New Government – Orban Invokes Spirit Of Lincoln

Budapest, June 6 (MTI) – The goal of the cabinet being formed today is to run a people’s government, Viktor Orban, the premier, said in parliament.

Presenting his new cabinet, he said a people’s government was about more than “sticking to the rules of democracy”. It is based on the classic idea of Lincoln’s: “Of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Hungary’s government must lead a unified and strong nation on the path that it embarked upon four years ago, he said.

Introducing Mihaly Varga, the national economy minister, Orban said he expected Varga to build a labour-based economy with the goal of full employment in sight. In light of the European Central Bank’s “historic” rate decision on Thursday, he had also asked Varga to prepare Hungary accordingly.

Orban said he had asked the new minister of foreign and external economic affairs, Tibor Navracsics, to pursue a policy which binds every major foreign power’s interests to a successful Hungary and which adds to Hungary’s weight. Such a strategy demands bravura, he added.

He said he had asked Laszlo Trocsanyi, the new justice minister, to defend the country’s constitutional identity in the international area, while in Hungary he should contribute to restoring “the wavering public trust” in the justice system.

Orban said he wanted Sandor Pinter, the interior minister to carry on making Hungary a safe place to live in. “Be tough, unbending and just,” he told him, adding that the rights of criminals should never be put above those of law enforcement officers or victims.

Aiding the country’s reindustrialisation is among the key tasks entrusted to Miklos Sesztak, the new development minister, Orban said.

The prime minister asked the minister of human resources, Zoltan Balog, to manage energy affairs in such a way that ultimately strengthens families and turns around demographic trends in a “modern nation-saving form”.

The farm minister, Sandor Fazekas, was asked to ensure that Hungarian farmers farm Hungarian land. He noted that the government had decided earlier that the ratio of medium-sized farms to large ones should be 80:20. The rural and agricultural support mechanisms should be tailored accordingly, he added.

He asked Csaba Hende, the defence minister, to situate Hungarian defence and the armed forces within the international cooperation systems of the 21st century.

Orban asked Zolt Semjen, minister without portfolio, to continue in the post of deputy prime minister.

Orban said the government must always and in every situation serve the “three-thirds” victory is not something in itself but a task. And the greater the power granted by the voter the bigger the task and responsibility to serve the entire country with humility.

He said the government represented the whole nation, not only the mother country. It had received its authority from all Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin and beyond. It can be expected that every member of government will undertake this historic responsibility and stand his ground for the sake of Hungarians and the Hungarian nation in the face of anyone or anything, he said.

The next four years will not be a period of conceptualisation but one of action, Orban said. The conceptual structure is now in place on firm constitutional foundations. Now the basis is there for necessary broad-arching and brave actions, he added.

Orban said the government members would have a tougher job than in the first cycle, since the bar had been raised even higher. He said its members would have to be resilient and tough and withstand the weight and responsibility of their duties with humility and persistence.

Photo: MTI – Tamas Kovacs

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters