The Socialist Party's key task at the July 4 party convention will be to confront the policy line it has pursued in the last week and over the past 20 years, Speaker Katalin Szili told the state news agency MTI on Thursday.

Szili added that "any questions of personnel can only be put on the agenda after the party has done some soul searching. The need for deep changes could also bring up the re-organisation of the party, as borne out by the latest opinion polls," she said.

The Socialist Party will have to find a new and young prime ministerial candidate, party chairwoman Ildikó Lendvai told Inforádió on Thursday. She admitted that "the party needs new blood, and more young people must be given posts in the principal bodies".

Lendvai said the July 4 party convention will have to solve four tasks: assessing the recent past in light of the drop in support for the party, considering party members' aspirations, examining how to correct the party platform, and beginning to draft an election platform.

Lendvai admitted that the Socialist leadership had been unable to make the voter base feel that the party's European Parliament election platform was their own, and cared little about their day-to-day problems.

The top Socialist leadership will meet again today to discuss next week's convention and the machinations of establishing an inner party agreement.

There is every chance that the "old" and "young" party officials will reach terms today, Népszabadság writes, citing "reliable sources". The young ones agree on the need for change and an agreement as soon as possible.

There are two groups among the party's youth: the first includes deputy Budapest mayor Miklós Hagyó, Szeged mayor László Botka and deputy chairman István Újhelyi, while the other group is led by Secret Services Minister Ádám Ficsor and PMO leader Csaba Molnár. Caucus leader Attila Mesterházy does not belong to either of the groups, the daily adds.

The Ficsor-Molnár group supports the earliest possible agreement and favours the election of top party officials only after the budget has been passed, and without any "shady deals".

Botka and the others, meanwhile, are willing to accept the compromise formulated by Pest county chapter Imre Szabó, whereby young officials would play a greater part in the running of the party, while a convention in November or December would decide on a prime ministerial candidate and the party national list. Mesterházy would also support this compromise, Népszabadság adds.

The confidence vote seems to have been removed from the agenda, the daily points out.