Chapter 15
A Retrospective View in General
In that year events began to have a faster progress than before. In our direct neighbourhood the man’s health quickly deteriorated and he left this shadow world. The two women, mother and teenage girl, grew ever more hostile to us, especially to the women in our house. As autumn came they packed up and went to the housing estate nearby into their flat. For a short time all was peaceful, but they soon brought back their two dogs, fenced in a small area for them and since that time they have been coming every day and give food and water for the dogs that soon got a third companion. These poor animals have been living as in a concentration camp (I call it canine Goulag).
In the political life of the country there was a complete muddle. The new premier was a man who had been minister of finance for a time, but during the previous cycle he had been working for western banks, mainly abroad. Principally he was the best man to take the helm and direct the country into a better future. He was good-natured (too much of it) and clever. However, as it became clear in some months, no good for prime minister. His greatest shortage was lack of stamina, he never raised his voice, only wanted consensus without fighting. It was naivety, in a democracy it is never feasible, especially, when the former ruling party was pushed into opposition. But his other fault was no less significant, as in spite of inheriting a healthy economy he wasn’t going on the same route, but began to give money to groups of people, who (although long due for a better living) weren’t taking part in the productive activities that would earn money for the country. That way he undercut the balance of the budget that would cause great concerns for his successor some years later.
I don’t want to say that he did it with malevolence. On the opposite. But the country didn’t have the funds for it that time. It was beneficial for me too that he rectified the neglect of the former government toward pensioners. When I got the notice about my pension it was shameful, my starting pension was slightly above minimum wage. This man arranged it that my pension became twice as high in two years (not mentioned 13th month pension, but it would be taken by the same government during the recession). Anyway, also within the cabinet itself it became ever clearer that something was to be done to turn developments into the right direction.
All the same, life went on and everyone tried to do his or her work as well as possible. Even the opposition remained silent. Although the former premier kept order in his surroundings and the group of people around him remained closed and self-assigned – I can only characterize them as Central Committee of Fidesz, in the same design as the ruling parties had it before the change of power – and well organized, but the mischief in the election had not been digested yet. For the country the most important issue was joining the EU. There was a referendum about it and a large majority of the population voted for EU. Even in my translations this topic occupied an important role.
The cabinet was reshuffled twice, and (in my opinion) always for the worse. The coalition to govern consisted of the socialists and the free democrats (better to say democratic liberals), it was a tradition from the time of the former leftist government, when actually the two biggest competing parties decided to make a coalition. This time however, after the election the leadership of the liberals was changed, even twice, and the new leaders were more liberal than democratic. They took the wrong side of the stick, two ministries in their responsibility must have been taken over by socialists and they were given others instead. Generally speaking, they behaved as not a minor coalition partner, but a major one. It was an everyday event that they blackmailed something out from the premier. Also, they caused reliability problems by their letting him down repeatedly.
The entry in the EU happened all right, but in the background there were difficulties lurking. The opposition came to life, they spread a rumour about the premier and, although it was easy to refute, it resulted in his resigning. This was a line of events lasting for a month. The opposition of course was already celebrating their victory and were demanding immediate new elections. However, at the long and rectangular round table it had also been agreed – nobody had been sure of himself – that the ruling party or coalition is entitled to change the prime minister and the new one must be accepted by parliament. From a long line of candidates the most proper person was selected – only it was the worst choice possible, as his personality was unacceptable by the opposition’s leading figures. Anyway, his inauguration was forced through and he began the first term.
That man was youth activist before the power shift and, as he had a good sense of turning everything into money, with the opportunities of the new system he had become rich. During the first months of his predecessor he got the portfolio of the minister for youth and sports – that had been created during the former cycle particularly for a certain person, one of the earlier front-liners of the then governing party to make it possible even for him to be a minister. The government change after the election left that ministry untouched. As soon as it became clear that a new prime minister would be needed, he organized everything and at last he was chosen for the post.
He would be really the right person for that job, had the situation been different in the country. He is charismatic, knows how to deal with funds and money, and he can establish good connections with partners very quickly. As a member of EU, for the country a new budget was needed for the next year and within the union it was (and is) very hard to include untrue data in the documents, as all of the commissioners want to do as good a job as possible. However, with the resigned prime minister the balance of the budget had been derailed, and there was no means of correcting it in a short time – this was the first time our country had to make a budget for the next year as an EU member.
Within the EU not all directives are completely clear and at making the budget there were some side doors to use. Alas, the commissioners thought it otherwise and the figures would have been corrected. It took a lot of time and energy from really governing the country. And the opposition was already finding its legs, they made as much obstacles as they could. They began to obstruct work in the parliament and the cabinet wasn’t able to stand up to them. They could bring into motion several NGOs for this reason, even a referendum was organized by them and parliament had to give free way as they managed to collect the necessary number of signatures. It was about the question if the population of today’s Hungary was ready to give citizenship to those people that are Hungarians, but live in other counties. My opinion is the same now as it was then that those people deserve that they get back the Hungarian citizenship that had been snatched from them by the Trianon treaty. Alas, the prime minister took the wrong side as he was speaking for rejecting it. Well, the referendum was ineffectual because of the small number of voters, but still, the majority of those who voted did it with ‘yes’.
This story would go on, but now I think I have to give account about other things. At home the results of the election made things a little worse. During the previous cycle the right wing government had always had fix majority, because it can rely on one of the parties in the parliament – every party that has got a fraction of votes above five percent in the first round can send representatives – that was from the extreme (it would seem not so extreme today) right and the governing party didn’t dare to include it in the coalition. However, those members voted always for the government. Our neighbour, the woman whose husband had died, was the local activist of that party. With the left wing victory they were frustrated and did as much wrong as could. Shovelful of faecal from under the dogs hit my grapes that was thrown over the fence reinforced with slate sheets. Garbage was thrown on the pavement on front of our house, painstakingly spread to cover the whole surface. My neighbour from the other side saw it done and told them to collect it, otherwise the local government would know about it. They did it, but local government was not a very terrible thing to them. When I discovered that the stuff thrown over the fence killed my vines and was sticking to my shoes as I went along between the fence and the arbour, I made a picture and went with it to the executive in the mayor’s office responsible for such complaints. The woman was sympathetic, but as soon as I introduced myself, she said: “Ah, then it is you who wants to fell their staghorn sumac tree.” She explained that the woman had been visiting her and had made this complaint. I tried to make it clear to her what all this was about a tree – no staghorn sumac, but a kind of maple growing wild in the woods – that was outgrowing even the high voltage lines in height. The late husband of the woman had changed his mind about felling it. She added that she had been classmate of that woman and she didn’t need to be briefed about her.
I made another attempt to get justice for me, but in the head office another woman said they would investigate it after I paid the fee for complaints. I told her I didn’t need anything from them. Well, conditions haven’t alter, only everyone became older by one year annually.