Hungary’s Parliament has voted to restore the terms “county” and “government commissioner”, reversing the controversial renaming of counties and government commissioners introduced by Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz government in 2022.
Historical titles are gone
The Tisza-majority Parliament approved the legislation on Tuesday with 134 votes in favour and 52 against. Fidesz, the Christian Democrats (KDNP) and Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) voted against the proposal. Under the changes, Hungary’s vármegyék (literally translated to castle counties) will once again officially be known as megyék, while főispáns (lord lieutenants) will again be referred to as government commissioners.
The 2022 terminology was introduced as part of the 11th amendment to Hungary’s Fundamental Law. The Fidesz government argued at the time that restoring the historical term vármegye would preserve the constitutional traditions of Hungary’s thousand-year statehood, strengthen national unity and reinforce the national character of Hungarian democracy.
Government cites clarity and practicality
The newly adopted legislation takes a different approach, stressing practical and legal considerations. According to the proposal, abandoning the terms vármegye and főispán will make the administrative system more transparent and easier to understand, while promoting consistent application of the law.
The changes are primarily terminological and technical. They do not alter the powers or responsibilities of the affected authorities, nor do they change the substance of administrative, regulatory or local-government relationships. The law will enter into force on the day after its promulgation, while amendments changing the terminology in other legislation will take effect on 1 October.
Never miss a headline: join Daily News Hungary’s official WhatsApp channel!
From historic tradition to a controversial revival
The term vármegye has deep roots in Hungarian history. It was used for a fundamental administrative unit from the foundation of the Hungarian state until 1949, although the county system developed gradually over several centuries. The system underwent major reforms in the late 19th century, including a significant administrative restructuring between 1876 and 1881.
County boundaries changed repeatedly, including before the Treaty of Trianon. The historical name survived these changes and remained in use after Trianon and during the years following the Second World War. It was officially replaced by megye in 1949, when Hungary adopted a new constitution modelled on the Soviet system.
Stay up-do-date: Hungary orders 10 Russian embassy staff to leave – UPDATE: Russia’s threat
Lázár once opposed the name change
Interestingly, János Lázár, who was a senior minister in Orbán’s fifth government, voted in favour of the 2022 renaming despite having previously criticised the idea. When the change was considered during the drafting of the Fundamental Law in 2011, Lázár argued that the historical term carried negative associations for many Hungarians, particularly those whose families had worked as servants or labourers.
He eventually supported the 2022 change, saying he did so because it formed part of the constitutional amendment before Parliament. The latest vote now reverses that decision, bringing Hungary’s official administrative terminology back to the terms used between 1949 and 2022.
Read also: PM Magyar claims “Hungarians turned against Hungarians” in the past 16 years
If Fidesz stayed in power the next step would be to call people in the countryside “peasants” and “vassals” and the NER oligarchs would be referred to as “Lords”. They really were taking Hungarians backward in mentality and standard of living.
It is rarely healthy for a people to ‘revise’ themselves or their histories. This, however, is only one of a growing group of issues the rightwing will have to address, once the Hungarian Public grows tired of Tisza and puts them in office.