A boat carrying Hungary’s defence and economy ministers was briefly left drifting on the Danube after its engine broke down during a live-broadcast inspection of the Paks nuclear power plant’s emergency river works.
The unusual incident occurred on Sunday morning as Prime Minister Péter Magyar and his ministers were inspecting the construction of a bottom sill designed to raise the Danube’s water level near the Paks Nuclear Power Plant.
Magyar and his ministers had earlier held a press conference about the progress of the river works and the gradual restart of the plant’s turbines. Afterwards, the prime minister invited journalists to join him on a boat tour of the construction site.
Ministers’ boat falls behind
Magyar travelled in one boat, while journalists followed in another. Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi and Economy Minister István Kapitány were travelling together in a separate boat behind the prime minister.
During the live broadcast, it soon became apparent that the ministers’ boat was falling behind. The reason was rather less dramatic than the footage initially suggested: its engine had broken down, leaving the boat drifting on the river.
Magyar, who briefly took over the camera from his operator during the tour and provided a running commentary, eventually noticed the problem. He asked whether it was normal for the defence minister to be drifting away on the Danube with nobody apparently coming to his rescue.
An army colonel at the scene responded: “Reporting, they have been rescued.”
The two ministers were subsequently brought safely to shore aboard another boat. As Ruszin-Szendi stepped ashore, Magyar could not resist a joke about the incident.
“The defence minister’s smile isn’t sincere!” the prime minister quipped.
New 1956 memorial planned for 70th anniversary
During the same press conference at Paks, Magyar also announced plans for a new, larger memorial site dedicated to the 1956 Revolution ahead of its 70th anniversary in 2026. The prime minister said he wanted Hungary to have a more substantial and dignified memorial than the existing sites in Budapest.
He said he would ask Hungarian companies to contribute voluntarily to the project, drawing a comparison with the private donations made by wealthy French individuals and companies following the 2019 Notre-Dame fire in Paris.
According to Magyar, Hungarian businesses are now also beginning to take greater responsibility for national causes. He argued that the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution should provide an opportunity for companies of all sizes to contribute to a shared national commemoration.
He said there should be a culture in which the private sector feels that the country is also “its own”, adding that joint celebrations could carry an important symbolic message.
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Government funding criticised
Magyar also criticised the previous government over spending on national commemorations. He claimed that despite large amounts being spent on national events, the planned renovation of the memorial park for the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Mohács had not been completed.
He also said only a few hundred million forints remained in the budget for this year’s 23 October commemorations and that no plan had been prepared for a new 1956 memorial.
In Magyar’s view, Budapest currently lacks a sufficiently suitable monument to the 1956 Revolution. He said neither the steel columns at Ötvenhatosok Square nor the House of Terror adequately fulfils that role.
The prime minister said he would therefore write to major Hungarian businesses and ask them to contribute to the construction costs of a new, large-scale memorial ahead of the revolution’s 70th anniversary.
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