Public cleansing quagmire grows murky

The socialists officially released their provisional steps and delivered them to the five parliamentary groups. SzDSz does not agree with the urgency with which PM Gyurcsány is pushing his package, and would rather prefer to hold a separate coalition session first, in order to ensure the success of the following 5-party conciliation talks, Eörsi said.

Several items in the „transparency” set need two-thirds parliamentary support for ratification. Those members of the MSzP caucus also serving as mayors strongly objected to PM Gyurcsány’s plans of introducing a conflict-of-interest clause, prohibiting MPs from filling other offices, while Zoltán Hock of the minor opposition party MDF described the proposals as a PR move.

In the meantime, the lead opposition Fidesz-KDNP bloc has also turned to the national election committee (OVB) to have their eight new referendum questions approved, which they had compiled last week in response to Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's questions, because the government submitted their own questions, neglecting the fact that there are ongoing negotiations between the five parliamentary parties, said caucus leaders Tibor Navracsics and Zsolt Semjén in an announcement.

At the same time, Fidesz and KDNP will continue taking part in the five-party negotiations. Also, the caucus alliance of the two parties put forward their relevant bills to the Parliament on Monday, hoping that the governing parties will not refuse to put them on the agenda, either in the parliament or during the negotiations. The eight questions of the opposition mainly deal with the government members' salaries and wealth. (Gazdasági Rádió, Magyar Hírlap)