The Hungarian Socialist Party is prepared to govern without a majority if talks to entice the junior coalition partner back into government fail, the Socialist's parliamentary caucus leader Ildiko Lendvai said Tuesday, according to dpa. Lendvai was speaking after talks between junior coalition member the Alliance of Free Democrats and the Socialists aimed at saving the coalition. The Free Democrats jumped ship on Monday night following a disagreement over the speed of economic reforms that slashed the budget deficit but also nearly stalled the economy in 2007. The party said it would withdraw its ministers and state secretaries from government by April 30. While there was no concrete resolution to Tuesday's talks, Imre Szekeres, the Socialists' deputy chairman and defence minister, earlier in the day said there should be enough time to resolve the issues before the deadline. Neither party can afford early elections, as they are both trailing main opposition party Fidesz in the polls - the Socialists are polling as low as 15 per cent compared to almost 40 per cent for Fidesz. In the event of an election, the Free Democrats would not even reach the 5-per-cent threshold needed to get into parliament. New website index.hu on Tuesday reported that Socialist party sources said Gyurcsany had offered to quit if it meant saving the coalition. However, Lendvai denied this offer had taken place and said that the party would have refused it in any case. Most analysts believe Gyurcsany will stay in charge of a minority government until the 2010 general elections as he has no credible challenger. However, they say it is also possible that the Socialists could poach four MPs from the Free Democrats in order to gain a majority. The Socialists have 190 seats in parliament, while the Free Democrats hold 20. Even if the coalition cannot be saved, Lendvai said that the Free Democrats had promised to support government legislation. The split came after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany first announced that plans to introduce private capital into the health insurance system - a key Free Democrat policy - would be rethought and then sacked the health minister, a Free Democrat appointee. A recent referendum loss on fees for medical treatment and education - part of the reforms - combined with the poor poll ratings prompted the Socialists to U-turn on the healthcare plans. Free Democrat Janos Koka chairman said this showed the government had given up completely on the economic reforms that cut the deficit from 9.2 per cent of gross domestic product in 2006 to 5.5 per cent in 2007. Prior to the meeting, Gyurcsany said that the problems were not about people, but about the speed of reform, and asked both parties to lay their cards on the table. In an emailed statement, he said that both parties should make it clear which fiscal policies they support and suggest concrete proposals for changes to reform plans in order to work toward agreement. The reforms, which are aimed at cutting the deficit with a view to eventually adopting the euro, fanned inflation, now at 6.9 per cent after peaking at 9 per cent in 2007, and cut 2007 economic growth to 1.3 per cent - way behind Hungary's regional peers. The economic difficulties, coupled with Gyurcsany's September 2006 admission that he lied about the need for reform measures prior to that year's election, pushed the government's popularity to rock bottom.
