Hungary needs independent Energy Office, experts said
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Experts at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (AmCham) lobby group have repeatedly voiced that Hungary requires a fully independent supervision, a role which the politically inclined Hungarian Energy Office (MEH) is supposed to play. AmCham experts expressed their concern again this week.
Almost a decade ago the ruling Hungarian Socilaist Party (MSzP), the successor of the former communist led Hungarian Workers Party (MSzMP), ouster Peter Kaderjak (pictured right), President of MEH chosen by parliament, to illegally replace him with Ferenc Horvath, allegedly MSzP’s political soldier to manipulate energy sector issues. Kaderjak’s mandate was supposed to last six years, but he was prematurely ousted long before the end of his tenure.
Coincidentally, experts say (there is nothing ever coincidental in politics), the then MSzP party president Laszlo Kovacs (pictured left) was expecting to take the meat-train position of Energy Commissioner of the European Commission. US online news agency Platts.com reported that long-time independent senior experts at MEH had insisted Kovacs was unsuitable for the position as he lacked the expertise and clout for the job and should not win the appointment.
Horvath wrote an official letter to Platts demanding a correction (that energy experts’ oppinion at MEH wasn’t the official opinion of the MEH’s leadership). His demands fell on deaf ears and Platts instead expanded coverage on the issue.
After several months of feeble attempts to convince the energy industries of the EU and Hungary, EU Chief Commissioner Manuel Barosso and Kovacs allegedly acknowledged their defeat and a reshuffle was called for. Kovacs was allocated the post of Commissioner of Tax and Excise.
This also called for special quick-step tutorials from Belgian tax experts at KPMG in Budapest, the company admitted. The MEH also acknowledged its biggest defeat and the office’s image has never recovered since, experts said.
