Justice minister-elect László Trócsányi, at a hearing in parliament’s judicial committee on Monday, called for the completion of efforts to set up a supreme public administration court.
Trócsányi noted that such a court had not existed in Hungary since 1949, when “communist dictatorship removed all institutions of the rule of law“.
Trócsányi, who has been justice minister since 2014, said he was proud of the eight regional courts set up during the previous government cycle, and expressed regret that the top public administration had not been established “for lack of the necessary consensus”.
The proposed public administration court would apply to citizens or legal entities involved in a lawsuit with a public authority in cases concerning, for example, permission to continue an activity.
The rules of civil courts should not apply in such cases, and instead an independent public administrative procedural code is needed, Trócsányi argued earlier, adding that with the exception of Slovakia, every European Union member state operated such a system.
When the court was first mooted, opposition parties had complained that the new court would have the power to judge legal disputes over decisions made by the media authority, the central bank, the Public Procurement Arbitration Board and the National Election Committee. One Socialist lawmaker said at the time:
“This is as if the accused were to choose the jury members from among his family members.”
Today, the minister-elect told the committee that the independence of judges was “democracy’s guiding star” and he rejected allegations that a new public administration court system would not fall in line with the rule of law.
He pledged to be “rigorous” in enforcing criminal law and promoting victim protection.
In the area of private law, he said priority would be given to “legal competitiveness”, requiring a review of insolvency, bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings and setting uniform rules on registering legal entities.
Trócsányi said his ministry would continue to seek cooperation with parliament’s justice committee, political parties and other players in the area of justice.
He further pledged to engage in “constitutional dialogue” with the Constitutional Court and the Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court.
Asked about the planned European prosecutor’s office, Trócsányi said that such a body would “project” the image of a federal Europe. “The concept Hungary insists on is a Europe of nation states,” he said, calling the debate over the issue “theoretical”.
The committee supported Trócsányi’s nomination for the post with 7 votes from the ruling parties in favour and 4 opposition votes against.
Hungary’s opposition has turned its back on the country’s security and future, ruling Fidesz‘s new group leader has said. But neither the country nor the government will be “at their mercy”, thanks to the electorate’s powerful backing of the government in the April election, Máté Kocsis said in an interview.
Viktor Orbán’s fourth government will confront policies currently pursued by Brussels as “its gravest challenge”, he told Saturday’s Magyar Idők. Fidesz’s priorities have not changed, he added.
“These include protecting the borders, preserving our Christian traditions, working to achieve full employment, and supporting families,” he said.
The governing parties have demonstrated their commitment to these objectives, and Hungarians clearly showed their support for them in the general election,
Kocsis said.
Commenting on the government’s “Stop Soros” package of bills submitted to parliament in February, Kocsis said the package was a key component in combatting migration.
“We need a carefully considered law, since the issue here concerns sham civil organisations entrusted with what is very much a political task … attacking Hungary by exploiting legal loopholes,” he said. Fidesz wants the government to keep its proposal on the table so that parliament can adopt the bill as soon as possible, he added.
Jobbik group leader Márton Gyöngyösi said Orbán had implied several threats in his speech, indicating that he was “afraid”.
He also said the prime minister had outlined an economic and social vision “completely out of touch with reality”. Emigration, disastrous demographics and growing poverty were typical in Hungary, he added.
the country was “built on corruption and run by oligarchs, and young people are leaving in droves.”
Socialists
The opposition Socialists said they had stayed away from the vote because of evidence of election manipulation and “stolen European Union funds” in the hands of the prime minister’s family.
Bertalan Tóth, the party’s group leader, added that there had been no opportunity to debate the government’s policy platform. Orbán’s past promises had always failed to materialise, he added.
DK
Opposition DK deputy group leader Ágnes Vadai said her party had refused to participate in the vote in parliament to elect Orban because the general election had been neither free nor fair. “Under these circumstances, there is no reason to declare the will of the people has been represented.”
