
The governing Socialist Party (MSZP) spokesman Istvan Nyako countered by charging Fidesz with pursuing a “campaign of misery and depression,” while undermining government achievements and working to thwart investment projects. The spokesman reminded the public that just a few weeks ago Apollo Tyres of India abandoned a plan to build a 200 million euro tyre factory in Gyongyos, N Hungary, after the local Fidesz organisation set up a protest and initiated a referendum to oppose it.
“The more projects we can realise, the more successful Hungary becomes, and the less chance Fidesz has of fomenting an atmosphere of crisis” Nyako said.
