Ferenc Gyurcsány in the Hungarian media again

Ferenc Gyurcsány was more or less invisible during the past year. Lately, however, he has been making his rounds and is giving talks to small groups of invited guests in various Hungarian cities where apparently he is being very well received. If the reception he got at yesterday's MSZP Congress is any indication, I'm not at all surprised. When Ildikó Lendvai, party chairman, mentioned his name as being one of the people present, an enthusiastic applause broke out ending in a standing ovation. The group kept repeating Gyurcsány's slogan, "Húzzunk bele!" (a not very elegant translation is "Let's get to it!"). I was amazed at his popularity among the party faithful.

Gyurcsány's name has also surfaced again in the Hungarian right-wing media. He was apparently in Szombathely at one of these closed gatherings when according to HírTV and Magyar Nemzet "some socialists" smuggled out a tape on which Gyurcsány said all sorts of terrible things about Viktor Orbán. The article claimed that Gyurcsány is already preparing for the role of being in the opposition; he apparently suggested that his party should behave in such a way that Viktor Orbán would curse the day that he decided to be prime minister of Hungary again. The paper directly quotes Gyurcsány: "In opposition, one can say all sorts of awful things. These people behaved terribly in eight years, now they can see what kind of opposition we will be when we will behave exactly the same way as they did. ... If it depended on me, I would be as harsh in style and in character as one can be." Magyar Nemzet suggests that its readers take a look at a video on HírTV. If a reader were naive and thought that he could see a video taken on the spot, he would be entirely wrong. It is a simple announcement of these accusations on the evening news.

Yesterday I noticed a short announcement that MSZP is not doing a thing about the so-called leak in Szombathely. András Nemény, chairman of the Vas County MSZP who was present, remembers differently. Someone from the audience put a question to Gyurcsány about how MSZP would behave if it ended up as an opposition party. Gyurcsány answered that they want to win but in case they are in opposition, on certain issues they have to cooperate for the sake of the country. On the other hand, if the government doesn't behave in an acceptable manner, then one must be very hard and critical.

I think it is enough to check one of the sites that lists articles in the Hungarian media to realize the overwhelming presence of right-wing sites on the internet. At least fifty different online papers copied the news from Magyar Nemzet, including the official website of Fidesz. 

Well, it seems that Gyurcsány had enough. He normally ignores the abuse he gets from Fidesz, but this time he felt that he had to answer. He told MTI that "the party media of Fidesz spreads outright lies" and demanded that the whole tape be released. He said that his answer to the question was exactly the opposite of what the paper claims. In fact, he emphasized that one must not follow the path Fidesz laid down in the last eight years.

He is furious. He said that after what happened there is one more reason to prevent "such a dishonorable, immoral force" from forming a government. The socialists don't think in terms of being in opposition; instead they "want to fight against the unacceptable behavior that is exhibited by the Fidesz party media." If I were Fidesz I wouldn't want to make Gyurcsány angry. He can be lethal.

P.S. By the way, MSZP's party program is now available but it is very long and needs serious analysis.

 

Comments

[Vándorló]

@EsBalogh: Any comment on the assessment of the NYT of Gyurcsány?

"Ferenc Gyurcsany, began the process of fiscal restraint in 2006, but only modestly and only under pressure from the European Commission after Brussels noticed the spiraling budget deficit and the government’s loose monetary and fiscal policies.

Economists hold Mr. Gyurcsany responsible for the parlous state of Hungary’s finances, which spun out of control after the governing Socialists embarked on a big spending spree to win votes in the 2005 election. Mr. Gyurcsany later acknowledged that he had lied to voters about the true state of the Hungarian economy." http://nyti.ms/bCqZQF
Both Lendvai and Gyurcsány are widely despised by most Hungarians with good reason. If the MSZP faithful are this much out of touch with comment sentiment and public opinion then they will deserve everything heading their way.
Simply absurd the way this blog continues to attempt to portray Gyurcsány.

[Eva S. Balogh]

Vandorlo: "Any comment on the assessment of the NYT of Gyurcsány?"

