In the last session of parliament last Monday Gordon Bajnai, who has been prime minister since last April, made his farewell speech. Numerous opposition MPs, including Fidesz chairman Viktor Orbán, were conspicuously absent.



“Hungary remained on its feet, we managed the crisis, protected our citizens and paved the way for development,” were the opening words of Bajnai’s speech. Bajnai named Hungary’s key goals as introduction of the euro in 2014, increasing employment and stimulating economic growth.

Three goals he cannot kick

On adopting the euro the crisis government prime minister stressed the importance of a disciplined and prudent budget policy. According to Bajnai, the introduction of the “Hungarian euro” is important because Hungary would no longer be at the mercy of the self-interests of the political sphere.
Regarding the second key goal of raising employment, the prime minister said that the budget balance and the security of the pension system will be very difficult to maintain in the long term unless Hungary can get more people into employment and significantly increase the currently low number of taxpayers.
As for the third goal of stimulating economic growth, he said that if the future Hungarian government follows the present course of action it will be possible to achieve average four per cent yearly growth between 2011 and 2014.

The sustained economic growth would generate extra revenues of roughly HUF 2 trillion (EUR 7.39 billion) within four years, Bajnai said. The money should be spent on reducing state debt, improving the quality of public services and boosting competitiveness, he said. The prime minister also addressed the need to further reduce taxes and contributions in order to reduce the burden on labour.

Give peace a chance

In his speech Bajnai turned his attention to the country’s deep political polarisation. The political sphere is poisoning people’s everyday lives and making the country “bad-tempered”, he said. People have become weary and fewer and fewer are concerning themselves with public issues, the prime minister said.

Bajnai urged MPs to give up economic irresponsibility, promises of miracles and feeding illusions. The country’s future leaders need to prepare Hungary for the coming ten years being tougher than the ten years that preceded the global economic crisis, he said. If they fail to do so there will inevitably be another prime minister who has to begin their term in office with the words “it will be painful”, Bajnai said. Those were the words pronounced by Bajnai when he took up office in April 2009.

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