Hungary. Revolving doors

A new prime minister steps up

TO BE a prime minister in central Europe remains a precarious job. The Czech Republic and Poland have both shed theirs this year (only this week did the new Czech prime minister, Stanislav Gross, win a parliamentary vote of confidence). Now Hungary's Peter Medgyessy has stepped down, after being stabbed in the back by his one-time protege, Ferenc Gyurcsany, a multi-millionaire turned champion of the poor. As if to rub salt in the wound, on August 25th the ruling Socialists selected Mr Gyurcsany to take Mr Medgyessy's place.

Mr Medgyessy, a former Communist spy and international banker, was an anomaly in the rough and tumble of Hungarian politics. He was not even a member of the Socialist Party. He presided over a coalition government with the Free Democrats, a liberal party founded by former anti-Communist dissidents. Despite his racy past, Mr Medgyessy came across as austere, even a bit dull. He never looked comfortable when campaigning. Yet for many voters his steady-hand-at-the-tiller approach was appealing after the confrontations that marked the previous government of the conservative Fidesz party.

Mr Medgyessy was well-regarded abroad. He sent Hungarian troops to Iraq, a brave decision that brought him little popularity at home. Indeed, voters deserted the Socialists in Hungary's European elections, giving them only nine of the country's 24 seats, while Fidesz took 12. Opinion polls showed support for the Socialists plummeting. One survey of young people gave Fidesz over 40% support, twice as much as the Socialists. With elections only two years off, the Socialists had a big problem on their hands - and an incentive to dump Mr Medgyessy.

The ostensible trigger was the sacking of the Free Democrat economics and transport minister, Istvan Csillag. The Free Democrats refused to accept the decision. Mr Medgyessy threatened to resign to get his way. To general surprise, the Socialists accepted his resignation and produced two candidates for the succession. The party leadership favoured Peter Kiss, the deputy prime minister. Mr Kiss is able but dull, widely mocked in the press as a youthful version of Brezhnev.

The party congress accordingly swung away from Mr Kiss and heavily backed Mr Gyurcsany instead. Although a former leader of the Communist youth league, he is a slick and ambitious 43-year-old who seems to model himself on Britain's Tony Blair. He made his fortune out of privatisation deals in the early 1990s, helped by connections by marriage to one of Hungary's leading Communist-era dynasties - though he fiercely denies having done anything illegal or even to be ashamed of.

Mr Gyurcsany's arrival as prime minister will, it seems, ensure that the coalition government survives for a while longer. The financial markets remain nervous - and they would be more so if Mr Gyurcsany were to replace Tibor Draskovics as finance minister. The Socialists' Free Democrat partners have taken a battering after corruption scandals. In an emotional television interview Mr Medgyessy attacked his former allies, declaring that much remains untold about their business machinations. Yet the Free Democrats remain stuck with their coalition allies.

One person who seems to have got off lightly in all this is the Socialist Party chairman and foreign minister, Laszlo Kovacs. Although he originally backed Mr Kiss, Mr Kovacs personifies the old joke about a Hungarian being someone who enters a revolving door behind you, but comes out in front. In the 1980s a communist, in the 1990s a democrat, Mr Kovacs is now being reborn as European Commissioner in charge of energy, as well as a backroom influence on the government. Chameleons fare best in Hungarian politics.

Feature looks at the political situation in Hungary as there is a change of Prime Minister.

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