Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai told a session of Parliament on Monday that he was focusing on his work ahead, and he said that the advance of the radical nationalist Jobbik party presented a “huge problem”.
Bajnai insisted that it was bad for Hungary that a radical party had made it into the EP. He said that this was an example of non-democratic parties receiving a mandate through a democratic process.
He said that all parliamentary parties bore a responsibility for this development, and called on them to carry out a self-examination.
Commenting on the election results, the prime minister noted that the European Parliament would have more right-wing MEPs than representatives of the left and said that radical and extreme parties had become more powerful.
The prime minister said that the government would continue to work for the long term interests of the country, but only as long as it had stable support from a majority of MPs.
He said that as the EP elections showed, a major task in the coming months beside managing the economic crisis would be to enhance people’s trust in prospects for living, job and public safety. He said that to achieve that goal, swift and concrete measures must be taken.
As regards the economic crisis, Bajnai said the first signs of stabilisation were already appearing. As an example he cited household debt falling by 400 billion forints (EUR 1.4bn) over the past two months, Hungary’s risk indicator dropping by half and Hungary topping the success list of 11 Central European countries in terms of tapping on EU funding.
Bajnai added that the construction industry had improved its output by 3.5 percent compared to a year ago when the government launched its stimulus measures. Orders were up by 4 percent since last year, he added.
He urged legislators to continue work along a path that focused on Hungary’s interests in the next ten years.
