The new Hungarian cabinet was formed on Tuesday when President Tamás Sulyok appointed the ministers of Péter Magyar’s government. However, Péter Magyar requested Sulyok not to be in the photograph taken of the new government since he believes Sulyok is only a clown of former premier Orbán. Therefore, Magyar demanded Sulyok’s resignation multiple times.
At the celebration held in the Sándor Palace, Sulyok handed over the credentials of the 16 ministers. Szabolcs Bóna became minister for agriculture and food economy, László Gajdos minister for the living environment, Márta Görög minister of justice, Zsolt Hegedűs health-care minister, István Kapitány economy and energy minister, András Kármán the finance minister, Vilmos Kátai-Németh the minister for social and family affairs, and Judit Lannert the minister for education and children’s affairs.
Viktória Lőrincz received the post of regional and rural development minister, Anita Orbán foreign affairs minister and Gábor Pósfai minister of the interior. Bálint Ruff will head the Prime Minister’s Office, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi the defence ministry, Zoltán Tanács the ministry of science and technology, Zoltán Tarr the ministry for social relations and culture, and Dávid Vitézy the ministry of transport and innovation.
Under Hungary’s constitution, the government is formed when the ministers are appointed by the president, upon the recommendation of the prime minister. There was no joint photo taken of Sulyok, Magyar and the ministers. The new ministers will take the oath of office at parliament’s plenary session, scheduled to start at 4pm today, the Hungarian News Agency wrote.
Ruff pledges ‘the greatest reckoning of all times’
The new Prime Minister’s Office will be “the engine driving the regime change“, Bálint Ruff, the nominee to head the ministry, said at his confirmation hearing in parliament’s judicial and constitutional committee on Tuesday, and pledged restoration of the rule of law in Hungary and “the greatest political and economic reckoning of all times.“
At the recent election, the Tisza Party won “a clear mandate to restore the rule of law, to serve the homeland“, he said. “We need to restore a state in which the state does not harm but serves its citizens, in which people are not discriminated against based on their views,” he added. “We must restore a state in which children are protected,” he said, adding that “hundreds of billions of forints cannot be spent on authorities harassing people.“
“Public funds will be public funds; there is no room for propaganda in the state machinery, and its staff will have to serve; we must restore the division between the branches of government,” he said, adding that “politicians are not omnipotent“.
Ensuring that Tisza delivers on all its pledges made in the campaign
The task of the PM’s Office will be to provide political analyses and make recommendations, Ruff said, adding that his ministry would not propose legislation. “We’ll have the individual ministries for that.” “My task will be to assist the prime minister in all areas, as well as all ministers in keeping the directions outlined in Tisza’s programme … my task will be to ensure that Tisza delivers on all its pledges made in the campaign,” he said.
Ruff introduced two nominees for state secretary: Bence Csontos, an international affairs expert, who will serve as parliamentary state secretary and Andras Biro-Nagy, who holds a PhD in political sciences and will serve as state secretary for policy. In addition, there will be a strategic and a communications state secretary position, Ruff said.
Legislation will be enacted on the stipulation that the state may not engage in hate speech, defamation, or the stigmatization of others, Ruff said. He slammed the tenure of the Fidesz government as “the country’s worst 16 years out of the past 36” which had turned Hungary into the “poorest and most corrupt country” in the EU.
KSH figures can no longer be trusted
Ruff said that during a tour of three ministry buildings with Prime Minister Peter Magyar on Monday, he had seen “extravagance, waste of money, luxury and ostentation“. Fidesz committee members, including former justice minister Bence Tuzson, interrupted the hearing and called his statements lies. Ruff pledged to launch “the greatest ever economic and political reckoning” if appointed minister.
Further, Ruff said that the secret services would be returned to where they belong: under the ministries of the interior, defence and justice. The finance minister will be responsible for the professional oversight of the Central Statistical Office (KSH), and that it would soon become an independent institution again “whose figures could once more be trusted,” he said.
He said one of his first tasks as minister would be establishment of the Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA), and the last would be “the recall of the Russians.” He said that while he will not be the one to bring about the said reckoning, he would have the job of ensuring that another branch of power could operate unshackled.
Asset Recovery Office
Regarding establishment of the Asset Recovery Office, Ruff said the relevant legislation proposal would be submitted to parliament by the 141 Tisza lawmakers. According to plans, the office will start work on July 1, within the “strictest and most reliable” rule of law framework, he said.
Former PM Orbán’s MP arrested 48 hours after he lost his immunity
Anti-corruption regulations will also be extremely stringent, he said, adding that Fidesz-KDNP had taken 20 trillion forints (EUR 56.2bn) from public coffers. Ruff said he hoped that some of it will be recovered. He called it a crime that Fidesz-KDNP “treated EU funds as their own while letting the country fall into ruin.”
“They abused the country, threatened it, drove people away, and made them sick, even bombarding them with war psychosis. But at least that has stopped, and my ministry will never do anything like that,” he declared.
The committee approved the nomination of the minister-designate with eight votes in favor and three against.
Premier Péter Magyar calls out former government for post-election spending
Magyar said decisions on post-election spending commitments had been taken at “at least” seven ministries without consulting him in a post on Facebook on Tuesday. Magyar had asked the ministers of the former government to report on any new post-election spending commitments by 10:00 in the evening on Monday. A table supplied summarising the expenditures shows Gergely Gulyás, the outgoing head of the Prime Minister’s Office, “lied when he said such spending didn’t take place“, Magyar said in the post. “Minor and major decisions are among the expenditures. The Tisza Party will scrutinise each one,” he added.
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