During your varied career you spent some time teaching the social psychology of prejudice at the Central European University. How do you feel about the way people have questioned your suitability for the job, claiming you'd be an "empty suit" at the table at international negotiations?

I never really believed that by teaching one course on prejudice I could change a society's way of thinking. Much of the criticism is directed at my 'civilian' status, the fact that I have never been involved in diplomacy before. But there have been similar cases over the past 16 years. Laszlo Kovacs was not a classic diplomat. Andras Kelemen, the state secretary for foreign affairs in the Antall government, also began as a psychiatrist. My assumption is that public opinion in this country doesn't mind if a woman becomes minister for social affairs, but is shocked if a woman takes a prestigious, senior position like foreign minister. They see this as undermining the dignity of the office.

You have been attending EU meetings as a minister for years, but things will be very different as foreign minister. What do you have to learn?

When I first entered public administration, I had to learn quickly how to run a ministry with very diverse roles and achieve what I wanted to. These skills are just as important as technical knowledge. I was minister for social affairs at the time of EU accession: I was in charge of implementing EU laws and action programmes at home, and in Brussels I attended meetings of the EU's social afairs ministers. I have a lotof experience in the "third line" of international democracy, working for an American democracy-promoting foundation,  creating social conflict resolution centres in Albania, Kosovo, Serbioa, Romania and Bulgaria. Diplomacy is really just avoiding conflicts, striving to avoid solutions involving violence. Of course I accept that I have no experience in economic diplomacy.

Will your prior experience mean that you will consider factors other than the purely economic? When Vladimir Putin came to Hungary, human rights activists called in vain on Gyurcsany to raise with him the issue of human rights in Russia. Will this be important to you, the daughter of Arpad Goncz?

My own past means that human rights questions are very important to me, and I know that the prime minister appointed me in this knowledge. But public opinion is more interested in living standards, in the situation of families, in day-to-day survival - they are less interested in the Chinese leadership's views on the Tiananmen Square massacre. Putin's visit ws preceeded by an energy crisis, when it was touch and go whether Hungary would get the energy it needed. In that context, you have to think carefully about priorities and what you want to achieve. Human rights questions must of course play a role in our relationship with Russia in the future, but in today's situation, when Hungary has a high degree of energy-depedenncy, the question falls into the background.

There is increasing anger in Europe about American overreach in the struggle against terrorism - Guantanamo, secret CIA bases, data protection violations. Will these questions be reaised when George Bush visits Budapest next week, or will the Hungarian government just lobby for a visa-waiver?

Hungarian-American relations are very complicated: beyond these two issues, our economic relationship and our peacekeeping operations within Nato are very important, too. The fact that the president will say things here that are not intended only for our ears has a significance of its own. Maintaining these good relations will be decisive in obtaining a visa waiver. And a better relationship will make it easier for us to voice concerns over human rights - I see no reason to add to the tensions.

Already this week you'll be in deep water. The foreign ministers' council will be preparing the ground for the 15-16 June heads of state and government summit, which will consider how the EU can move as one to respond to Moscow's "energy weapon." If Putin does not ratify the charter on liberalising gas transport, the EU can veto Russia's assession to the WTO. Will you recommend to Ferenc Gyurcsany that he support the EU's common line on Russia, or will you encourage him to cut his own deal?

The Germans have already started cutting their own deals. I think Russia needs to be offered something in exchange for doing what the EU wants. At this moment, I do not know what they are prepared to do. The most important thing for us is to start diversifying our energy sources as quickly as possible. We will be in a very different negotiating position if we are not 90 per cent dependent on Russian gas.

At your parliamentary hearings you talked about social Europe. Will you be responsible for social issues in the EU, or wil Janos Koka be in charge of the issue, looking at the question from a competitiveness perspective.

There are few compulsory EU regulations in the social sphere, and member states have wide freedom of movement. At the same time, there is a strong move towards social cohesion. It is clear that there is a very different relationship between individual competition and social security in Europe than in America, for example, and I stand on the European side. We have these arguments at home within the governent. It is unerstandable that the economics minister calls for competitiveness and fast growth, but I always say that the country is not a company that can simply fire its uncompetitive elements.

So how can it be that two weeks ago Hungary, along with the UK and a few other countries, voted against a proposal that would have limited the legal working week to 48 hours?

Our governmental work is all about reconciling different points of view. The working time directive would have caused problems for our healthcare system, because we do not have enough doctors. So unfortunately, the Hungarian viewpoint is not always that social.

In your hearings, you stressed that Hungary mus become a donor country. You don't agree with the view that a small country only has a neighbourhood policy and no real foreign policy? Does Hungary have a role to play in the developing world?

It would endanger everyone if the world were to split in two. Being a donor country does not mean just giving money, although this is an obligation, since Hungary is now one of the world's happier countries. It also means providing advice, sharing our experience with those who will join the EU after us. Hungarian foreign policy has started on this, but it has had little social resonance. People are concentrating just on getting more money, but few people have acknowledged the responsibilities that go with this.

Will you recommend that Hungary opens its labour market next year when Romania joins the EU? If only to force liberalisation for Hungarians who want to work in the West?

Let's wait and see if the Romania really joins next year. It would be beneficial for the Hungarian minority if they could come and work here, but the labour market in Eastern Hungary is not very healthy. If people who are prepared to work for less money come, pushing down wages, and receive welfare benefits simply by having a permanent address, then they will be a burden on the state budget. We face the same dilemma as the western member states. I am no longer social affairs minister, but foreign minister, and I have to weigh up all the factors.

GYÖRGYI KOCSIS