The main characteristics of the operation of the Hungarian state and the directions of necessary changes

Abstract

In April 2007, the State Audit Office (SAO) presented to Parliament a document entitled “Theses on the Regulation of Public Finances”, which the Parliament discussed, asking the government to use the theses during the “reregulation of public finances”. The renewal of regulations on public finances has begun, as a result of which important laws have been passed. These laws have, however, failed to establish, as a system, a modern framework for public finance management; a revision of the volume of public finances has failed to take place and there has also been a failure to incorporate into a system the public duties to be financed by the Hungarian state now and in the future. In September 2009, the Research Institute of the State Audit Office continued the work begun by working out the theses by elaborating a study entitled “An expedient economic role for the state in the global economy of the early 21st century”. The study sketches the logical chain related to the role of the state, reviews international trends as well as the main experience of the operation of the Hungarian state in the past 20 years, outlining what changes are necessary in the assumption of economic roles by the state. Attached to the study, the Appendix includes the theoretical-methodological system of aspects that may serve as a starting basis for the evaluation of the public political ideas and policies aimed at the reform of the public sector.