Brussels, 20/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - The affair involving the admission by the Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany that his government “lied” to voters, has provoked a variety of reactions in the different European political parties (these ideas were expressed last May during a private meeting with Socialist MPs and was subject to a leak on 17 September, which led to calls for resignations and violent riots supported by the far right opposition). On 19 September in Brussels at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the European People's Party (EPP), presided by Wilfried Martens, a resolution was adopted calling for the Hungarian government to “resign immediately…paving the way for new elections in order to restore the trust of Hungarian citizens in the democratic institutions” (local elections are planned in Hungary in October). The president of the Party of European Socialists (PES), Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, on the contrary, exhorted the Hungarian prime minister to ignore “right-wing calls for his resignation” and affirmed that “Hungary needs reform, and change is always painful. Ferenc Gyurcsany is the best man to make reforms that Hungary needs”. The MEP and former Danish Social Democratic prime minister added, “the last thing Hungary needs right now is a right-wing government making the sort of so-called reforms that involve handing out money to the rich and slashing social protection for the poor”.