According to former Hungarian National Bank (MNB) supervisory board member Róna the biggest problem has been that Hungarian public life is corrupt to the core. “Every institution and every actor, without exception, is corrupt, and this was already the case during the tenure of (post-regime-change prime minister) József Antall,” he said.

The event was moderated by former MP Zoltán Király, who will be the LMP’s local election candidate in Újbuda on October 12. Bokros will stand against an LMP candidate for the position of Budapest mayor.

Király raised the issue of the HUF 1.7 trillion budget cut announced by Minister of National Economy Mihály Varga on Tuesday. Bokros said the size of the cuts, similar to his own contentious “Bokros package” of austerity measures that he introduced as economy minister in 1995, shows that the Fidesz government has led the country towards bankruptcy.

Hungary’s economy and Hungarian society have worsened since the change of regime, the pair agreed. They also discussed the “spontaneous privatisation” of the 1990s and the establishment of the State Assets Agency, which Bokros said was a good decision on the part of the Antall government, while Róna said it was corruption itself.

Source: The Budapest Beacon

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