The party leadership elections are approaching. What is the choice the SZDSZ faces?

The elections will decide the lines along which the party will develop. We need change, we need to bring an end to the confusion. We have to change the party's policies, its internal functioning and its world view to make the SZDSZ a successful party once again. I have my conflicts with Janos Koka in this area, because he and the party leadership that supports him stand for continuity.

But there are many who see your rival's programme as pragmatic, but yours as idealistic. Koka's plan is about interests, yours about ideas, it is said. You were part of the team that brought about the regime change, whereas your rival followed the Gyurcsany route, turning to politics only after a successful business career.

I'm a pragmatist too. But I also know that a party can only be lead with principles and conviction. Without them, you can run a company, but you can't do politics. It's not pay that convinces people to work for a party, but the sense of sharing ideals and of a common vision of Hungary's future. Of course, you have to translate principles into practice. That's why when I announced my candidacy, I made it clear that I stood for strength and practical liberalism. For me, strength means logical policy-making, and practical liberalism means translating our goals into the language of the people.

When the SZDSZ was founded, ideals dominated. But this changed, to the extent that Peter Medgyessy said, shortly before resigning, that "the SZDSZ is full of corrupt affairs." Can you reverse this trend?

It's not just possible, but it's also essential. Here, too, I have my disagreements with Janos Koka, who warned in his first campaign speech that there was a danger of the SZDSZ becoming "a museum to the ideals of the regime change." He is wrong about this. Liberals principles, those which we insisted upon when the single party state was dismantled, have not died. On the contrary. It's true that the party has neglected them over the past 10 years. But we now have to bring them back, adapting them to the challenges of the present. We have to create honesty in public life.

Isn't it problematic to praise free market capitalism while demanding solidarity and equality of opportunity?

We have to find a way of putting principles into practice. Belief in freedom and rights is very important, but, for example, providing a free choice of school should not lead to deepened segregation. In the same way, state intervention is essential in healthcare if our aim is to make sure the poor receive adequate care. I believe in a system of multiple insurers, but I can only imagine that working if there is also a fundamental insurance system that extends to everyone. So according to my own liberal principles it must not happen in Hungary that somebody is excluded from the health insurance system. We cannot allow an American-style system to develop in Hungary.

Koka would like the SZDSZ to be the "party of successful people." You would seem to have a less clear-cut view.

Indeed. Depending on successful businessmen would lead to certain defeat. We need employees, too. I'd like it if not just the rich voted for us, but also the poor and the elderly. We need everyone who loves freedom, including the unemployed.

That sounds quite convincing. But the old guard supports Janos Koka, including many members of the hard core, including Ivan Peto, Balint Magyar and Laszlo Rajk.

It's no surprise that most of the departing leadership supports Janos Koka, because he stands for continuity. But I think the SZDSZ will only get back into parliament if it changes. There are a fair number of "founding fathers" who support me, of course. Janos Kis did an interview for the liberal newspaper Together, which supports me, and the 25-year-old Beszelo (Speaker) circle have also invited me to addressed them. [They also invited Janos Koka - hvg.hu]

Many see the SZDSZ as a Socialist Party satellite nowadays. At the last elections, the liberals rode into Parliament on the back of the Socialist Party.

Socialist support was very important, but we should not allow ourselves to fall into such a state of dependency again. I'd like the SZDSZ to become a strong centre party, playing an independent role in the left-wing coalition. We have to be prepared to fight with out coalition partners. At the same time, we have to have a cordial relationship with the three opposition parties, Fidesz, the Christian Democrats and the Hungarian Democratic Forum. We need good relations both with the leaders both of the largest governing party and of the opposition parties. I enjoy good relations with all of them, and I would place those relationships in the service of my party.

A policy of equal distance is not too popular within SZDSZ. Gabor Demszky attempted it in 2000, when he was party leader, but it didn't work out.

Demszky's policy was wrong at that time, because Fidesz, which was in government, was violating democratic norms. That was when Parliament only sat once every three weeks, when there were scandals surrounding the governance of the state broadcasters. The SZDSZ's and the Free Democrats' visions of Hungary are very different, which is why there's no possibility of us working together at the moment. But this does not mean that there should be no dialogue with the opposition. If we don't talk, then the coldness that began in Hungarian politics last September after the Oszod speech and the TV siege, will become permanent.

What's the likelihood of your being elected? You have to bear in mind that the Economics Minister started from a better position, and he has more money.

I'm running because I want to win. I'm planning to be party leader. As far as Koka's position is concerned, I don't think the party leader can also be a member of the government. An independent party cannot have as its president someone who is subordinate to another party's president.

János Pelle