"Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said on Tuesday the minority Socialist government would not seek talks with its former coalition partner and could rule alone until elections in 2010.The election at the weekend of a new leader of the Alliance of Free Democrats, the party which quit the government in April, had ignited speculation it could rejoin the Socialists.
"We're open to cooperating with the Free Democrats but as they were the ones leaving the coalition, it's up to them to find a new direction," Gyurcsany told a news conference ahead of a two-day Socialist Party meeting.
Economic reforms in Hungary, whose economy was the slowest growing in the 27-member European Union in 2007, were halted after the Free Democrats quit and some worry that the Socialists will spend heavily ahead of the next election.
The Free Democrats have 20 seats in the 386-member parliament and the Socialists have 190.
The main items for which the smaller party's support is needed are the 2009 tax and budget laws, due to be debated at the end of this year.
Gyurcsany said he was confident the laws would pass.
"The past month and a half proved that the one party Socialist rule is viable," he said.
The new Free Democrat leader Gabor Fodor has said he will not support moves by the main opposition Fidesz party to oust the Socialists ahead of 2010, but has not yet spelled out a what legislation he will support.
Fodor has hinted that he could rejoin the government if Gyurcsany was replaced, something the Socialists appear unwilling to do despite opinion polls putting support for them at 15 percent.
One of Gyurcsany's leading critics in the Socialist Party said on Tuesday the party should focus on policy not personnel.
"The question is what programme do we want to carry out, what social issues we want to tackle and personnel questions are quite secondary," Katalin Szili, a senior party official told public radio."
Source: HVG
16.06.2008