Hungary could adopt the euro between 2012 and 2014, Hungary’s Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany told foreign journalists on Wednesday in Budapest, Reuters reported.
“On the trend we have created with this strategy there is a high probability that the euro can be introduced in Hungary not before 2012 and not later than 2014,” Gyurcsany was quoted as saying.
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Doesn’t joining the Euro first require that the current is stabile against the Euro? Is a change of 238 to 306 in 6 months (or a 29% drop in value) not a wee bit less than “stable?”
Has Gy explained how?
Does a statement like this sound credible to the outside world when clearly the country was unable to defend its currency?
Rolrox, you should know him by now. He had to say something to make it look like he’s on top of things. He belched out a few dates, so what? Possibly he was keen once again to talk up the forint. Another lame effort. Besides markets have wised up to the truth long ago to believe one word he says. So, Ferkó, try something else. Like get the fuck out of here. Sorry, I needed this. The frustration!
@Sheesh. What bothers me is that there’s never any logic from the guy. How does he figure it’s fixable?
We did 3 years on “austerity measures”; and at what was supposed to be the end, we get a meaningless reduction in tax while the currency drops 30%.
What was the result of these 3 years? It doesn’t seem like all of us had to be austere.
As a start up with hardly any sales still, paying an inordinate amount in taxes for all of us “partners” who draw 0 is well, bad enough; seeing all the MPs having the option for their “bonuses”, and their new Audi’s, etc. is just…
Right now, to do anything more austere will need a national mandate. Gy doesn’t have it and refuses to go to the polls to get it. And that will need an explanation as to “how”.
Your last graph sums it up just about right. Here’s what he has done since he took office. First he was masking the mistakes of his mentor and predecessor Medgyessy and kept hurling down the same path to win the elections. He fucked it up, and fucked it up good so by 2006 he had no choice but to jack up taxes to salvage the state from collapse. (Oh, yes, he also dabbled at some reform-like things.) And now that the budget scale is finally tipping back to normal, boom, a global meltdown hits Hungary harder than ever (no thanks partly to him), plus he’s got another election year coming and his approval ratings are down in the drains. He and his minority government has been floating around for the past year or so and if it wasn’t for the worldwide crash, he would still be doing nothing. Now more than ever he needs to look like he’s doing something meaningful, but only look because he’s only a year away from elections and his party’s appeal is tatters, so basically he has no choice once again. And all, except one, is his own doing.