Hungary, she said, had been kept in fear “with empty threats about an apocalypse of migrants” while the government-friendly media had kept silent about the “systematic theft of the country’s assets”. In a country where the election committee covers up election fraud, those in power should not expect DK to consider them legitimate, she added.
LMP
Green opposition LMP lawmaker Péter Ungár said that
when prices in Hungary equalled the EU average but wages were well below that — and the basic pension is 28,500 forints a month (EUR 91) — talk of closing the gap with Europe and overtaking it was empty.
No demographic turnaround will happen if state financial support is limited to 2nd and 3rd children, while couples struggle to raise even a single child, he added.
The LMP politician also criticised Orbán’s speech for lacking concrete details. Orbán had failed to outline how he would steer Hungary into “the top five” in the coming period. “The top five of what?” he said.
Hungary’s new parliament re-elected Viktor Orbán, the leader of the election-winning Fidesz party, as prime minister today.
Orbán, who is embarking on his fourth term in office, was elected with 134 votes in favour and 28 against.
After the election, Orbán took his oath of office.
Hungarian president János Áder congratulates re-elected PM Orbán, photo: MTI
Orbán vows to serve all Hungarians in fourth term
Orban, in his inaugural address to parliament, noted that his governing alliance holds two-thirds majority in parliament, but he vowed to “serve the three-thirds”.
“The homeland cannot be in opposition with itself because its vastly transcends the parties,”
Orbán said. “Serving it cannot depend on whether we happen to be in opposition or in government.”
“I stand before you optimistic, hopeful and ready to act,” the prime minister told lawmakers.
Orban thanked the election’s participants, singling out voters who had backed the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance.
Orbán pledges to plan for next 12 years
He said his Fidesz government was thinking in terms of planning for the next twelve years.
Orbán said Hungary was “in the right constellation”.
“Hungary’s case has been won. Everything needed for great plans ahead has already come together,” he said.
Hungarians, he added, now believed that “tomorrow can be better than today if they do their job right”.
“They want a government that is worthy of their future. This encourages us — and entitles us — to make plans not only for the next four years but for the next ten years, too. Indeed, we should think in terms of twelve years,” Orbán said, adding that this would be in line with the demand for responsible government, given that the next European Union budget will conclude in 2030.
Orbán: ‘Era of liberal democracy is over’
Orbán said:
“The era of liberal democracy is over.”
“In place of the tinkering of liberal democracy that has run aground, we will build a Christian democracy of the 21st-century which guarantees human dignity, freedom and security, protects gender equality, the traditional family model, holds back anti-Semitism, protects our Christian culture and gives our nation a chance to survive and prosper,” Orbán said, referring to “Hungary’s response to a changed world”.
“I know that many will consider it impossible, but I think it is achievable for Hungary to be among the top five European countries to live and work in by 2030,” he said.
Orbán vows to lead sovereign state of free Hungarians
Orbán pledged to govern “a sovereign Hungarian state of free Hungarians”.
“We must live with the confidence and dignity of a country that understands that Hungarians have given more to the world than that which they have received,”
the prime minister said.
He added he wanted to convince neighbouring countries to join forces and make the Carpathian Basin Europe’s “securest and fastest-developing” economic, trading and transport area.
“Over the past years, we have shown time and again that no one need fear Hungarians; whoever cooperates with us reaps the profits,” Orbán said.
HUNGARY’S NEW PARLIAMENT RE-ELECTED VIKTOR ORBÁN AS PRIME MINISTER
Orbán: ‘We will fight to protect our borders’
Hungary will continue to oppose mandatory migrant quotas, stand up for Europe’s Christian culture and fight to protect its borders, PM Orbán said.
“Thousands of paid activists, bureaucrats and politicians are working in Brussels today to have migration declared a basic human right,”
Orbán insisted. “This is why they want to take away our right to decide for ourselves whom to take in…”
Orbán said his government wants a strong Europe, peace and to reach mutually beneficial agreements with the European Union.