Well, sometimes the journalists of even The New York Times err. Economists are not blaming Gyurcsány for the state of the economy. They blame Orbán and Medgyessy. As for Gyurcsány's lying to the voters is simply not true. He didn't lie. He simply didn't make public how bad the situation was. No sane politician would do that in an election campaign. However, what he should have done immediately after the elections is to inform the people that serious adjustments are needed. No one lied about the high budget deficit. Everybody should have known who knows anything about economics that this state of affairs cannot be maintained.

[Lord Amexos]

"If a reader were naive and thought that he could see a video taken on the spot, he would be entirely wrong. It is a simple announcement of these accusations on the evening news."

Eva, Eva... who do you think you are fooling again?? Did you hope that your readers will be uninformed enough and you can feed them more of your liberal-bolshevik propaganda as you feel like?? Do you really think that they are that "naive" as you put it?? :-)

Here is the link to the hidden video that the "right-wing media" is spreading:
http://www.hirtv.hu/?tPath=/view/videoview&videoview_id=9935

Enjoy! :-)

ps:pay attention to Gyurcsány's body language...reminds you anyone in history?? :-)

[Eva S. Balogh]

Lord Amexos: "Here is the link to the hidden video that the "right-wing media" is spreading"

The problem is that your video most likely has nothing to do with that particular speech. It may have been taken at any time, anywhere. The only thing they had was a tape with his voice on. No body language, my fellow. This is how HirTV manipulates news.

[Lord Amexos]

"The problem is that your video most likely has nothing to do with that particular speech."

Yeah right... :-) How can you tell?? :-) When you wrote your blog you had no idea that this video even existed...now that you are confronted with it you claim that is a fake...ridiculous.

It was a party members only meeting and he got recorded from the outside - enough said.

[Eva S. Balogh]

Lord Amexos: "now that you are confronted with it you claim that is a fake...ridiculous."

I'm not saying that it is fake. It just not at all clear when the video was taken. As far as I know there was only voice recording. HirTV is like that.

[Vándorló]

@EsBalogh: In an article from the 21st June 2007 the Economist notes that Gyurcsány had "little interest in restarting reforms" (article title "Eastern Europe's politicians"). And so it turned out to be, by the time he left two more years were wasted (at best).

His right-hand man in Finance Ministry was an ex-electrical engineer, Keller László, a person whom Péter Kende picked out as one of the three people that should be cleared out of politics. Yet as you note yourself Gyurcsány even entrusted this man Keller to investigate others wrong doing "as undersecretary was in charge of checking on the many very shady financial affairs of the Orbán government" (this blog, April 23, 2008). Talk about bare-faced cheek.

And I did ask you a direct question regarding this on the 11th Nov 2009 that you have yet to respond to: 'As you believe Péter Kende to be "...in my opinion the best investigative journalist in Hungary", so you also agree with his views about corruption in MSZP and in particular the role of Gyurcsány and László Keller? In an interview for Index he was asked which three people need to be cleaned from public life, he offer two József Torgyán, well we know his fate, and... '...László Keller. It's insupportable that a person who was the Public Finance Minister placed three members of his own family into positions close to the party or those owned by the state. It is criminal that Gyurcsány never created a great stink out of this.' ("...Keller László. Tűrhetetlen, hogy az az ember, aki közpénzügyi államtitkár volt, a családja három tagját állami tulajdonú és pártközeli helyekre helyezze el. Bűn, hogy Gyurcsány nem csinált nagy ügyet ebből.")'

The how about his wider perception in Europe from the Economist on March 5th 2009? "the Hungarian prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, asked EU leaders to agree on a special €180 billion bail-out plan for the ex-communist bloc, and circulated a discussion paper that could be read as saying that if such money were not forthcoming, millions of unemployed easterners might flee west. Mr Gyurcsany's plan went down badly with Western leaders like Angela Merkel of Germany, but also caused great anger among leaders from countries like Poland and the Czech Republic. Hungary is a terrible spokesman for east and central Europe: its leaders spent like drunken sailors during long years of economic growth, and the public finances are now in dire shape as the crisis hits."

