Hungary in drive to bolster entry support

Hungary's pro-European government must sweeten an increasingly sour mood at home towards EU membership before a crucial April referendum, the head of a national campaign to rally support said yesterday.

Hungary, one of 10 countries due to join the European Union May of next year, holds a referendum on the issue on April 12, following similar votes in Malta, which is bitterly divided, and cautiously optimistic Slovenia.

Hungary's referendum is non-binding, but Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy insists he needs a popular mandate before he can sign the EU's accession treaty a week after the vote.

A government-backed campaign kicked off yesterday to take the EU message to the grass roots - young people, sceptical farmers, the elderly, and businesses that will soon be competing in an EU single market of some 450 million consumers.

Support for EU membership in Hungary has been consistently strong, but latest polls show a big drop as ordinary Hungarians digest the tough entry terms that emerged from last-minute bargaining at an EU summit in Copenhagen in December.

"At the time of the referendum, Hungary will be front-page news in Europe," Imre Somody, vice-president of the government's EU Communication Foundation, said in an interview.

"We haven't had so much attention from Europe since 1956," he said, referring to Hungary's failed anti-Soviet uprising.

"We need to set a clear example for Europe and those who will follow us (in the referendum calendar)."

Leaders of the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary - a regional alliance known as the Visegrad Four - agreed last year Budapest should hold the first referendum, hoping strong support there would boost the 'yes' vote in other candidates.

But the financial package agreed at Copenhagen, giving much lower direct aid to newcomers, has left many Hungarians bitter.

A January opinion poll showed two out of three Hungarians felt they had little or no information on what EU accession would mean for their everyday lives, and small companies also demanded to know more about changes in the business environment.

Somody said his task was to convince the average Hungarian, who earns e300 a month, that joining the EU is the only realistic way for this small nation of 10 million people to safeguard their security and future prosperity.

"There is only one certainty, that our future will be brighter than our past," said Somody, who founded one of Hungary's most successful drugs firms and was voted the nation's Man of the Year in 1998.

The Copenhagen deal and a high-profile campaign by Hungary's centre-right opposition - which backs entry but criticises the government for failing to win better terms - has eaten away at the over 70 per cent support base for EU membership.

One January poll showed a likely 'yes' vote at referendum had slipped to 56 per cent.

Somody said the campaign - the country's biggest political campaign in a decade - must convince at least two-thirds of Hungarians to back accession.

"Fifty per cent, plus one vote, is the minimum required, but our goal is a 66 per cent turnout and 66 per cent 'yes' vote," he said, adding the campaign will target those groups most sceptical about the benefits of joining the enlarging bloc.

"The three main target groups are youth, farmers and small businesses," Somody said. "But we also need to instil pride in people, showing them that we bring a very rich cultural and historic dowry to this Union."

The campaign has been given generous state funding of 2.2 billion forints, comparable to the annual advertising budget of any of Hungary's top five private firms.