“We need the EU and the EU needs us,” he said, adding that his government would represent the view that the bloc should function as an alliance of free nations. It should “give up its delirious nightmares of a united states of Europe … and come back down to reality.”
“Now that I’ve taken my oath, I reaffirm to every single member of the nation, all fifteen million Hungarians … that all my actions will be dedicated to the service of our nation and country, the Hungarian people, Hungarian interests and Christian values,” he said.
Hungary’s lawmakers took their oaths on Tuesday at the start of the new parliamentary cycle.
The incumbent Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance has 133 lawmakers, radical nationalist Jobbik 26, the Socialist-Párbeszed alliance 20, the leftist Democratic Coalition 9, green LMP 8 and Együtt has 1 lawmaker. There will be one independent MP and the German minority will also have a representative.
Journalists and guests were allowed into Parliament amid tight security measures. Kossuth Square has been closed off by police.
Hungary’s new national assembly adopted the body’s committee structure and elected committee officials at its first session on Tuesday.
Just as in the previous structure, parliament will have 15 permanent committees, with 10 to be chaired by Fidesz lawmakers and 5 by opposition MPs.
The new parliament’s committees and committee officials were approved unanimously with 183 votes.
László Kövér on Tuesday was elected the speaker of Hungary’s parliament. He was re-elected in a secret ballot with 143 votes in support, 35 against and one abstention. After the announcement of the results, Kövér took his oath of office.
In his inauguration address, Kövér promised predictability for the upcoming parliamentary cycle.
“I am and will remain predictable in my conviction that Hungary’s sole path to prosperity lies in parliamentary democracy based on the sovereign will of the people and that the only legitimate source of political power in our country is the community of the Hungarian voters,” Kövér said.
“I am and will remain predictable in my actions that will be aimed at respecting, enforcing and safeguarding the sovereign will of the Hungarian people under all circumstances,” he added.
“I ask and expect the same from all my fellow representatives, whether they be from the ruling parties or the opposition.”
Photo: MTI
He said that “in spite of the developments of the past years, weeks and hours”, he remained convinced that every member of the new parliament would respect the will of the Hungarian people and submit themselves to the rules of parliamentary democracy. He said those who do not would be harming Hungary as opposed to their political rivals. “And I can promise you that together with my political community we will protect our country and Hungarian democracy under all circumstances,” Kövér said.
Kövér has occupied the post of parliamentary speaker since August 6, 2010.
Meanwhile, the police escorted several demonstrators out of Kossuth Square in front of Parliament, the Budapest police headquarters (BRFK) has said on its website.
The commander of the Parliamentary Guard earlier ordered Kossuth Square to be closed off from 6pm on Monday to 2pm on Tuesday. In its reasoning it said parts of the programme concerning the new parliament’s inaugural session would take place outdoors. Those events are to be attended by the newly-elected MPs as well as several protected persons.
In a demonstration organised by the Civil Opposition Roundtable, a few hundred people demonstrated against the newly elected parliament and government at the Parliament building on Budapest’s Kossuth Square At the event dubbed “We don’t want this parliament and government!”, demonstrators briefly clashed with police as they tried to break through the police cordon near the Parliament’s south entrance.
Photo: MTI
On stages set up on the corner of Kossuth Square and Alkotmány Street, demonstrators talked about “renewing social solidarity” as the only way to stop “excessive power”.
Demonstrators flew Hungarian and EU flags. One banner said, “The constitution is invalid!”
Former co-leader of the green LMP party, Ákos Hadházy, who was among the protesters, told journalists that the incoming parliament “cannot be called legitimate.” Hadházy said he would take his oath as an elected lawmaker at a later date, and expressed regret over other opposition politicians attending the inaugural session. He said that by staying outside he wanted to “highlight how severe the situation is”.
On April 8, having seen the high turnout in the election before learning the results, the leaders of the parties that will now be in opposition had expressed the same view, Áder said.
To draw the conclusions of the election, Áder suggested that the National Election Committee and the parliamentary committee in charge should review the election procedure and, if need be, propose changes to the electoral law.
