The official position of Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Party on the recent Progress Report and Strategy Paper issued by the Commission of the European Union

Dátum: 2002-10-24 22:15:00, eredeti URL: http://archiv.fidesz.hu/index.php?Cikk=5270
KCMDB-be feltöltve: 2024-05-04 17:51:36.295460, Feltöltő: fidesz_hu_scraper_v2

The recent Progress Report issued by the Commission of the European Union is of historical significance, a recognition of the efforts made by 10 million Hungarian citizens and the governments of the last twelve years. Fidesz Hungarian Civic Party is particularly satisfied to see some of the major measures of the Orbán-government justified by the current Progress Report.

Accordingly, the Commission acknowledged the Schengen Action Plan, introduced by the Orbán-government, as representing a significant progress in the field of internal and justice affairs. Similar progress was made in the fight against money-laundering, as Hungary is now taken off the OECD's FAFT-list. The Commission welcomed the previous government's efforts in fighting unemployment, which has decreased from 8 percent to less than 6 percent in the last four years, as well as its consistent anti-inflation policy, which brought down inflation from 18 percent in 1998 to less than 5 percent in 2002. The document endorses the measures taken by the Orbán-government in radically increasing the minimal wage and civil service wages, emphasizing the importance of the fact that the wage-policy was driven by comprehensive concepts and linked to structural reforms in the different sectors of the economy, rather than being based on random decisions. The Progress Report emphasized that the above mentioned results have been achieved simultaneously, while maintaining Hungary's economic growth, twice that of the European Union.

Some of the critiques articulated by the Progress Report are recurring themes and need long-term concepts to cope with, such as the fight against corruption, or the improvement of the social status of Hungary's roma population. (Nevertheless, it should be noted that the Orbán-government launched a comprehensive package in 1999 in order to provide for an upward mobility of the roma minority in Hungarian society, and a roma scholarship-system was also introduced.) Some other concerns, however, are directly linked to the current government's policies. Such is the overspending of the central budget, lacking any concept or program, as a part of the government's campaign for the municipal elections. The cabinet's extravagance is at the point of threatening financial stability and Hungary's competitiveness. As far as the EU's critiques with regard to some non-compatible Hungarian regulations of the chapter on competition are concerned, the Medgyessy-government may well expect the support of Fidesz in negotiating a fair and reasonable compromise with Brussels on tax exemptions, which have so far prevented Hungary from closing the chapter in question. Those multinational companies that have already settled in Hungary must enjoy the taxing exemptions they have acquired, through a reasonably calculated transitional period. According to estimates, a bad compromise may threaten the living of about 150 thousand families.

It is with utmost concern that Fidesz considers the notion of safeguards, articulated by the recent Strategy Paper, which hurts the principle of equal treatment by enabling current members to bypass, in case of perceived or real danger, normal judicial procedures in implementing certain measures against new members. Acknowledging that a system of safeguards also existed during the previous accession round, the expansion of punitive mechanisms both in time (two years) and sphere (to include vital areas of the acquis like the common market or the internal and justice cooperation) is unacceptable. It is also important that a possible decision of the Council on the implementation of safeguards be linked to a qualified, rather than the currently projected simple, majority.

As the Progress Report reaffirms, Hungary is now only a step away from accession. In fact, the center-right government has taken Hungary to the threshold of the European Union, and it is now up to the Medgyessy-government to make the final effort. The concluding leg of the negotiations demands just as effective bargaining as the earlier ones, and Fidesz Hungarian Civic Party expects the cabinet to achieve the best possible conditions for Hungary during the following months.