Social Roundtable in Hungary on the Szechenyi Plan of development

Social Roundtable organized by the Hungarian Social Forum SR with the first time participation of the hungarian government has taken place in Budapest on Monday to analyze and complete the Szechenyi Plan of development presented by the ruling centre-right coalition at the end of July. Twenty social organisations, trade unions, political groups and experts in economics have taken part at the debate and formulated concrete proposals in order to help the national economy get out from the crisis, increase the employment, and boost the position of the small and middle size national enterprises in a country where 65-70 pc of the tools of production are under the control of the foreign capital.
Social Round Table participants have supported the main purpose of the Szechenyi Plan to increase the occupation by creating one million of new jobs in the next ten years, but they sollicitated the necessary material tools to achieve this goal. They have argued that the tools and methods mentioned in the Plan do not give hope to achieve that ambitious goal rapidly. Social Christians and Communists, trade unionists and romas, organisations fighting against the evictions and of unemployed people have jointly supported the initiative of the HSF SR to modify the economical philosophy of the Plan in the sense to replace the terribly high importation, conducing to higher and higher commercial deficit and the international indebtment of Hungary, by boosting the national agriculture production and national industry of transformation as well of the services. Country needs state controlled joint ventures and
cooperatives of productions – they told. Participants have supported the government having refused new social cuts as condition of new foreign loans, but they have proposed to continue with the credit talks with EU and IMF because the interest of the economical growing of the country and of the employment. Hungary is interested to use all possible sources serving the national interest of development – is written in the communique published after the Round Table meeting. They have demanded that the fight against corruption started by the government against members of the previous coalition of socialists and liberals be extended also to the new government itself in the present legislation, and be included also into the text of the Szechenyi Plan. Social Roundtable has finally disapproved that the new Plan does not nor mention the civic control requirement or the direct exercise of democracy. We are sure that the tremendous social problems Hungary is facing could not be resolved but together with the Society. For this reason we propose to include into the planned modification of the Constituion of the Hungarian Republic also the institutionalisation of the Participatory Democracy, in order to complete the parliamentary democracy with the direct exercising of the power by the people. The Szechenyi Plan must serve the interest of the working and value creating majority of the Society – they told. The representative of the government has appreciated the contribution of the Social Roundtable to the common planning and has invited the HSF to present to the government the proposals by written.+++

es
24 August 2010