Interviewed by news portal hvg.hu, Bokros said he shared the opinion of Democratic Forum members of parliament who voted for a recent amendment to the Penal Code, making Holocaust denial punishable by the law.
"Hungary cannot allow itself to interpret freedom of speech without any limits because this would violate the human rights of others and upset the sound checks and balances," he said.
"Hungary is not the United States. Perhaps in 100 to 150 years it will become that. Then this law can be repealed," he said.
An economic reformer, Lajos Bokros was finance minister in Gyula Horn's socialist-liberal government in 1995-1996. He is famed for his eponymous austerity package, which successfully dug Hungary out of its economic hole in the mid-nineties.
Politics HU
