Hungary

Abstract

After the fall of the ‘Iron Curtain’ in 1990, Hungary’s approach to Europe was supported by a large domestic consensus. Hungary applied for EU membership in 1994. Negotiations opened in March 1998 and ended in December 2002. In April 2003, Hungary held a referendum on EU accession. Turnout was relatively low (45.6 per cent) but an impressive 83.8 per cent voted for accession, and only 16.2 against. After the Accession Treaty came into force, Hungary held its first elections to the European Parliament (EP) on 13 June 2004. Two months after the euphoria of accession, the 38.5 per cent turnout was below the EU average. The election brought a moderate victory for the opposition parties: the right-wing FIDESZ-Magyar Polgári Szövetség (FIDESZ Hungarian Civic Union, usually abbreviated to FIDESZ), with 12 MEPs, and the centre-right Magyar Demokrata Fórum (Hungarian Democratic Forum — MDF) with one. The governing parties the Magyar Szocilista Párt (Hungarian Socialist Party — MSZP) and Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége (the Alliance of Free Democrats — SZDSZ) gained nine and two, respectively.