Opposition scolds Hungary's new government

BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 22 (UPI) -- Hungary's biggest opposition Fidesz party condemned Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai for continuing the economic policy of his predecessor.

Sandor Czomba, an economist of the conservative Fidesz party, said Bajnai's new government, installed in office April 14, is continuing the wrong employment policy, the Hungarian news agency MTI said Wednesday.

Czomba warned if the Bajnai government followed the alleged wrong direction in economic policies, the unemployment rate may rise from 9 percent in February to 12 percent by the year's end.

Addressing reporters in Budapest, Czomba said that Bajnai already showed his incompetence as an economy minister and now he is doing the same as the prime minister.

Bajnai, the 41-year-old non-partisan technocrat, replaced socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who resigned late in March after failing to win parliamentary support for his economic plans.

Bajnai was the economy minister in the Gyurcsany's Cabinet.