Socialist deputy chairman's speech leaked to media

Magyar Rádió on Monday released another excerpt from a three-hour tape recording of the Socialist party's national council meeting on Saturday, in which deputy chairman Imre Szekeres said the party will have to reformulate its relationship with the Free Democrats in the wake of the October 1 local elections.

It later emerged that József Sipos, a member of the Socialist Party's social policy section, had invited a Magyar Rádió journalist to the meeting, being unaware that it was a closed meeting. Sipos yesterday resigned from the national council and from his executive position in the social policy section. He said he did not know that the journalist was going to tape the proceedings.

At the meeting, Szekeres suggested that the Socialists consider co-operation with the Democratic Forum, as the Free Democrats have turned from a small nationwide party to a Budapest-based medium-sized party. The Forum obtained "many important seats," so the Socialists will have to "develop a new relationship" with that party, he argued.

The Free Democrats said they are not concerning themselves with Szekeres's comments. However, party leader Gábor Kuncze said "it is good that Szekeres is not defining the strategy of the army or else he would not be able to protect Hungary from Timur and his squad" (a reference to the teenage hero of a Soviet novel). Kuncze added that his party nevertheless continues to back Szekeres, just as before.

Coalition co-operation has never been so strong and effective, at least at the national level, said Socialist deputy caucus leader Attila Mesterházy. Party chairman István Hiller denied a report that Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány spoke of dropping the Free Democrats in favour of the Forum if the opportunity arose.

Forum chairwoman Ibolya Dávid firmly rejected any assumptions regarding a coalition agreement with the Socialists.

Fidesz spokesman Péter Szíjjártó said the Socialists should instead resolve their relationship with Gyurcsány.

As for Sipos, the party has referred his case to its ethics committee, and said it will tighten secrecy regulations. Sipos criticised the government's policy in the presence of Gyurcsány at a conference in September. He proposed a progressive property tax, cuts in tax and other benefits to multinational companies, and talks on reducing the extra profits generated by banks.

The Magyar Rádió report did not contravene journalistic ethics, dealt with information of public interest, and the editor had a duty to make it public, said Pál Eötvös, president of the National Association of Hungarian Journalists.

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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