Asked if Fidesz, the conservative party he heads, would do a deal with Jobbik to pass legislation requiring a two-thirds majority, he said "we won't cooperate with [the governing] Socialists or Jobbik either"
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And that is why MDF is needed in the Parliament to force Orban to actually consult anyone else than just his closest yea-sayers in questions that demands 2/3rd majority
To chose between to have Fidesz get its own 2/3rd majority or a 3-party Parliament without MDF is a good as choosing between Pest and Cholera
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With a 4-party Parliament there is less chance that Fidesz will get its 2/3rd majority and the Parliament will still have a role to play
If Orban gets 2/3rd majority it will very much be the PMO (Prime Minister Office) that will control everything and the Parliament will just rubber-stamp the PMO's decisions
During his previous years (1998-2002) the Parliament did sit in session less (1 time every 2 weeks) than through the years later, where Parliament has been in session every week
Also Orban hardly answered any questions in person (PMs question time) in Parliament, when he was PM
Orban/Fidesz has not a history to honour work in the Parliament

One suspects that Mr Ohasrban's attitude to pensions, extends beyond a lot more than just that one issue.

(The astute reader will notice that the preceeding sentence has nothing whatsoever to do with Jobbik being, or not being "Nazis"; or the dead dodo of the MDF being the great saviour of Hungarian democracy.
My comment has nothing to do with these things. However, this will not stand in the way of our resident Scando-nutter from saying, in some profoundly wierd way, that it does.)

@Bobs...: Well perhaps you can sell/explain what is so attractive about Jobbik's plans in this respect. Page 34 of their program on pension reform ("IV.1.3. A nyugdíjrendszer átalakítása") simply says that reform is needed by increasing the number of active workers/contributors to balance the demographic time-bomb that is Hungarian fertility rates. Well, one can't argue with that and in this respect both MSZP and Fidesz largesse/apathy is worrying. But what of the other measures that are needed such as people working longer (as mortality rates decrease pensions were never meant to support people over so many years of inactivity) and continue to contribute to society (with modest tax rates or other measures). These are both used in other countries so what is so special about Hungary that so many people should contribute so little for so long and then be idle and supported by the few that do work?
One should also look at what Jobbik then propose for education reform where you have so many so idle for so long in their youth on 5 year degrees etc...
p.s. I've no idea what you are talking about with the misspelling of Orbán's name or the mini bracketed rant.

"..Hungary that so many people should contribute so little for so long and then be idle and supported by the few that do work?
One should also look at what Jobbik then propose for education reform where you have so many so idle for so long in their youth on 5 year degrees etc..."
Very significant points Vándorló and they need proper answers with the arithmetic to support any claims.
Orban says that Fidesz produced a manifesto in 2007?
Well it is now 2010 and Fidesz needs to produce a new one so we all know what their intentions are. The lack of a manifesto speaks volumes about a parties ability to govern coherently.

@Vándorló:

About the age for pensions: That has been 65 years in Germany for bothe men and women and will rise to 67 years and many countries are going the same way.

So if you stop working before that age, you'll have an income gap for which you should prepare yourself.

I did something in that direction, working as a freelancer in computers, because I could not imagine to continue work in that area until 65 ...

Of course most politicians would rather not talk about those problems, however in Germany it has been clearly said - it is the only way to cope with that "pensioner's deluge".

There's a bad joke making the rounds. How are we gonna solve this pensioners' prolem ?

Well, from 2011 pensioners will be allowed to cross the streets when the traffic lights are red ...
And if that doesn't help, from 2012 they'll be forced to cross when lights are red ...

Well, we can always go back to the old Vikinga tradition that when a old person could not participate in the common work they were thrown out of a high cliff.
For those part of Vikinga-land where mountains were not so high, a special 'Ätteklubba' existed, used to kill off generations of elderly.
Or we go to Japan and learn the practise of Ubasute (姥捨, abandoning an old woman?) (also called "obasute" and sometimes "oyasute") and refers to the custom allegedly performed in Japan in the distant past, whereby an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die, either by dehydration, starvation, or exposure.
Similar traditions exist in Yakut culture of Siberia.
So there are a lot of good alternatives around the world how to solve the retirement problem, if sound State Economy is out of the question

I feel like going into a little detail with the whole interview thing, giving my own opinion on what the great man has to say...

"What can a party which has at best 10-15 percent support do?"

Well its mainly there to stop you from having a majority etc, im sure the other parties dont want you to get too much of it.

"A tick in the Jobbik box, he said, was "a wasted vote"."

Thats a low blow.. wonder what jobbik will have to say to this?

