Verheugen hails Hungarian rejection of far-right

Date: 25/04/02

By David Cronin

ENLARGEMENT chief Günter Verheugen has praised Hungary's voters for spurning far-right candidates in its general election.

Ex-Communist Peter Medgyessy led a centre-left coalition to a slim victory over Viktor Orbán's outgoing Conservative government in the second round of voting on Sunday (21 April).

Although the campaign involved a substantial amount of populist rhetoric, the small far-right Justice and Life party was routed. It failed to secure enough support to enter parliament in the election's first round earlier this month.

Describing Hungary's commitment to democracy as 'rejoicing', Verheugen said: 'Despite its far-reaching transition and reform process, which has often difficult consequences for some parts of the population as in other central and eastern European countries, Hungary rejected the temptation of extremist, xenophobic, anti-European and anti-democratic forces.'

The German commissioner also predicted that Medgyessy will show 'at least the same commitment' as Orbán to successfully completing the country's negotiations on accession.

However, Socialist Party President Laszlo Kovacs - tipped to become Budapest's new foreign minister - has said he wants to reopen talks on some of the thematic chapters in the enlargement talks, which the outgoing government had closed. These include the chapters covering free movement of labour and capital.

Kovacs is unhappy that Orbán agreed that foreigners could buy farmland in the country after just seven years of EU membership and that Hungarians could be restricted from taking up jobs in existing member states for two to seven years after it joins the Union.

Kovacs nonetheless sounded a note of caution about seeking to revisit deals which had already been delivered. On Monday, he said: 'We have to handle this with great care because if we reopen just one chapter, all of them may open. We have to weigh up the risks.'

European Commissioner for Enlargement, Günter Verheugen, has praised Hungary's voters for spurning far-right candidates in its general election on 21 April 2002.