THE REPUBLICAN Council of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) and its three estranged MPs – Béla Bugár, Gábor Gál and László Nagy – pledged to reach agreement at a May 16 meeting in Rožňava.
The two sides were very close to a settlement but failed to agree on the details, said Ivan Farkas, the chairman of the council, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
SMK representatives agreed to work towards an agreement by the next session of the council on June 13.
The council called upon the three politicians to return to the SMK parliamentary caucus and become actively involved in the campaign ahead of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament on June 6. The three left the caucus in April this year, voicing discontent with the party leadership, but did not quit the party.
At the council session the dissident MPs tabled a proposal to create a separate faction within the SMK. Although a faction can be founded in the party, certain points of the proposal contradict the statutes of the SMK, party leader Pál Csáky said.
Csáky said he was hopeful the dispute could be settled on June 13. The council did not receive any proposals to exclude the three deputies from the party.
