President László Sólyom stressed the need for renewal in his New Year’s Day message, taped on December 30 and aired on several major television channels on January 1.
“In the early nineties many felt the change of regime would bring western living standards, and they have ended up bitterly disappointed. All must contribute in their own way, whether in their jobs, families, or in public life,” the head of state underlined.
Sólyom said “corruption is all but strangling the country, and destroying fair competition and the operation of institutions. Many have rightly been shocked by severance payments of hundreds of millions of forints and other payments of billions of forints, but it takes at least two parties to do this. In order to eradicate corruption, the state needs to take the toughest measures, and a majority must want to remove the ignominy of corruption,” he added.
“In the future a new type of governing and a new type of opposition behaviour will be needed and peace can only be expected and brought about in Hungary if built on new foundations,” Sólyom concluded.
