No "career-socialist", however gifted, will achieve anything without "territorial integration", i. e. the backing of regional party organisations - this is an old axiom within the ranks of MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party). Ferenc Gyurcsány, for example, had to use the party organisation in the county of Győr-Moson-Sopron in 2004 as a springboard. However, there is someone who, despite not being a member of either the national presidency or any leading party bodies in the counties or the capital, had the courage to become the face of "the rebellion of the young" in the party following the elections to the European Parliament on June 7th. This was the time when the outside world understood that Miklós Hagyó is indeed a leading figure of the most powerful group of congress delegates (the Budapest one); a party member who, although he has been a member of parliament since 2002, has only spoken in the House on a mere six occasions, and who, at least on paper, is not more than the head of the socialist "cell" in district XII of Budapest, otherwise a stronghold of the right. In addition to this of course, he has been deputy mayor of Budapest - the management of which has hardly been a resounding success - since 2006. Thus, while MSZP is busy manoeuvring its way past the conquest attempt carried out by Gyurcsány, another heavyweight competitor - also from the world of business - emerged, ready to use a vote of confidence at the congress of July 4th in order to dismiss presidency members who spent years together in the "late" MSZMP (Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party) and Baloldali Ifjúsági Társulás (Association of Youth on the Left, now Fiatal Baloldal, Young Left) founded by Péter Kiss, currently minister for social policy without portfolio.

Young adults

If nothing else, such a strong start was definitely enough for the young to raise their rate at the "star exchange". Party leaders today imagine a young candidate for prime minister - Hagyó, however, differs on this from Gyurcsány: it is not himself he would like to see in the position; he would probably be satisfied with a "slice" of informal governmental power.

According to the script that was to be followed at the congress as Heti Válasz went to press, the presidency's deposition has been postponed for the time being. Our sources say this is not because the circles supporting Hagyó have became weaker, but because the party has to have the budget approved at a vote held in November or December. It is not worth insulting anyone in the parliamentary faction - the majority behind the Bajnai-government is at stake. Nevertheless, Zoltán Gál, speaking on behalf of party veterans, fulminated against the young in an interview in Népszabadság already a week and a half ago:"A generation has already grown up in MSZP, observing and learning everything that should have been forgotten a long time ago. While they have brought the art of gaining more power to the point of perfection, they have not uttered a single word about policy content that made any sense. The fact that in the middle of the EP election campaign, certain party organisations devoted all their political efforts to setting up party lists, is clearly evidence of such damaging ways of thinking." There is only one lobby that could be described like this: the one in Budapest, i. e. people have started to attach the label of "pragmatic careerist" to Miklós Hagyó.

The only trouble is, Zoltán Gál seems to have got the timing of his remarks wrong: Hagyó had already been found out by the press five years ago; that means the tricks of the trade referred to above have not only appeared as of late. Among others, Heti Válasz also reported the information obtained by the news portal Nyugat.hu, namely that Csaba Tóth, the freshly appointed deputy leader of the party's regional organisation, whose ties to János Zuschlag could be best described as symbiosis at work, started a recruitment exercise (Heti Válasz, January 16th 2004). At the time, the news portal named Hagyó as the party's unofficial deputy treasurer and described Tóth as a colleague indebted to him. This spring, Heti Válasz published letters circulated in "samizdat" (Heti Válasz, May 21st 2009), out of which the one dated March 4th, available at the website eastcasablanca.bravejournal.com, states the following: with the departure of Gyurcsány, Hagyó will have control over the party, since similarly to the former prime minister, he knows postcommunist channels of financing very well because "he used to operate in Hungary as one of the men of Zeno Meier, manager of Stasi funds."

Whose man?

Although elements of the above logical chain of arguments are only connected by fantasy, it is a fact that the party funds of the former German Democratic Republic were partly distributed via CW Bank in Vienna with the help of entrepreneurs who were well known in the market for never repaying any loans disbursed to them. In Hungary, the embezzlement plan was devised by a certain Evgeni Leibovich, registered in Switzerland, Zeno Meiner, mentioned above and Joseph Yuval Rayner - the latter was sentenced in 1999. Companies set up by the three "businessmen" were mostly active in the wholesale trade of food (they distributed Wrigley's chewing gum and Foster's beer) and, according to Company Court data, Miklós Hagyó was Rayner's partner in one of these companies up until 1998. In an interview he gave to Magyar Narancs two years ago, the deputy mayor was quick to underline that he did not hold any positions in any of the companies fully or partly owned by Rayner at the time when CW-loans were disbursed. However, in 2000, he again became CEO of a company limited by shares that was owned by other firms that used to be controlled by Meier and his gang and were put under the "supervision" of offshore companies registered in Gibraltar at the turn of the millennium.

One thing is certain: in 2000, Hagyó entered the world of politics as a businessman, but the rumours that the billionare Tamás Leisztinger introduced him to political circles are false. In reality, he and Andor Schmuck, founder of Tisztelet Társasága (Society of Respect) set up the short-lived movement named Szövetség az Európai Magyarországért (Association for a European Hungary) together, pushing Gyula Horn in front of them. Hagyó's current staff members at the municipality have also been recruited from among Schmuck's friends, and, in a move to seal their partnership, Schmuck's society presented the socialist assembly member with the Award of Respect this year.

The capture of Budapest

At the 2002 parliamentary elections, Miklós Hagyó was given a winning place in MSZP's national list. Péter Medgyessy, the candidate for prime minister at the time, also had the right to nominate outsiders to the party list, just like the then party treasurer László Puch and his team - Hagyó was probably recommended by the latter group.

