Contract for a Union: Fidesz in transformation

"Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union" (abbreviated as "Union") was decided to become the new name of Fidesz at the 17th congress held on 17 May 2003, which also decided on milestone changes in the party's statutes and internal structure.

Dátum: 2003-05-21 18:45:00, eredeti URL: http://archiv.fidesz.hu/index.php?Cikk=10744
KCMDB-be feltöltve: 2024-05-04 18:21:03.241587, Feltöltő: fidesz_hu_scraper_v2

The congress, having approved a Manifesto for the new Union, elected former prime minister Viktor Orban as president. (Since Mr Zoltan Pokorni's resignation in July 2002, Fidesz had no elected president. Mr Janos Ader has been acting as executive vice-president.)

As the Manifesto underlying the concept of the transformation proclaims: the Union rests upon the respect of such notions as Christian values, freedom, order and natural law. Derived from these principles come the Union's goals, such as the protection of human dignity, national heritage and culture, providing prosperous future for the families, opportunities for the youth and dignity for the elderly, and the preservation of the identity of Hungarians beyond the borders, Hungarian farmland and public assets.

The origins of the Union are thus rooted in the values and achievements of the centre-right government of 1998-2002. It were also the consequences drawn from last year's elections, however, that prompted the current transformation process. The socialists proved to be prevailing over Fidesz in terms of self-organisation, whereas the unexpected defeat also mobilised several hundreds of thousands of people who continue to feel that they have a common cause to pursue and who want to be not only observers but also active participants to public life. Fidesz wants to stand up to this challenge with the current transformation process. The intention is to make the Union much more than a political party, both in a qualitative and quantitative manner. As the Manifesto says, the contract signed by the establishment of Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union invites all citizens sharing the aforementioned values and ready to take responsibility for the nation.

One of the ways of building bridges toward various sections of Hungarian society will be the creation of platforms within Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union. Under the amended statutes, eight platforms are to be established, namely: the cultural, pensioners', women's, farmers', employers', rural, self-government and green platforms. These platforms will be free to elect their officials and work out their own statutes, whereas their respective chairmen will automatically be members of the Union's wider national presidium. An operative presidium is also to be established, its members being the party president, two vice-presidents, the president of the party's parliamentary group (currently Mr Janos Ader) and the chairman of the party's national board (currently Mr Laszlo Kover). By a vast majority, the congress elected former prime minister Viktor Orban as president, as well as former minister of education Mr Zoltan Pokorni and former olympic champion, diplomat and vice-chairman of the International Olympic Committee Mr Pal Schmitt as vice-presidents of Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Union. Further amendments also mark significant changes to the party's internal structure. Most important of them, a new level of party organisations is to be established on the lines of Hungary's 176 electoral districts, where local politics is intended to be concentrated. From now on, these Union organisations will bear the primary responsibility in the preparation for the elections.

These measures are expected to result in a boost in the party's membership, which will alter the character of Fidesz significantly. The Union is conscious of the fact that people want to have their opinion articulated in the period between two elections, as well. The time has come to transform Fidesz from an election party to a genuine European people's party.