Gov't has convergence numbers but no implementation plan, says opposition

The government has come up with detailed numbers showing its plan of convergence with European Union rules for introducing the euro, but it has not described the measures it plans to take to make the numbers work, opposition Fidesz party financial expert Mihály Varga said at a Sunday news conference. On another issue, Varga said that as chairman of parliament's budget committee he had convened it for Monday to debate the EU convergence program and hoped the governing MSZP committee members would attend. He also said he hoped that Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and Finance Minister János Veres would share their thoughts with the committee. MSZP's Lajos Szabó, who heads the party's budget committee group had said last Thursday that his group wanted to attend the budget committee meeting but had a prior engagement on Monday, for MSZP's entire party group was meeting to discuss the convergence program. Instead, he proposed a budget committee meeting on Tuesday at 1 p.m., which, he said, Veres would attend. When asked on Sunday, Szabó reiterated the group's prior commitment, repeated his alternative proposal, and voiced surprise that the opposition would insist on the Monday meeting knowing his group could not attend. (MTI)