Photo: MTI
This election season saw a record 23 parties field a national list, Áder said. All parties concerned received at least 153 million forints (EUR 486,231) in state funding.
This raises the question whether Hungary should return to previous regulations “to avoid some people turning this celebration of democracy into a business”.
The president thanked organisers and voters for their engagement.
Áder proposed that parliament should re-elect Viktor Orbán, leader of the Fidesz party, as prime minister.
On the topic of the European Union, the president said certain EU leaders “seem to have lost their way”.
“Public life in the European Union is characterised by the lack of a clear vision for the future, politicians getting lost in petty disputes, intellectual idleness and cliches repeated ad nauseam,” Áder said.
He said former German chancellor Helmut Kohl had still understood the clear message of the EU’s founding fathers. “We want a unified, democratic, citizen-friendly, federal-based Europe that has the ability to take action,” Áder said, quoting Kohl.
The president also called lawmakers’ attention to the infocommunications and “climate” revolutions ongoing in the world.
Hungary’s economy, too, faces new challenges, Áder said, naming the digital economy, infocommunication, robotisation and artificial intelligence as examples. He said the question today was whether Hungary will be on the winning or losing side of this competition. Today, more than 15 percent of Hungary’s workforce works in the digital economy, he noted.
Another important question for the coming years will be “whether we will be able to increase our level of prosperity without having to take the resources we use from our grandchildren while also repaying to nature the debt we’ve accumulated over the past decades”, Áder said.
The elected lawmakers of the opposition Socialist and Párbeszéd parties took their oaths at the Monument of the Republic of Hungary on Tuesday, ahead of the inaugural session of parliament.
Speaking at the monument erected in Budapest’s 13th district, Párbeszéd co-leader Gergely Karácsony said that they would “go to parliament to fight” and ask the government on a daily basis what measures it has taken “to make Hungary once again a shared home of equal and free citizens”.
“We wish to represent the tormented, the humiliated, and put the questions the man in the street would ask to the prime minister and his government,” Karácsony said.
“We want to represent … the whole Hungarian nation,” he said.
Tóth said the Hungarian republic was a thing of the past. If it still existed, the election could not have been influenced by “systemic manipulation”, he said.
The Stone of the Republic of Hungary monument was erected by the Socialists in 2011 upon the approval of the basic law, which changed the country’s official name to Hungary.
Police on Tuesday morning escorted several demonstrators out of Kossuth Square in front of Parliament, the Budapest police headquarters (BRFK) has said on its website.
BRFK said in a statement it had escorted the protestors out over personnel and facility security regulations, adding that it will close off Kossuth Square for cleanup and explosive detection work.
The commander of the Parliamentary Guard earlier ordered Kossuth Square to be closed off from 6pm on Monday to 2pm on Tuesday.
In its reasoning it said parts of the programme concerning the new parliament’s inaugural session would take place outdoors.
Those events are to be attended by the newly-elected MPs as well as several protected persons.
Meanwhile, radical nationalist Jobbik said it was “sneaky” of the state to have closed off Kossuth Square with the use of manpower, adding, at the same time, that the party considered it a small victory that Parliament had not been cordoned off.
Jobbik spokesman Ádám Mirkóczki told reporters that the people should also be allowed to express their opinion when they are criticising someone, and not just when they are celebrating someone.
He said ruling Fidesz was trying to bar the people from criticising it.
Jobbik, on the other hand, believes Hungary should remain a free country in which anyone can express their opinion irrespective of political affiliation.
Asked if Jobbik would participate in a demonstration planned for Tuesday afternoon, Mirkoczki said Jobbik’s MPs are free to attend if they so choose, but none of them will speak at the event, he added.
Civil protestors formed a human chain around Parliament on the eve of the inaugural session of the new national assembly.
The members of the demonstration organised by the Facebook group named “Rule of Law” lined up along the side of the building facing Kossuth Lajos square.
The protestors waved the national colours, European Union flags and some the flag of the European Left party.
