President Laszlo Solyom said in a press interview that Hungary would have come off better if the parliamentary majority had opted for early elections when Ferenc Gyurcsany resigned as prime minister in 2008.
“As they only replaced the premier at that time, short-term crisis management and long-term recovery started to diverge from one another,” Solyom said in Heti Valasz weekly published on Thursday. “Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai’s minority government has neither the time, the money, nor the public support to boost the economy and launch reforms,” he said.
The Socialist government has succeeded in meeting the IMF’s expectations by managing the crisis through cuts in public expenditure and the budget deficit, but the large systems of public services continue to operate according to the old structure and their crisis has even deepened, he said.
The president attributed the success of the radical nationalist Jobbik party in part to a large number of the electorate considering Hungary’s constitutional order a failure.
Solyom said he expected the 2010 elections would offer a fresh start for Hungary. He confirmed that he would call the elections for the earliest possible date, most probably for April.
Asked if he would accept presidency for another five-year term, he said, “if someone is asked to fill such an important post, it is his moral obligation to deeply consider the offer. But first he must be asked.”
Solyom’s term in office will expire in early August 2010.