As he acknowledged in his resignation address and reported in the Economist on the 26th May 2009 "I hear that I am the obstacle to the co-operation required for changes, for a stable governing majority and the responsible behaviour of the opposition…I am eliminating this obstacle now..." (Economist article title "Hungary's Ferenc Gyurcsany steps down").

Hungary's path to recovery can be traced directly to the date he abdicated and not a moment sooner.

There are a whole gamut of reasons people despise Gyurcsány and have nothing to thank him for. Back on the 11th and 12th May 2008 you used a piece from 'Élet & Irodalom' to excuse the political, economic and social impotence of the Gyurcsány and Medgyessy government as expressed in a question put to Orbán by Magyar Nemzet: "The left got stuck somewhere. In my opinion their problem is that in the last seven years they have been terrified of you [Orbán]. Ever since 2002 basically all their actions have been motivated by the pathological fear of the return of Viktor Orbán. And over the years they got to the point that they sacrificed Hungary on the altar of their paranoia." (this blog, May 11th 2008).

Also, during Gyurcsány reign we had how many enquiries and commities did he pretend to set up to clean up government? And the results? The international parties all left saying that they were basically disgusted and were not prepared to continue wasting their time. And when he leaves what happens? The flood gates open and now we actually have things coming out into the light of day.

Tell us again, what was/is so good about Gyurcsány? What did he actually do for Hungary? Apart from blooging and charging the bill to the state, that is.

[Rudolf]

E. S. Balogh: "As for Gyurcsány's lying to the voters is simply not true. He didn't lie. He simply didn't make public how bad the situation was. No sane politician would do that in an election campaign. However, what he should have done immediately after the elections is to inform the people that serious adjustments are needed. No one lied about the high budget deficit. Everybody should have known who knows anything about economics that this state of affairs cannot be maintained."

Please remember and apply this line of reasoning (and recommend it in the Galamus community) when talking about Fidesz' statements, lack of program, silence about hungarian economy, etc.

[Eva S. Balogh]

Rudolf: "Please remember and apply this line of reasoning (and recommend it in the Galamus community) when talking about Fidesz' statements, lack of program, silence about hungarian economy, etc."

"The line of reasoning" on my part was that Gyurcsány didn't tell in full the state of the economic troubles before the elections. Ergo, says Rudolf, I shouldn't demand a party program from Fidesz. But the two things are not comparable. Fidesz is in opposition now that claims that what the current government is doing is actually harmful to the economy. Therefore I think that it is incumbent on them to tell what they would do instead.

[Vándorló]

@ESBalogh: It does look as though some in Fidesz have Keller László (MSZP) in their sights. Cser-Palkovics András has been reported as responding to a question with 'one thing is for sure, you're heading for prison' ("az az igaz, hogy te börtönbe kerülsz") source: http://nol.hu/belfold/_o_a_szelsojobb_embere_a_fideszben_

For which Nyakó István (MSZP) has remarked of Cser-Palkovics András that 'he is the far-right person in Fidesz' ("ő a szélsőjobb embere a Fideszben").

Difficult to know who is worse really.

[Eva S. Balogh]

Vándorló: "http://nol.hu/belfold/_o_a_szelsojobb_embere_a_fideszben_ For which Nyakó István (MSZP) has remarked of Cser-Palkovics András that 'he is the far-right person in Fidesz' ("ő a szélsőjobb embere a Fideszben"). Difficult to know who is worse really."

First, the given url is no longer available. I heard Nyakó's press conference. There I didn't hear that Cser-Palkovics was the far-right person in Fidesz. I remember, on the other hand, that Cser-Palkovics was the candidate of three parties: Fidesz, Christian Democratic People's Party and Jobbik. Therefore if I were Cser-Palkovics I wouldn't sue Csaba Molnár because he called him Fidesz-Jobbik candidate.

I noticed that Molnár in several interviews linked the two parties.