The demonstrators set up a stage in front of Parliament on which several participants gave short speeches.
Photo: MTI
In the Facebook invitation to the demonstration, organisers called on Hungary to join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), for the restoration of the previous constitution and election law and an independent public media.
The demonstrators said they plan to stay in front of Parliament until 6am on Tuesday after which they will to make their way to nearby Olimpia Park where they will submit a petition for Hungary to join the EPPO.
Contrary to earlier press reports, no cordons have been set up on Kossuth Lajos square. Police officers and members of the Parliamentary Guard can be seen in the area, MTI’s correspondent said.
The Curia (Hungary’s supreme court) has clearly and grossly interfered in the parliamentary elections “as it has taken a mandate away from the electors of the government parties”; the body has clearly not risen to the challenge of its task intellectually, Bertalan Havasi, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s press chief told the news portal PestiSrácok.hu outlining the Prime Minister’s position on the matter.
The news portal wrote in an article published on Saturday that the Constitutional Court also took the view that the Curia invalidated thousands of votes cast by electors beyond the borders unlawfully, but according to the body’s ruling, there is no scope for appeal, and in consequence, Fidesz has lost one mandate in Parliament. Nonetheless, its two-thirds majority is still safe. They added that the National Election Commission supplemented with members from the opposition and later the Curia invalidated more than four thousand votes cast beyond the borders with reference to the fact that they were posted in self-addressed, non-standard envelopes – rather than in the envelopes supplied for return posting – or to the fact that the envelopes were damaged.
The news portal contacted Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief, who outlined Mr Orbán’s position:
“with its decision, the Curia has taken a mandate away from our electors. The Curia has clearly and grossly interfered in the elections. Studying the ruling of the Constitutional Court it is evident that the Curia has not risen to the challenge of its task intellectually”, he stated.
PestiSrácok.hu also contacted Miklós Szánthó, Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights, who said in reply that by virtue of the fact that the Council of the Curia headed by Tamás Kovács “created a ‘new’ cause of invalidity, it effectively deprived Fidesz of its 134th mandate. At the same time – as the Constitutional Court itself ruled on the matter –, a judgement which disregards the law is arbitrary, cannot be fair as a matter of course and is incompatible with the fundamental principle of the rule of law.”
This is called “the judicial state” where instead of the elected legislature laws are created by irresponsible judges. In our case, this is further aggravated by the circumstance that the Curia’s decision – which was contrary to the available documentary evidence – was also politically motivated: during the course of its procedure the court contacted the election office expressly to find out whether, if the votes in question cast beyond the borders were declared valid, the Fidesz-KDNP party alliance would be awarded an additional mandate on their party list or not.
This led to the impression – as was also confirmed by the Constitutional Court – that the Curia sought to render its decision dependent on what specific impact the outcome of its decision would have on the final number of votes awarded to one of the nominating organisations,
President János Áder has asked Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, head of the election-winning Fidesz party to set up Hungary’s new government.
After meeting Orbán on Monday morning, Áder told the press that the results of the April 8 election had “made it clear who would have sufficient support to form the new government”. The president added he would propose at the new parliament’s first session on Tuesday that the national assembly should re-elect Orbán as prime minister.
Orbán accepted the request and said that he would “serve Hungary with loyalty and commitment”.
The new government will work to “ensure Hungary’s security and preserve its Christian culture,” Orbán said. He added that he would “use all means to enforce the will of voters they expressed on April 8”.
Photo: MTI
Orbán also said his new government would have 14 members, including 7 politicians and 7 others “from outside politics”.
“I will use a two-thirds majority to serve the three thirds, that is every citizen of Hungary,” Orbán said.
Photo: MTI
As we wrote before, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has informed senior officials of the ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat parties about the composition of the new government entering office after the inaugural session of parliament in the weeks to come. Read more HERE.
The Prime Minister’s Office will be enlarged to be able to handle European Union and other affairs, read more HERE.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview on Friday that he does not support a European Union budget that takes money away from farmers, research and development and regional development, and gives it to countries that take in migrants.
Speaking to public radio, Orbán said the EU budget negotiations were expected to take a long time and he noted that a joint budget for seven years must be unanimously agreed on.
“As long as Hungarians do not give the go-ahead, there’ll be no budget,” he said.
Migrants, he added, should not be given “a single cent” and the relevant support should be provided by member states from their own budget.
He added that he did not back curbing farm support.
Orbán to appoint three deputy PMs
Three deputy prime ministers will be appointed to the new government, Orbán said.
Interior Minister Sándor Pintér will be deputy prime minister in charge of a new centralised office that will also function as a unified intelligence service, and Mihály Varga will be deputy prime minister in charge of the national economy, he said. Zsolt Semjén will retain his post in a general capacity.
A new prime minister’s office in charge of policy enforcement will coordinate the work public administration state secretaries in other ministries.
The office will work together with the Government Control Office and the united intelligence service, Orbán said.
Meanwhile, Orbán also noted that a plan to amend the constitution to outlaw the relocation of migrants to Hungary will go ahead in the new government cycle.
Soros
The “Stop Soros” package of bills, which the government submitted before the April 8 election, is a related effort, he said.
“Soros’s shadow army should come out into the light,” Orbán said.
He said it was a “moral duty” to pass the anti-migration amendment that was not approved in 2016 because the opposition withheld its support.
Orbán said migration was not a matter of human rights but an issue of national security. Those in the government who handle migration issues should have access to the tools of national security, he said.
Non-Hungarian citizens who support illegal migration will be filtered out from the country, he said, referring to the “Stop Soros” bill.
Christian Democratic ideology
Orbán said the government’s goals had not changed and it would continue to protect Hungarian and Christian culture and it would not allow the country to be transferred to foreigners. It will work towards the goal of full employment, requiring a well-functioning economy, lower taxes and higher wages. In addition, families with children will carry on getting the support while the value of pensions will be maintained and raised if possible, he said.
Orbán said his government adhered to a Christian Democratic ideology.
“We are not building a liberal democracy but a Christian democracy in which human dignity comes first, the powers are separated, freedom is an absolute value, families are supported, global ideologies are rejected, there is faith in the importance of the nation, the government fights for full employment, the equality of women is respected and developments that lead to rising levels of anti-Semitism are prevented.”
Orbán said he regretted that his Fidesz party had won 133 rather than 134 seats in parliament. “As far as I can see the Kúria [Hungary’s supreme court] has stripped us of one mandate”, he said, referring to the Constitutional Court’s criticism on Thursday of the Kuria for declaring over 4,000 votes for the ruling parties invalid. He said, however, that “it has to be accepted” and noted that under Hungarian law there was no legal remedy against the Kúria’s decision. He also noted that the final result of the election would be announced later on Friday.
The prime minister said he could not envisage any “extraordinary development” in the near future that would “sap his energies from managing the government”. He said he would be in a position to “define important and concrete tasks and get them implemented”.
European budget
Concerning the European budget, Orbán said he would not support “one which would cut funds for farmers, research and development or regional development, and re-channel those funds to countries which have accommodated migrants”.
Orbán said the EU budget negotiations were expected to take a long time and he noted that a joint budget for seven years must be unanimously agreed on. “As long as Hungarians do not give the go-ahead, there’ll be no budget,” he said.
Migrants, he added, should not be given “a single cent” and the relevant support should be provided by member states from their own budget.
Neither Hungary not central Europe have anything to fear from any dispute over the rule of law or the budget, he said, adding that Hungary could be “particularly calm” because it had been completely assessed in 2013 from the point of view of the rule of law, “and we have it on paper that all is well”.
EP election
Referring to the impending European Parliament (EP) election and his related talks with the European People’s Party, Orbán said the main topic of the election “can be nothing other than migration”, and only the Hungarians had so far had the opportunity to express their views on the matter.
