Delegates at the Saturday congress of the liberal Free Democrats approved the party’s programme for the period 2010-2014, the party’s leader told a news conference.
The programme was endorsed by an overwhelming majority, said Attila Retkes.
Delegates also voted to approve amendments to the basic party regulations, too.
Retkes insisted that the liberal party was the only one to have drawn lessons from the past. He said it would pursue a moderate, national and civic-oriented set of policies based on the liberal tradition, and he denied that the new programme amounted to a turn to the right.
According to current polling data, the Free Democrats would only secure around 1 percent of the electorate, far short of the five percent needed to get back into parliament.
Retkes said that the party’s biggest problem was a “deficit of credibility”, which was tied to its performance between 2002 and 2009 — most of which was spent governing together with the Socialist party. He said this period had been a “mistake” for the Free Democrats.
He pledged to create a centrist party embracing conservative liberals, greens, social democrats and people concerned about human rights.
Asked at the news conference about whether the Free Democrats would consider cooperating with the small conservative Democratic Forum, he said that his goal was to create a liberal centrist force in the European sense. Retkes added that it was too early to give a concrete response, though negotiations between democratic forces was a “normal thing”.
So they propped up a government for seven whole years, and now they decide that actually it was all a “mistake”. But they still believe they can credibly turn around and ask people to trust them with their vote??? They inhabit which planet, please?
I love that expression “deficit of credibility”. A very nice PC way of saying “full of shit”.
@ Mark
Want to clarify.
My dad Did not lie – but he was the voice of the past and for good reasons. Those reasons are non-existent now and you gotta move on. Small pox is no longer a threat and neither is Stalinist style Communism in Hungary.
Although I never asked him, I would hope he would not hate the worst Communists’ children or grandchildren if they were not “parties to the crimes” nor beneficiaries of the crimes.
I would not feel any responsibility if I were Hitler’s grand-daughter if I hated everything he stood for – we do not get to pick our relatives. Can we agree that Stalin was “Communist Evil “personified? Svetlana Stalin is a US citizen because America did not hold her responsible for her Father’s crimes and allowed her into the country to marry a US citizen.
My point regarding the similarity between “eradicating Child Poverty” and ” overturning Trianon” – both are very noble causes. So far, no one has come up with a viable solution for either.
The Jewish people I know in Canada do not support
Israel’s position in Palestine. People are not sheep. Hungarians can’t agree on the Leaders’ actions, ditto for Jewish people.
Life is really not as simple as I would like it to be and as you make it out to be.
A curious pass time on this website is defining a “Hungarian” If I understand it correctly, if you support ultra-right wing causes you are, if you don’t you are not. Legal definitions are a waste of time. It’s about “feelings”. Give me a break
@Olga
I know that your father did not lie and I suspect that he might see things my way if he was alive. I remember the stories about Svetlana. She had a horrible life because of her horrible father and she wanted to come to America to get away from the Communists. It is not the same with the pack of hyenas in MSZP and SZDSZ. They are Communists and their children and grandchildren are Communists. I have never heard them saying anything bad about Communists and some of the openly defend them and the murder of Hungarian patriots after the Soviets crushed the Uprising. They spew their hate and defend their Communist past in the “Hungarian” media. Why do you think Ildiko Lendvai, a former High ranking Communist dropped her demand for a holocaust denial law? Fidesz said fine and proposed a law Communist and Nazi crimes. Lendvai and her ilk did not like that…
You say, “If I understand it correctly, if you support ultra-right wing causes you are (Hungarian), if you don’t you are not.” You are wrong on several accounts. First, I never said any such thing and many times spoke against Fidesz and Jobbik supporters going at each other because I consider Fidesz and Jobbik supporters patriotic Hungarians and often remind them that their real enemies, the MSZP/SZDSZ Communists would pull all of their fingernails with equal pleasure. I do a fair share of knocking their heads together and they seem to be listening. You are also very wrong when you call Jobbik supporters “ultra-right wing”. The Communists are the only extremists. Compared to them, everyone is moderate.