CAMPAIGN OF DISSUASION FROM REFERENDUM

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány on Monday in parliament said it was an irresponsible and populist political action trying to gain a short-range advantage to force the referendum on dual citizenship and on stopping the process of privatization.

Péter Kiss, Minister of the Chancellery said yesterday in Szabadka that the question of dual citizenship was wrong and because of this the answer could be only wrong, too. In the daily Népszabadság an article referring to a background analysis claimed the day before yesterday that the introduction of dual citizenship would cause a plus HUF 100 billion burden to the government while yesterday the paper partly owned by the Hungarian Socialist Party warned of the fact that a minority of citizens could decide the issue as the law prescribes that a quarter of votes plus one vote should be identical so it is risky if the Socialists urge their voters to abstain from voting. The government plans a campaign against dual citizenship from the taxpayers’ money with a roadshow of the Premier in November, threatening people with the expected additional burdens while the Free Democrats want to popularize the benefits of privatization.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó