Parliamentary members (MPs) of main opposition Fidesz party on Friday dismantled the cordon around the parliament building. Following their action, protesters resumed demonstrations demanding the resignation of the government. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány criticized Fidesz for using unlawful means to express their opinion on the cordon and added that the decision to retain or remove the fence would be made by police.
Our view: We see the renewed demonstrations against the government could have a slight negative impact on the HUF. However, we would note that the current demonstration was much smaller than those took place last October. Press speculates that street protests could accelerate around 15 March 2007, Hungary's national holiday, since the parliamentary way (i.e confidence vote) of removing the government turned out to be unsuccessful last year.