The EP election will therefore be a “big referendum” on migration,
he said, adding that he had offered his personal contribuition as well as that of the ruling Fidesz party to a major people’s party campaign. Orbán declared that the EPP was not the largest party in the European Parliament. “That label belongs to Soros.”
Ruling Fidesz lawmakers have elected Máté Kocsis leader of their parliamentary group in a unanimous vote, Gergely Gulyás, the outgoing group leader and incoming government office chief, said in Budapest on Thursday.
Kocsis told a news conference that Fidesz planned to amend the constitution with a view to outlawing the relocation of migrants to Hungary.
He added that the proposal to make the relevant change to the fundamental law had failed in 2016 “due to Jobbik’s turncoat policy”, and it should be resubmitted to parliament.
Kocsis said that
parliamentary discussions on the “Stop Soros” package of laws on penalising NGOs that aid migration would carry on.
Meanwhile, he said the government’s goals remained unchanged: preserve Christian culture, protect the external borders, achieve full employment and continue the government’s family support policies.
Gulyás said that
the group has nominated László Kövér for another term as Speaker of Parliament.
Fidesz has nominated Sándor Lezsák and István Jakab as deputy speakers, and KDNP’s nominee is János Latorcai, he said.
Csaba Hende is to head the legislative committee which is tied to the post of deputy House speaker.
Referring to a Jobbik plan to dismantle a cordon to be erected around the square in front of Parliament on the day of the house’s inaugural meeting, Gulyás said that by now Jobbik should have come to terms with its election defeat and act accordingly.
Asked about Fidesz’s action in 2007 to tear down the fence in Kossuth Square, he said the square at that point had been cordoned off for months. “Now it is a matter of no one disturbing the inaugural session,” he said.
Gulyás also said the goal was to pass next year’s budget before parliament went to its summer break, which he said could be at the end of July.
Jobbik came in second in the April 8 general election, winning 26 seats in Hungary’s new 199-member parliament to be formed next week.
The two general deputy group leaders will be János Volner and Gergely Farkas, Ádám Mirkóczki told reporters after the meeting in Rácalmás, in central Hungary.
Photo: MTI
The party will nominate its deputy leader Támas Sneider for the post of deputy speaker of parliament, Mirkóczki said.
Gyöngyösi said the party will nominate Mirkóczki for the post of chairman of parliament’s national security committee.
UPDATE
Mirkóczki said outgoing party leader Gábor Vona would not take up his seat. Dávid Janiczak, mayor of Ózd in north-eastern Hungary, will take up his seat and return it within 30 days due to the rule that prevents MPs from holding another official position.
Asked about Jobbik plans to dismantle the metal fence to be erected around parliament for the May 8 inaugural session, Mirkóczki said it would “send the wrong message” were the government — with its strong mandate after the election — to “stop people from gathering to express their well-founded criticisms”.
He said Jobbik, “as a constructive opposition party”, would seek to reinforce its mandate as a people’s party and “embrace society’s poor and those thinking about emigrating.”
As we wrote last week, Hungary’s parliamentary parties have agreed that the new parliament convened for May 8 will have 15 committees just as the outgoing legislation had. Read more HERE.
According to zoom.hu, the government is currently preparing the expansions needed to host the 2032 Olympic Games in Budapest. If they manage to start most of the developments until 2022 it will be easier to convince international decision-makers. In fact, the government already decided to invest 750 bn HUF (EUR 2.4bn) in the project. According to the 2015 calculations, hosting the Olympic Games would cost 3,000 bn HUF (9.5 bn EUR). If PM Orbán managed to lower the costs by such tricks it would be easier for people to accept the project when the application is handed in.
Dream killers vs dream fulfillers
As we already reported, Budapest campaigned for hosting the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, the issue swiftly became a political question since only the government supported it while opposition parties resisted. In fact, they said that
the Fidesz-government’s corruption would ruin the whole Olympic project
Thus, the civil Momentum Movement submitted over a quarter million signatures to the Budapest election office to initiate a local referendum on Budapest’s bid to host the 2024 Olympic Summer Games. Since the government did not risk a possible failure on a referendum, the city withdrew its application in 2017 February.
