Hungarians strike and protest against economic reforms*

By Sandor Peto and Andras Gergely
Reuters
Wednesday, November 21, 2007; 3:47 PM

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied
outside Hungary's parliament on Wednesday after 10,000 workers staged
strikes to try to halt Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's economic reforms.

Led by a six-hour stoppage by the powerful railway union, strikers
blocked roads, halted trains and two bus lines, closed Budapest's
airport and shut some schools. But parallel protests were smaller than
expected and the government did not budge.

The strikes and demonstrations were backed by the main opposition Fidesz
party, whose leader Viktor Orban said earlier this week that the ruling
coalition, led by Gyurcsany's Socialists, could be forced out in six to
nine months.

"I hate Gyurcsany. The more of us turn up, the stronger the hope is that
there will be some change," Andras Mezei, 65, told Reuters outside
parliament.

Unlike in France and Germany where unions have real muscle, Hungarian
workers are unlikely to seriously challenge economic reforms, though
Socialist deputies who have seen their party's poll ratings fall to as
low as 15 percent have voiced concern.

The rail workers protested against rural line closures at state rail
firm MAV, which loses hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and
smaller unions aimed to halt health and pension reforms. But only two of
the six main union groupings took part.
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"The unions remain divided along political lines and their confidence
rating within the society is relatively low," said Attila Gyulai, an
analyst at consultancy Political Capital.

News agency MTI estimated the Budapest protest drew 5,000 people, versus
up to 50,000 projected earlier by media. The government said that showed
the strikes lacked support.

Police clashed with a few hundred far-right protesters as they cleared
the square outside parliament, but there were no reports of injuries and
the protesters then marched through the streets of Budapest, chanting
anti-government slogans.

PM TO PUSH AHEAD

Weeks of protests against Gyurcsany last year attracted backing from
mainstream political parties although protests led by far-right groups
in October this year fizzled out.

Gyurcsany, on a tour of the Baltics, told Estonian television he was not
worried by his low poll ratings and pledged to push ahead with health
and education reforms as well as changes to the state's bureaucracy.

"Of course opinion polls are very important, but the fate of the state
is much more important," Gyurcsany said.

Gyurcsany has won plaudits from markets and the European Union for his
measures to rein in the budget deficit, which hit 9.2 percent of gross
domestic product in 2006, the highest in the EU, and will fall to just
3.2 percent in 2009.

But tax and price hikes made to consolidate the budget and Gyurcsany's
admission in a leaked tape that he lied in the 2006 election campaign
about the poor state of public finances have alienated many in the
country of 10 million people.

Political analysts said that Gyurcsany had little choice but the stay
the course and hope the reforms bear fruit if he is to stand any chance
of being re-elected in 2010.

"The government's measures had very negative impacts but reversing its
policy can be equally risky," said Gyulai.