"we won't cooperate with [the governing] Socialists or Jobbik either"."

THis is really just plain stupid on their part. YOU NEED ALL THE HELP. Hungary isnt in sunshine land where you can afford to be doing things on your own without receiving additional help.

"On education, he said that a Fidesz government would increase the number of engineers entering higher education and radically overhaul the vocational education system."

So are they going to force every 3rd hungarian to be an engineer? Because i would love to know the actual plan to do this? and the overhaul thing is just a lie really,wont work.. it just there for getting a better party image.

"Orban reaffirmed his party's insistence that the 2010 budget passed under the current government was a "worthless piece of fiction"."

Old news, another propagander tool to stir anger etc, wasnt necessary to mention it in the interview anyway, most hungarian know so rather tell of how you will be setting up the new budget.

cont... :)

Sorry about previous.. i left a space per paragraph :/.. Dont know how it ended up like that... leaving 2 spaces now :)

"The Fidesz leader praised, however, a government decision to set up a fund to pay for any possible fines incurred by ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia due to their use of the mother language."

Like hell, we should be putting slovakia in line and letting them know that their shit wont be tolerated but to agree for such lunacy? God save us all..

"On defence, Orban suggested that it was time to negotiate with NATO on finding a new location for the radar which the organisation has been attempting to build in Hungary against strenuous local and environmental objections."

Besides the fact i dont think its an issue that needs to be covered (importance wise), im sure there are faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar more important things in hungary to fix such as the bad government reputation or motivating hungarians ( RIA RIA RIA) with better incentives so that they will harder and produce more output. Is just a few ideas...

Thats all from me..

"On education, he said that a Fidesz government would increase the number of engineers entering higher education and radically overhaul the vocational education system."
Vocational training is a key area that needs improving certainly.
One lad I know will be at college until he is 23
by which time he should have learned how to make pies and pasties ready to send to the shops.
Another young lady of some 21 years is undecided in her career but, after completing college in two years time, she is considering joining the police force.
I'm sure the taxpayers of this country will be comforted by these facts?
And, the apprentice engineers Orban talks about can be trained but where will they find work?
I'll tell you: stacking shelves in Auchan and Tesco and Ikea. That's where.

The dilemma posed here by the question of newly trained engineers unfortunately mirrors what I have seen in Africa. Africans who get a science or engineering education almost always emigrate, as there is no local industry that can use their talents.

What can Hungary do? I feel one way to retain engineers is to provide them with venture capital if they have a good product/service and business plan. On these pages in the past, I have often advocated venture capital utilization and development for Hungarian start ups. VC is high risk lending to new businesses, often with the payback in stock rather than loan repayment. I feel engineers should partner with people who have been trained in business managment and marketing. It is not enough to just make something good, you have to have people who can run the enterprise as well as those who can find buyers and customers. Hungarian business needs to run along contemporary lines, enter the 21st century, and fast.

I don't care where this VC money comes from; anybody who wants to put up millions, roll the dice and put their faith in a bright young group of Hungarians, has my encouragement and blessings! It's an expensive and exciting crap shoot, and some do relish taking these kinds of risks.

I like the idea of more engineers, but there has to be more public discussion of how we encourage and create more work and business opportunities for them. Otherwise, we might as well be Africans.

There is a lot of money up for grabs at the moment via EU funding and agencies around
that deal particularly with business start-ups and can offer help and guidance in those early days when it is so important.

Below is an item that should interest landowners, and political parties, alike.
"The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a system of European Union agricultural subsidies and programmes. It represents 48% of the EU's budget, €49.8 billion in 2006 (up from €48.5 billion in 2005).[1]
The CAP combines a direct subsidy payment for crops and land which may be cultivated with price support mechanisms, including guaranteed minimum prices, import tariffs and quotas on certain goods from outside the EU. Reforms of the system are currently underway reducing import controls and transferring subsidy to land stewardship rather than specific crop production (phased from 2004 to 2012). Detailed implementation of the scheme varies in different member countries of the EU."

I feel sorry for Orban. He keeps attacking Jobbik and driving away his patriotic supporters to please his ziomasters. It is so stupid. He wins nothing because Senkihazy, the Communist politburo's PM candidate still compared him to Mussolini and the Communist MSZP/SZDSZ propaganda media still calls him a Nazi and a Fascist.
What a fool this man is, he gives away the respect of his supporters for nothing.

Orban is a middle-aged cabbage with no imagination and certainly no idea how to lift Hungary out of its current economic blight.
Fidesz had the opportunity to get shut but chose otherwise. They will live to regret that decision.