ABSTRACT

The Interest Reconciliation Council (IRC) is based on the informal agreement and cooperation of the social partners; its operation and structure are not stipulated in an act, but a part of its authorizations are included in legislation. The Employment Act of February 1991 assigns certain competencies to the Labor Market Committee that was formed to deal with employment interest reconciliation. In the Hungarian transition, the role of the parties loomed large from the very beginning. The parties seized all initiatives and tried to make Parliament into a single center of decision making. One of the encouraging results of the election campaign of 1994 was that most of the leading parties had a positive view about a possible social pact. The direction of the expected negotiations was determined by the coalition agreement, namely the program of the government formed by the victorious Hungarian Socialist Party and its coalition partner, the Association of Free Democrats.