Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2007 (19. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2007-06-08 / 24. szám
‘The most passionate speech of truth’ Last Saturday, one year on from the infamous leaked speech Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány gave to a closed meeting of the ruling Socialist (MSzP) party, in which he said his government had lied to the people about the economy, and that those in government before the MSzP also routinely lied to the public, the PM told national daily Népszabadság it was the “most passionate speech of truth” given in Hungary since the fall of Communism. “Our credibility,” Gyurcsány said, “will be determined by the success of our policies.” He stressed that Hungarian politics needs to move away from the lies mentioned a year ago, and that his reforms, notably the extensive reform of the healthcare system, would be the marker by which to judge the coalition government, not the constant disputes the opposition parties insist on. While the country was moving in the right direction, he said, “Fidesz has nearly succeeded in turning Hungary into a political hell.” The right-leaning national daily Magyar Nemzet reported that, a year on from the Balatonöszöd speech, the reason why Hungary had had to submit a new convergence plan to the EU for euro adoption, why hospital beds are being reduced and the people have to pay to visit the doctor, is all due to the government having lied to the people, and not done anything for the four years prior to reelection except “turn our leaders into laggards” and “borrow, and then make disappear, Ft700bn ($3.7bn).” The newspaper asked, “What sort of democracy is it in which the constitution does not allow the nation to remove, before its term expires, a government that has admitted to lying and cheating? “What sort of democracy is it in which police rape a young woman, steal money from the scene of a bank robbery, take bribes from businessmen and sell guns to criminals?” The Prime Minister last week seemed to recognize that the government was performing a balancing act on a tight-rope with regard to public support for the reforms, and he held a closed door meeting last Wednesday (May 23) to persuade Socialist party members to stay the course. Gyurcsány stressed that the key to achieving support was to effectively communicate the positive aspects of the transformation of key services, state news agency MTI reported. It was in the party’s interests, he said, to maintain a properlymanaged media campaign that must coincide with a „genuine assessment” of the government’s first year of reforms. Hungary among the most peaceful countries Hungary is among the most peaceful countries on a world list compiled by the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The EIU’s Global Peace Index found that Hungary, in 18th place, stands in similar territory to its regional peers while Norway was judged to be the most peaceful country among the 121 surveyed. The least peaceful was Iraq, according to the index. Post-op patients stay in wards with no reason Tens of thousands of hospital patients in Hungary languish in wards with no good reason, said Nepszabadsag newspaper on Friday. While in western Europe it is normal for doctors to discharge patients after a scheduled operation - 40-70 percent are sent home afterwards - in Hungary 90 percent of patients are kept in for several days unnecessarily, costing the health budget billions of forints. So far hospitals have done well: for every extra day a patient stays in a ward, the hospital gets money from the central health insurance fund. Still, the current system encourages hospitals to keep patients in wards for a few days. According to political state secretary of the ministry of education Attila Kovács, an organisational reform, cultural transformation and around 5-10 years are necessary for outpatient surgery to replace the majority of traditional hospital treatment. Many of Hungary’s hospitals and medical training centres are struggling to cope with the current government overhaul of the health-care system. Several hospitals have been closed down altogether while most are facing root and branch transformation. Gov’t to spend billions of forints on drug prevention Hungary’s government will spend billions of forints on drug prevention in the next seven years, the minister of social affairs and labour said on Thursday. Peter Kiss told a conference organised by the National Drug Prevention Institute and the Drug Affairs Coordination Forum that extensive co-operation between social, professional and civil organisations was necessary to handle the issue successfully. Fortunately drug use in Hungary is not on a dramatic scale, Kiss said. More than 11 percent of adults have used illegal substances, around 200,000 youngsters use drugs at weekends and 25,000 use them regularly, he added. The government plans to spend 7.5 billion forints (EUR 30m) in the next seven years on information campaigns targeted at young people and children about the dangers of drugs and 16.4 billion will be spent on handling the problems of those suffering from addiction, Kiss said. Additionally, 4 billion forints will be spent on developing institutions that are involved in prevention and treating addicts and 3.9 billion forints on developing a service-model for the cooperation of social workers and drug users, he added. Director of the National Drug Prevention Institute Katalin Felvinczi said the number of drug users in Hungary had probably not increased considerably in recent years but the latest figures will only be available at the end of the summer. DUNA Travel 8530 Holloway Dr. #102 W. Hollywood, CA 90069 Spa, Hotel foglalások, Kocsi bérlés Kedvezményes repülőjegy árak LAX-BUD-LAX $575.-től +TX. (május 17-ig) Információért hívják ZSUZSÁT TEL: (310) 652-5294 FAX: (310) 652-5287 1-888-532-0168 Június 8, 2007 Events commemorating Trianon anniversary Several events were held in Budapest on Sunday to commemorate the 87th anniversary of the Peace Treaty of Trianon which redefined the borders of Hungary after World War I, reducing its land area by 72 percent. Chairman of the World Federation of Hungarians Miklós Patrubanyi spoke at an event held in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square and said that Trianon was effectively repeated 60 years ago with the peace treaty of Paris. Honorary chair of the far-right revisionist group Sixty-Four Counties László Toroczkai addressed a crowd of around 1,500 at the Regnum Marianum cross in the City Park. He criticised the government which he said was “treasonous”. The far-right group Jobbik joined the demonstration and its deputy chair Csanad Szegedi said the borders set by Trianon had to be destroyed. The demonstrators went to the French, the Serbian, the Romanian and the Slovak embassies and read a petition demanding that ethnic Hungarians living beyond the borders are given autonomy. Orbán calls for early elections Viktor Orbán, leader of the main opposition party Fidesz, has again called for early elections, claiming that the country is sinking deeper and deeper into problems as the coalition government is “unable to put the economy on track.” He added that the government’s convergence program was a “big lie,” which would take the country nowhere. New jobs must be created, he said, and only then would the economy pick up and the euro be adopted. Speaking to Info Rádió, Orbán said the government’s convergence program, which aims to reduce the budget deficit, from 9.2% of GDP in 2006 to 3.2% in 2009, would not achieve the required EU requisites for euro adoption. “While the government is saying that Hungary could adopt the euro in 2013, we believe it would take 12 years to achieve the 2002 economic level,” Orbán said. He added, “Even its name [the convergence program] is a joke. The problem is that some indicators may improve, but our life is getting worse.” The Fidesz leader used the interview to once again slam the government’s reforms, saying, “We want a country where there is no need for tuition fees, hospitalization and visitation fees.” Last Wednesday, Orbán told MTI that Hungary urgently needed elections, but that Fidesz couldn’t make this happen. It was the people and the people only, he said, who needed to force the government to call elections. POOL RESTORATION Industrial Bond Coating Free Estimate! High Resistance against algae and stains Non-abrasive surface * Six different colors No more leaking * Maximum Durability Reduced chemical consumption Tony (213) 422-9386 Subscribe to tbe Hírlap! Advertise your business in tbe Hírlap! I AMERICAN ■ I 0 w if/ Hungarian Journal
