Whither The New Hungarian Government?

This week, the first freely elected parliament in Hungary since 1945 will convene and begin the difficult process of establishing a new, democratic government in accordance with the mandate given by the voters in elections held on 8 April 1990. The new governing coalition will be led by the Hungarian Democratic Movement and its co-founder, Jozsef Antall, is likely to become the next prime minister.

As part of its continuing program of monitoring Transitions to Democracy, the Center for Security Policy has just completed an analysis entitled, Toward a Free and Independent Hungary. This paper is designed to provide both insights into the challenges facing the democratic forces of Hungary and a prescription for U.S. policy for encouraging and assisting the success of such forces.

Frank Gaffney, Jr., director of the Center said, "The new prime minister of Hungary faces awesome tasks: wresting his government from the lingering, malevolent grasp of Soviet and domestic security apparatuses and resuscitating an economy bankrupted and despoiled by his communist predecessors. Specific, targeted and disciplined U.S. assistance is in order to ensure that these parallel efforts succeed in promoting genuine democratic institutions while moving toward a full market economy.

Dr. Constantine Menges, a Senior Associate at the Center, added, "This moment calls for an active U.S. policy aimed at encouraging the democratic leadership to move expeditiously toward the sort of political and economic reform that holds out Hungary’s only hope for real recovery. In this connection, the United States and its allies can play a constructive — and probably decisive — role in insisting as a condition of economic and other assistance that the former Hungarian collaboration with the Soviet Union in hostile activities such as technology theft, espionage and support for extremist and terrorist groups or regimes comes to a complete end."

Copies of Toward a Free and Independent Hungary may be obtained by contacting the Center.