[Rudolf]

No. You say: "As for Gyurcsány's lying to the voters is simply not true. He didn't lie. He simply didn't make public how bad the situation was. No sane politician would do that in an election campaign. However, what he should have done immediately after the elections is to inform the people that serious adjustments are needed. No one lied about the high budget deficit. Everybody should have known who knows anything about economics that this state of affairs cannot be maintained."

The same applies now:
Everybody who knows anything about economics knows that Fidesz won't be able to change todays state of affairs radically. Fidesz doesn't lie. Fidesz just doesn't make public what they will be able to change and what not. No sane politician would do that in a campaign, especially not, when people all around Hungary are counting on bold changes.

You apply double standards for Gyurcsány and Fidesz.

Besides look at the campaign in 2006. What's the use of campaign programs? Do you think that a piece of paper with some vague statements written on it which surely will be broken immediately after the elections is more "democratic" and "honest" than just communicating some objectives and social values?

"Fidesz is in opposition now that claims that what the current government is doing is actually harmful to the economy."
Yes. And MSzP was not in opposition in 2006 and claimed that what they were doing was actually useful to the economy and that they would continue working the same way.
Why is this more "democratic" and "honest" than Fidesz' behaviour?

Off topic: Galamus:
You wrote: "It's obvious that rightists went to Christian schools."
I really don't see why this is necessarily so. Could you back this up with some hard evidence? Without any evidence it's just a blanket statement, nothing more. I am sorry, but two idiots from Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem are not really scientific evidence, neither are Gregor Mayer's blanket statements. (I read his article.)
How about Kuncze, Kóka, Ficsor? All of them went to Christian schools.

(Do you use the term "Christian school" in English?)

Besides there are more than just two high-schools in Tatabánya.

[Eva S. Balogh]

Rudolf: "Besides there are more than just two high-schools in Tatabánya."

Wrong. Here is the letter of the Eotvos Gimnazium's teachers.

"A katolikus gimnázium létesítése – az egyre bővülő református gimnázium mellett – azzal járna: Tata városának és vonzáskörzetének lakóit megfosztják attól, hogy a gyermekeket felekezeti érdekektől független, helyi önkormányzati gimnáziumban taníttassák. Tiltakozunk a választási lehetőségek egyoldalú korlátozása ellen."

Christian school is wrong in English. Parochial school.

[Rudolf]

Rudolf: "Besides there are more than just two high-schools in Tatabánya."

ES Balogh: "Wrong. Here is the letter of the Eotvos Gimnazium's teachers."

Sorry, you are wrong:
First of all you wrote about "középiskola". That's not "gimnázium". "Gimnázium" is just one type of "középiskola" among others.
There are 6 "középiskola" in Tata, three of which are "gimnázium" and as I see only one of it is a parochial school.
http://www.tata.hu/varosunk/intezmeny/kozisk/688

The letter you are quoting just mentions the possibility of building a second parochial school.

Secondly you wrote about Tatabánya, not Tata. These are two different cities.
There are at least 8 "középiskola" in Tatabánya, three of them are "gimnázium" and none of them is a parochial school.
http://www.tatabanyainfo.hu/kozepiskolak

ES Balogh: "Christian school is wrong in English. Parochial school."
Thanks!

[Eva S. Balogh]

You know what Rudolf? Whether Tatabanya or Tata had 2 gymnasiums or more really doesn't matter. I'm against financing parochial schools from the central budget. Period. There is also no question that by all accounts in these parochial schools the students are overwhelmingly consider themselves right-wingers. Cannot be a coincidence.

As for Gáspár Károli University. There are just too many Jobbik leaders or sympathizers who come from that so-called university. In my opinion that university shouldn't have gotten accreditation. But with this I close the discussion especially since you read my article in another publication and not here.

[Rudolf]

Okay, I already got the message. You are against financing schools which you simply BELIEVE (- as you don't have anything to back it up -)to promote political views which are contrary to your own. Financing schools which you BELIEVE to promote your own political views are okay.

ES Balogh: "But with this I close the discussion especially since you read my article in another publication and not here."
That's true. Despite all the preaching about democracy, democratic values, etc. there are no comments, questions, discussions allowed on the Galamus-homepage.

Have a nice day.