Judiciary employees’ wage hikes may start next year, says news minister

Employees of the judiciary sector may see their wages raised as soon as next year, Judit Varga, who was sworn in as justice minister last week, told public news channel M1 late on Monday.

Varga said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had voiced support for the wage hikes as current wages in the sector are “humiliatingly low”.

On policy issues, Varga said

she would follow in the footsteps of her predecessor, László Trócsányi, who has gone on to work as an MEP. The ministry is also taking on the task of supporting Hungary’s EU policy, she said.

The EU’s objections to the Hungarian judiciary system are part of a “witch hunt”, and are politically motivated, Varga said. She said she would continue to represent Hungary’s interests in the Article 7 procedure started last year that could eventually strip the country of its voting rights in the bloc.

Regarding the Visegrad Group, Varga said the cooperation among the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia was “incredibly successful”.

“We managed to stop” EPP candidate Manfred Weber and Frans Timmermans, the spitzenkandidat of the Party of European Socialists, from becoming head of the European Commission, she said.

The final candidate German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen’s “past and personality” suggest that she will be more open to the problems specific for central Europe, she said.

On the issue of migration, Varga said the goal was to find a long-term solution respecting all states’ interests.