Following the change of government, he ignited his rocket boosters. He was one of the contributors to the idea of Mosaic Club, a club organised for the party youth that united the current "Young Turks" already five or six years ago. With Ferenc Gyurcsány bursting onto the political scene, the generational opposition between young and old seemed to lose significance, but deep down at the grassroots the "mosaic takeover" continued, typically in places where frustration over the existence of an invincible right had broken up local MSZP groups. Lajos Oláh, currently a secretary of state at the Ministry of Transport, made himself president of the party organisation in the county of Hajdú-Bihar and cemented his position, Hagyó took the leadership of district XII and Csaba Tóth became an influential figure in Vas county - until the forced recruitment exercise was revealed, that is. When this project didn't work out, Tóth transformed into a president of the Zugló (district XIV of Budapest) organisation.

After the municipal elections in 2006, Miklós Hagyó became deputy mayor in the capital - since Gábor Demszky would rather cooperate with him than the other socialist assembly members who belonged to the old school. This opened up new opportunities for the rising star of MSZP. Leaders of district organisations loyal to him could, for example, boost their income by taking additional salaries from public utility companies overseen by him: Gergő Czeglédy in Óbuda, László Komoróczy in district XX and Mrs Iván György Kivágó in district XXIII became board members of Budapest Gyógyfürdői és Hévizei Zrt (Budapest Spas and Hot Springs Inc), Főtáv Zrt (Budapest District Heating Works Co. Ltd.) and Budapesti Temetkezési Zrt (the capital's funeral services company), respectively. To others, Hagyó offered a career in party politics: Sándor Burány in Kispest was made president of the Budapest organisation, Zsolt Molnár in disctrict II was turned into an acting vice president in Budapest, Pál Steiner became socialist faction leader in the capital's municipal assembly and Hagyó had Gergely Bárándy voted into the national presidency instead of himself.

Luckily for the young members, MSZP leaders of Terézváros and Erzsébetváros (districts VI and VII respectively), who are representatives of the old school, at present appear more often at investigations at the public prosecutor's office, regarding the misappropriation of public real estate property than at party meetings. Therefore - apart from Gyula Molnár, mayor of Újbuda (distric XI) and prominent figures in district XIII - there is no one else to withstand the power of Hagyó's grinder. Proof of this is that the Budapest organisation had already finalised its list for the national elections before the EU vote. For the sake of good order, party president Ildikó Lendvai came first; however, it is an open secret who could have approved the following three places, which were given to Burány, Hagyó and the other deputy mayor, Csaba Horváth.

THE RUN-UP TO THE CONGRESS

MSZP had proven to be capable of engaging in irrational internal fighting already at the time when the election of a successor to Gyurcsány Ferenc was on the agenda in March. This time we present the chronicles of the few weeks between the EP elections of June 7th and the party congress this Saturday - from war to temporary compromise.

June 8th

Katalin Szili, speaker of the house, suggests convening a party congress that is able to take decisions instead of a symbolic party meeting, arguing that ruthless honesty is needed to face up to the results of the EP elections (4 mandates, 17.4%), because "we have been crushed to death".

June 9th

Presidents of county organisations decide to hold a congress instead of a party meeting on July 4th. Those plotting to call party elections at the same time - Népszabadság suspects the supporters of Katalin Szili and Miklós Hagyó to be among them - fail to achieve their goal.

June 16th

At the MSZP presidency meeting, István Ujhelyi suggests that the body ask for a vote of confidence at the congress and, should it not enjoy the support of the majority, call for leadership elections in September. This starts a war of generations: all the young members back the proposal - Attila Mesterházy deputy president, Ágnes Vadai, László Varga and Gergely Bárándy - but in the end, the rebels remain a minority.

June 17th

The party's Budapest council, dominated by Hagyó, recommends the "one and only legitimate solution" to the debate within MSZP about personal changes: a vote of confidence requested by the presidency at the congress of July 4th. As possible new faces of the party, the names of Attila Mesterházy, Csaba Molnár, Ádám Ficsor and László Botka are mentioned - the latter, however, says he would not like to give up his mayoral post in Szeged.

June 19th

Following the adoption of new tax laws and the budget, MSZP should think about whether to continue governing the country - says Imre Szekeres deputy president, Minister for Defence in an interview given to Hírszerző, a news portal..

June 22nd

"We must break away from the »liberal-anarchist« heritage of Gyurcsány (...). I will propose that anyone who was a presidency member between the Őszöd speech and the resignation of Ferenc Gyurcsány should by no means attempt to stand for leadership elections again" - explains Tibor Szanyi, an ally of Katalin Szili, to hvg.hu, the news portal of the Hungarian economic weekly. The same evening, MSZP president Ildikó Lendvai invites the young to an open discussion. Miklós Hagyó, László Botka, István Ujhelyi, Attila Mesterházy, Ádám Ficsor and Csaba Molnár attend the meeting; the "elderly" are represented by Péter Kiss, Imre Szekeres, László Puch and János Veres. Many are convinced Botka has the fresh energy the party needs, but he insists on no as an answer.

June 26th

The party escapes into a fake compromise: there will be no vote of confidence at the congress; however, in accordance with the pact struck at the discussions, the party's national electoral commitee (the body leading the party until the parliamentary elections) will be enlarged to include representatives of the young generation. Decisions on leadership elections and the person of the candidate for prime minister can be taken following the adoption of the budget in November.

June 29th

The presentation Ildikó Lendvai wishes to give at the congress is leaked. The focus of the speech is that the Medgyessy-Gyurcsány era had drained the party of its ogranisational strength. It emerges that Ferenc Gyurcsány is to take over the management of the Táncsics Mihály Foundation - the party's economic power - as of the day of the congress.