Hungarian PM discusses leaked speech one year on

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány marked the first anniversary of the speech he made at a closed meeting of Socialist MPs on May 26 last year by describing it as the most passionate and truthful speech delivered in Hungary since the change of regime in 1990.

In his profanity-laden remarks at the Balatonőszöd government resort, Gyurcsány said his party had lied about the state of the economy, but that it was time to face up to economic reality and introduce unpopular reforms. The leak of the speech last September 17 sparked the autumn riots.

Revealing in an interview with Népszabadság that the events that followed the leak were "political hell," Gyurcsány said ordinary people no longer have problems with the speech, but with the speed and depth of the reforms that have since been introduced.

He said a sizeable proportion of the public accepts the changes, but admitted that his party's popularity is at a low point. He said he does not consider the loss of popularity to as low as 20% fatal, as the Socialist party has always managed to pick itself up off the floor.

Gyurcsány said he will rely on Social Affairs and Labour Minister Péter Kiss, his rival for the post of prime minister in 2004, and caucus leader Ildikó Lendvai to help obtain the necessary support for continuing with the reforms.

Nevertheless, he said he feels lonely at times, as success has many friends but difficulties few.

In an interview with the tabloid Vasárnapi Blikk, Gyurcsány named Kiss and Lendvai, along with Speaker Katalin Szili and Defence Minister Imre Szekeres as politicians equally capable of leading the country. He said he believes there will be no change of prime minister, and that he will remain in place after the 2009 European parliamentary elections.

Magyar Hírlap describes the interviews with Népszabadság and Vasárnapi Blikk as the start of a communications offensive.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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