Nastase, Medgyessy and Kovacs meeting on UDMR grounds

Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, his counterpart in Budapest Peter Medgyessy and Hungary’s Foreign minister Laszlo Kovacs (the Hungarian Socialist Party leader), will attend the UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) convention scheduled for this weekend in Satu Mare. The announcement came from UDMR leader Marko Bela.
The two PMs, as well as the head of the Hungarian diplomacy have met on several occasions since Medgyessy’s appointment in this position last April. The talks focused on both the Law on the status of Hungarians abroad and on the Hungarian socialists’ past, present and future support for PSD (Social Democrat Party) to obtain the full-fledged Socialist International member status.
The Hungarian Socialist Party’s coming in power has consolidated the ties of the two Social-Democrat parties. The latest example in this regard was the invitation extended by the Romanian Premier to his Hungarian counterpart, for the celebrations of the National Day of Romania (December 1) at the Romanian Embassy in Budapest. Peter Medgyessy was later harshly criticised by the Hungarian opposition for having said yes.
The re-launch of the ties between the Romanian and Hungarian socialists also seems to have been due to the position of UDMR, which is the main supporter of the ruling party in Parliament.
UDMR is planning to make some minor statute changes during the Convention on Friday and Saturday, as announced by chairman Marko Bela.
The UDMR leader said the decisions at the convention would result in “balancing” the doctrines and currents within the party, although not essentially changing the statute of the party. The Alliance comprises ten political platforms pertaining to various currents.
As soon as the convention in Satu Mare is over, UDMR will also establish a Consultative Council for platforms and will allow for a direct vote to elect the Alliance Representatives Council. This council is the “mini-Parliament” of the Hungarian party, comprised of about 100 representatives of all platforms.