Péter Tölgyessy

hvg.hu: Will there be early elections? Fodor, the new Free Democrat leader, has rejected a Fidesz call for this, but we know never to say never.

P.T.: Since autumn 1992, the Free Democrats have clearly been a party on the left of the Hungarian political spectrum, and the new party leader will not change this. For years, Gabor Fodor was perhaps the best-liked hero of the reform intelligentsia. But since 1995, this awkward junior university lecturer has become increasingly unpopular with the Free Democrat elite. Yet his politics differ from that which has led the party into its current crisis only by the fact that he is perhaps more smiley than the rest of the them. There's a real question mark over whether he has the commitment, enthusiasm and strength to make anything of his leadership.

The Free Democrats recalled their ministers in April, but, despite a couple of parliamentary questions, they continue to support the government's motions in parliament. They've just become external members of the cabinet, in effect. The relationship between the two parties of the Hungarian Left have entered the most serious crisis in their decade-long cooperation, but that cooperation hasn't ended. It looks like the minority government will last, even to the end of its four-year cycle. But a government interested only in restoring its own popularity hardly serves the country's interests.

hvg.hu: And if the Socialists get rid of Gyurscany, will the Free Democrats' position change?

P.T.: It's certain that the the Free Democrats won't enter another proper coalition with Ferenc Gyurcsany. But it looks like the Socialists are only prepared to change the government if placed under strong pressure. But the Free Democrats have shown their partner that they will in any case support the Gyurcsany government, come what may.

Gabor Fodor has been agile and appealing, but he hasn't found a way to stop his party being torn apart. His latest statements suggest that he is sticking to what just weeks ago was seen as the worst of all worlds: his party will decide whether to support the government on a case-by-case basis. Until now, the Free Democrats have had 250,000 voters in local and parliamentary elections. So it's not impossible to take the party above 5 per cent again. But the Socialists are also hoping that if they gain time they can save themselves.

hvg.hu: That was their game when they attacked Orban for his remarks at the Keri seminar.

P.T.: Since losing power in 2002, the Fidesz has attacked the government mercilessly. The Socialists have been in a corner for the past six years of government, and now they are trying to fight back. Until now they have just condemned the opposition. Now they are using the kind of opposition tactics Fidesz applied after the Oszod speech was leaked. There has been far more lying in public life since the Oszod speech. You can win elections by infuriating voters, but it's hard to govern afterwards. At last it has become possible to speak about what has to be done, about how Hungary's social model can be addressed.

hvg.hu: What are the issues we've failed to discuss, the things Orban has now brought into public discourse?

P.T.: How we can find the money needed to cut taxes. If we look at the budgets of comparable countries, it's clear that we spend to excess on pensions. Our ageing population has a role to play in this, as has the Socialists' policy of being friendly to pensioners, pensions which are themselves high compared to the wages of active workers, and then there are the hundreds of thousands who took disability retirement in the difficult employment conditions of the regime change. When the 'baby-boomers' of the 1950s start retiring, our problems will grow yet further. Any government that wants to cut spending could do so by at least temporarily switching pension payments to follow inflation.

Right now, we use Swiss indexing, which reflects growth in wages. We need to talk about the benefits and drawbacks of fixing pension payments to their current real level. But Ferenc Gyurcsany just attacked his opponent, presenting himself as the wight knight defending pensioners. Hoping to win votes, he did just what he has always condemned his opponent for doing. But that just means that lying is here to stay in our public life.

hvg.hu: Orban also talked about revisiting major investments.

P.T.: In 2002, the Socialists did nothing to cut back on Fidesz's high-spending government programme. They raised civil servants' salaries and increased pensions. And then they carried on with a huge motorway-building programme. This was far too much for the budget to bear. It's striking that Ireland and Finland took years to build motorways, but both countries caught up with the west quickly enough. We need to use EU funds wisely for significant investments. But growth doesn't come from concrete. Major infrastructural investments cannot be sacred cows. Nor can the family support system be ignored. Who should get money? What should we do with the social benefits system?

hvg.hu: How can politicians be forced to discuss these difficult questions, and how can they be stopped from lying or sweeping the problems under the carpet?

P.T.: Our politicians aren't going to start being more open just on their own initiative. But if the lying is not contained, then we are just making it harder for us to get out of our ditch. Only opinion formers and the press can force public figures to talk more honestly.