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ECONOMIC

JPRS-EER-91-053 25 Apri! 1991

extensive program of price cuts, in the interest of boosting domestic consumption.

In conclusion, I wish to emphasize that there neither has, nor will there be any agreement to cut back farm pro-duction as a condition of our drawing closer to the EC or joining it.

SZDSZ Economic Program Discussed With Juhasz

91CH0440B Budapest HETI VILAGGAZDASAG in Hungarian 2 Mar 91 p 6

[Interview with Pal Juhasz, member of the National Council of the Alliance of Free Democrats, by Andras Pęto; place and datę not given: “Bird’s Eye View”—first paragraph is HETI VILAGGAZDASAG introduction]

[Text] Why is it that the crisis managemcnt program of the largest opposition party will not be ready until April, while the government’s plan is already on the table? This was the question we put to the economic sociologist Pal Juhasz, member of the National Council of the SZDSZ [Alliance of Free Democrats].

[Pęto] I heard from someone the other day that the reason why he had voted for the SZDSZ a year ago, was bccause he had thought that their program was the best suited for governing the country, but now he learned with disappointment that the SZDSZ would not have a program “suitable to govern” on the table until April.

[Juhasz] That someone is wrong. We have a party program in place that outlines the kind of institutional system that we want to establish in Hungary, and with what techniques. What we do lack indeed is a program that outlines the steps needed to be taken in the coming months in response to the crisis symptoms that have come to the forefront early this year. We cannot be cxpected to have such a program in place, as we do not have a presence in the various official apparatuses and because we, too, have been caught off-guard by many things.

[Pęto] I assume that the SZDSZ will continue not to have a presence in those apparatuses until April, and to make things worsc the government, i.e., its finance minister, has already come up with a program. So what will you be able to show in April?

[Juhasz] We have been forced into doing what no opposition party has had to continually do: to provide simul-taneous assessments of the myriad of problems and data Systems of State administration, and of whatever diffi-culties they may be facing at the moment. This is not a gamę played to counter similar efforts by the Finance minister; it is work which parallels those efforts. After all, when we started, Mr. Kupa was not even the Finance minister yet.

[Pęto] Then why did the SZDSZ consider it necessary right at this time to announce the impending completion of its crisis management program, and to announce that it feels suited to govem?

[Juhasz] In our two-part national conference, the First held last November in Szombathely, the second last weekend in Budapest, the party lcadership was virtually forced to admit that in the eyes of the public there are no elear distinctions among political groups. This image of the parliament is close to the old central committee model, which “makes decisions and assumes collective responsibility for the country’s policies.” They still do not feel that the parliament is a popular assembly where decisions are madę by majority vote, not by consensus, or that the parliament is a legislative forum, not a govemment agency. Another reason is that the SZDSZ’s political activities have been conFined to the parliament, hence on many issues, the public has lost sight of the uniquc characteristics of the SZDSZ position. This is why the party leadership has been forced to declare that it opposes the present government, and that it is ready to govern. As a continuation of the program of political change, we are setting up debate circles around the country, which we believe will bring into focus the details involved in a system building program. They will help us to decide what our schools should be like; how housing should be managed on the local level; how the SZTK [Trade Union Social Insurance Center] should be reorganized; and how we should go about privatizing health care.

[Pęto] So the party has decided to take contentious issues outside of the walls of the parliament. Will it also go as far as calling people to the streets to protest the govem-menFs policies?

[Juhasz] This brand of populism is not part of our plans. Issues cannot be resolved in the streets. All we are saying is that we have an ineffective govemment; we have no complaints at all about our constitutional order. We would like at least to have an effect on Professional opinions by taking our case to the legislature, and exerting an influence on the preparatory stages of law-making.

[Pęto] Your reaction to the compensation law does not seem to reflect this new perception.

[Juhasz] The position which we have taken on this subject in the parliament was intended to draw elear distinctions, as our own vision differs drastically from the draft law. I agree that the manner in which our position was presented may not have been ideally con-ceived; after all, our new vision concerns not so much compensation as privatization. The aim has been to show that in the opinion of the SZDSZ, privatization should be pursued with morę imagination and greater vigor. The selling of public bonds could be one technique of broadening demand. Privatization, accelerated with the help of securities poses a much smaller inflationary threat than the same goal pursued through wasteful