A Cabinet in Office that Does Not Govern the Country

The Budapest Francophone Forum was initiated by the Foundation for a Civic Hungary with the aim to help establish a regular contact between French expatriates and policy makers in Hungary and centre-right politicians. On Thursday, 29th November, Mr Tibor Navracsics, leader of the parliamentary group of Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union was the guest of the event.

Created: 30th November, 2007 11:34 \| Last updated: 4th December, 2007 09:31	print	send

In his exposé, Mr Navracsics spoke of the manifesto of Fidesz which would be presented at a conference in Budapest on 8th December, of the referendum that had been initiated more than a year ago and he assessed the incumbent socialist-liberal cabinet's policy performance. The leader of the parliamentary group said recent polls indicated a restructuring between the Left and the Right, while the formerly unbridgeable divide between the two sides seemed to have eased up as some 600.000 former socialist voters would now support the opposition's leading party. This, according to Mr Navracsics, requires responsible policy-planning and solutions to problems that every citizen faces, irrespective of their party-preferences or ideological affiliation. Such areas are health-care and the insurance system, education and transportation, where, according to Mr Navracsics, the incumbent cabinet has chosen wrong policies.

In spite of a widespread PR activity, there are no coherent public policies in reality, and while the severe austerity measures implemented by the cabinet subsequent to the 2006 elections have yielded certain results and improvements in macroeconomic indices, such as a decrease in the budget deficit, the economy and the society would in the medium run suffer setbacks. On top of this, the cabinet did not manage to come up with up a plan to boost the economy, while mismanagement and regular coalition disputes characterize Hungarian domestic politics. "We have a cabinet in office that does not and cannot govern this country", declared Mr Navracsics.

Speaking of the referendum of Fidesz, he said it was not a matter of ideological position but rather an opportunity for the citizens to express their opinion regarding certain policies about which they had previously not been informed by the cabinet. Mr Navracsics emphasized that the referendum was a democratic, parliamentarian and non-violent method.

The manifesto to be presented this December entitled "A Stronger Hungary" will include real alternative policy proposals of Fidesz, helping the creation of a subsequent election manifesto. Mr Navracsics emphasized that the program focused on economic growth which required tax-cuts and support for SMEs as well as increase in overall employment.

(www.jovonk.hu)