© Túry Gergely

He also received a protestant moral upbringing at home. He concedes, though: "I don't go to church regularly, but I support my Church with my taxes, and my food manufacturing company made donations to the needy via the church for 10 years." The roots of his politics run back to his grandfather, who was a smallholder. His father continued this tradition as chief agronomist at an agricultural cooperative and as a gardener. "We had an orchard early on. Our apple orchard made us so much money that we could afford a Wartburg car in the mid-1960s. I can even remember its number plate," he adds. After secondary school, he studied agricultural engineering in Debrecen. By 1983, he was chief accountant, and three years later he qualified as an economist, eventually working in the central office of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party's Nyirbator branch. He juggled careers in politics and business, becoming a city councillor in 1990, a member of the party's county executive in 1991 and an MP from 1994 onwards. In October 2002 he was elected mayor of Nyirbator, resigning when Peter Medgyessy appointed him political state secretary in the Finance Ministry. Following Ferenc Gyurcsany's ascent to power he became the prime minister's chief of staff and then Minister of Finance in April 2005.

"I played in the parliamentary football team for a long time, but nowadays I prefer tennis," he says. His wife is also an MP, his 23-year-old son Gabor studies agricultural engineering in Debrecen, while his 22-year-old son Tamas is studying hotel management, and is currently serving an apprenticeship in London.

All your various biographies agree that you never climbed through the ranks in a ministry or a bank, unlike many of your predecessors. But for almost two years you've managed to hang on to one of the most volatile ministerial jobs. Or maybe this lack of experience is the secret to a long life as finance minister?

I don't think there's a secret. As far as prior experience is concerned, I've been working in this field for almost 14 years, I've drafted lots of laws and I ran the Socialist Party's budget working party for 10 years.

So you don't feel you're lacking anything?

It's true I was never a banker, and I never ran an insurance company. But I don't think that's the only way of doing a good job in this ministry.

As your own career testifies. Over the last few weeks you were mentioned as a possible president of the central bank. You're obviously not going to say anything about this, but did you feel that the former president Zsigmond Jarai, who's known for slamming Hungary's fiscal policy, accepted you as an equal partner?

We certainly have different economic philosophies, so we do argue, but I'm always careful not to make ad hominem criticisms of the central bank president.

Your self-restraint is admirable. We suspect you don't regard him as your teacher. But who is, then? Some call you a 'Bokros orphan', since you served him when he was Finance Minister, travelling around the country to explain his now legendary reform package.

I was a member of the team that helped him. But there are other former finance ministers with whom I speak regularly. I'm most interested in Istvan Hetenyi's opinion. Though I wouldn't call him my teacher.

And in politics? You were secretary of the defence forces branch of the Young Communists. Was this out of conviction, or were you interested in the benefits you derived from this post?

What if I tell you that, even as secretary of the Young Communists, I still spent a week sitting in jail at Csongrad Barracks?

Really? Were you protesting against Janos Kadar?

No, but even then I didn't keep my lips sealed. I spoke my mind to our battalion commander. He was angry, summoned me and asked me to withdraw what I'd said. I refused. So I got a week in prison. It was widely noticed, because I was the first officer to end up in prison.

You still became first secretary of the Socialist Workers' Party's Nyirbator branch. What did you religious mother say to that?

My parents weren't glad to see me choose a political career. My mother still tells me off sometimes.

She hasn't scared you off. At least she must be happy that you're an entrepreneur as well. How did you earn your first million?

From apples!

And what about now? Do you compare your wealth to that of your colleagues in government, Ferenc Gyurcsany or Janos Koka?

I don't compare our fortunes, but there's a difference of orders of magnitude. I have a total of 30 hectares of real estate, which is worth less than an empty plot of land in Buda - a hectare is worth about HUF500,000 in Nyirbator. My declaration of financial interests is a matter of public record.

Your mother would like you to stop, but you dragged your wife into politics. Did you want to be sure she was behind you?

My wife's role in Parliament is the result of seven years of public life. She headed the women's branch of the party's county branch, and she came in eighth on the party's county list in a secret ballot. In the end, we won so many constituencies that two people behind her also won seats in Parliament. She didn't enter Parliament as Janos Veres's wife but as Eva Szabo.

Do you talk politics at home? Or never in front of the children?

We only talk politics outside or in the car. Gabor is a member of the Young Left's Nyirbator branch, but Tamas is less interested in politics.

Almost every month, the press discovers the exact date on which you're to be sacked. Now the country is echoing to the sound of reform plans. What's the most important reform you'd like to implement - if you're given time to do so?

It would be ideal if the state could have the kind of integrated IT system that any enterprise worth its salt has. From my desk, I could see how revenues and expenditures were balancing and I could make informed decisions about expenditures. I'll have it done within two years.

ANDRÁS LINDNER - ZOLTÁN HORVÁTH