885096463

JPRS-EER-91-053 25 April 1991

ECONOMIC

37

HUNGARY

Opposition Parties Evaluate Kupa's Economic Plan

SZDSZ’s Qualified Approval

91CH0453A Budapest MAGYAR HIRLAP in Hungarian 2 Mar 91 p 3

[Article by Attila Farkas: “The SZDSZ [Association of Free Democrats] Endorses Kupa’s Program”]

[Text] Marton Tardos stated at the party’s press confer-ence yesterday that, according to an evaluation by the SZDSZ [Association of Free Democrats], the economic program described by the Minister of Finance represents a departure from the coalition parties’ election program and an advance toward the ideas of the SZDSZ.

Marton Tardos argued that the economic program, deve!oped by Mihaly Kupa, implements the policy of financial strictness and wants to lay the foundations of privatization by tuming financial success into economic achievement. At any ratę, one can rejoice that mani-fested in this program is that the Hungarian economy’s road of development cannot be perceived as a wide field. The govemment’s economic policy has already departed, even through the Rabar concept, from the coalition parties’ election programs.

Marton Tardos only mentioned two kinds of problems regarding the concept. He emphasized that it is impera-tive, that the coalition, and its leading force, the MDF [Hungarian Democratic Forum] in particular, stead-fastly stand behind it. It is encouraging that the prime minister demonstrated his support by appearing together with Mihaly Kupa but, at the same time, several state-ments, madę mainly by Minister Bela Kadar, could be mentioned which contradicted the finance minister’s concept. On the other hand, Tardos voiced only his reservations regarding emphases. He disapproved of the fact that the problem of the CEMA’s collapse is not stressed enough in the materiał. He also thought that elaborations on concepts related to privatization werc Iacking. Marton Tardos pointed out that Minister Kupa’s dissatisfaction with the privatization process is apparent, but it is unclear how he plans to accelerate it.

Then he announced that he, along with Matyas Eorsi, Ivan Pęto, and Karoly Attila Soos, wants to present a resolution proposal to the parliament on Monday, in which they will rccommend that the govcrnment present the compensation bill in harmony with the privatization bill to the parliament by 31 May. Tardos’ words revealcd that the reason why this was considered important was that the last four weeks’ debate on the compensation bill failed to produce any results, and the prerequisites for a national consensus were not delineated. Even the coalition lacks unity in this issue, and the fact that new arguments were not presented in the past weeks makes any further debate senseless. Tardos thought that an extended debate would stand in the way of arriving at a consensus. He added, regarding their resolution proposal, that it determines what qualifies for compensation, it excludes direct reprivatization, and it connects compensation with the privatization of State properties. The proposal makes it elear that the SZDSZ continues to uphold its concept of compensation as presented during the bilfs debate.

MSZP Resenations

91CH0453B Budapest MAGYAR HIRLAP in Hungarian 2 Mar 91 p 4

[Article by A.Sz.: “MSZP [Hungarian Socialist Party]: Kupa Is Building on Shifting Sand”]

[Text] Imre Szekeres, the MSZP [Hungarian Socialist Party] executive deputy chairman acknowledged at his press conference yesterday that the Kupa program pro-vides a midrange chance to change the economy. He continued by saying that it is a sensible plan, not a mere draft. On the other hand, its biggest flaw is that it does not say anything about this year, about the 1991 economic crisis. It does not reckon with the possible collapse of the Central European market and with the tragic developments in Hungarian-Sovict economic relations which were also triggered by the government. The program mentions neither social tensions nor agriculture, and it does not say whether inflation or unemployment is the primary target to fight.

Imre Szekeres said that this is why the MSZP national committee thinks that the Kupa program is building on shifting sand because its basie assumption is that the economy will start next year from the same, relatively favorable, position as it did this year. A further concem is that 45 legislations are needed to implement it. How-ever, considering the parliamenfs work up to now, the cohesion of the govemment coalition, and the bills’ preparation by the government, it is hardly conceivable that this will be accomplished. Szekeres argued that a true changc of system is needed for Hungarian society’s modernization; however, attention is diverted, for instance, by the political action taking place in conjunc-tion with the compensation or retirement bill. According to the MSZP, all problems can be solved exclusively through parliamentary action, and it is untimely to induce a govemment crisis. True, the administration is bad, but a possible improvement would serve political stability.

Journal Praises Kupa's Economic Plan

91CH0440A Budapest HETI VILA GGA ZDA SA G in Hungarian 2 Mar 91 pp 5-7

[Article by Istvan Csillag: “A Draft Economic Plan; Four Lean Years”—first paragraph is HETI VILAGGAZ-DASAG introduction]

[Text] On the day that this issue is published, the government will begin to debate a working draft sub-mitted by Minister of Finance Mihaly Kupa as an