PM calls meeting for parliamentary party leaders

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány called a meeting for chairpersons and parliamentary group leaders of the political parties on Thursday to evaluate events of the past few days and discuss next steps, government spokesperson Emese Danks told MTI. Speaker of Parliament Katalin Szili, Justice Minister József Petrétei as well as the heads of the police force and the national security authority are also expected to attend the meeting scheduled for two o’clock p.m. local time, Danks said. The main opposition Fidesz and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) have indicated that they would not participate, while small opposition MDF (Hungarian Democratic Forum) accepted the invitation. Fidesz spokesman Peter Szijjártó said that there was "no point in a discussion with the government." Fidesz would, however, meet the other parties if Szili or President László Sólyom initiated a meeting without government representatives, Szijjártó added. KDNP spokeswoman Zsuzsa Halász told MTI that her party rejected the invitation because it considered Gyurcsány as a "political persona non grata." She noted that similarly to Fidesz, KDNP was willing to participate in a meeting convened by the house speaker or the president. (Mti)