András Fekete-Győr (left), leader of the NOlimpia Movement. Photo: Facebook.
PM Orbán does not give up
However, the project might
take on a new lease of life after Orbán’s landslide victory in the parliamentary elections.
Besides, even though Budapest withdrew its application, the developments mentioned in it are currently being carried out. The government is very conscious in this regard. For example, after the elections they supported the Hungarian Athletics Association’s application for hosting the 2023 IAAF World Championship. Therefore, they started to build an athletics stadium for 55 thousand spectators.
The date is important because the application process for hosting the 2032 summer Olympic Games is going to start that year. If Hungary manages to host the IAAF World Championship and finishes the stadium by then it would
affect not only International Olympic Committee but also the Hungarian public opinion.
Seemingly decreasing costs
According to zoom.hu, if the Olympic infrastructure was almost ready until 2022-2023 the government could speak about much less costs than in 2015. This is important because the Hungarian Olympic Committee stated that Hungary will not host the Olympic Games without a positive referendum.
PM Orbán welcoming the leaders of FINA. Photo: MTI
Therefore,
it is important to communicate lower costs than in 2015.
Clearly, the developments the government is carrying out were part of Budapest’s 2015 application. These are, for example, the Budapest Athletics Stadium (23.67 bn HUF – EUR 75.6M), Kemény Ferenc-program (34.8 bn HUF – EUR 111M) or the Olympic village near Soroksári street (18 bn HUF – EUR 57.5M).
There are some public procurements as well supporting the project. For example, the widening of the M1 motorway or the new Danube-bridge.
Long-term commitment: 658 bn HUF
In fact, zoom.hu collected some developments of which the government have not decided about yet but
their support is unquestionable.
For example, the athletics stadium, developments in North-Csepel and the Velodrome for 135 bn HUF (EUR 431M). Furthermore, the railway replacement in Ferencváros (80 bn HUF – EUR 255M), the Olympic village (184 bn HUF – EUR 588m), the new Danube-bridge (75 bn HUF – EUR 239M) or the widening of the M1 motorway (184 bn HUF – EUR 588M).
Though Fidesz gained its third consecutive supermajority in the national elections of April 8, the seats of its mayors’ and local representatives in Budapest are not certain at all. In fact, some of them 24.hu talked to said that provided the opposition can cooperate it might happen that no mayors of Fidesz will be re-elected in 2019. To make matters worse, it can even happen that none of its local candidates will be elected in their electoral districts. Thus, PM Orbán would like to take away rights from the city and transfer them to the government.
A secret plan
Though Fidesz was the most supported party in Budapest in the parliamentary elections, its party list received only 38% of the votes. Thus, it depends only on the opposition parties whether it can maintain its leadership in the districts of the capital. According to 24.hu, they talked to a successful mayor who does not want to risk an unexpected defeat. Therefore, he does not want to run again. Besides, he said that Fidesz could fulfill its old idea – taking away the rights of the local governments in Budapest.
Though government officials denied the plan, many of 24.hu’s interviewees talked about it as a fact. According to the plan, before the local elections most
rights and money of local governments will be redirected to higher authorities.
To put it in another way, a mayor will only be able to start the new school year and cancel the old. According to him, most workers of the local governments will be employed by the ministries. However, many of them will be fired.
The General Assembly of Budapest. Photo: budapest.hu
Reform plans popped up last year in the Transylvanian summer camp of Fidesz, Tusványos. Péter Kovács, mayor of the 16th district, said that to his mind local governance policy is currently bad. According to him, it is very problematic that local leaders do not know what to expect. A couple of days later István Tarlós, mayor of Budapest said that
they have been thinking about possible reform plans for long in the background.
Power and money from Budapest to the government
Many interviewees mentioned an article published by András Gerő, a liberal Historian on the elimination of local governments in Budapest. In fact, Gerő is in a very good relationship with government Historian Mária Schmidt. Thus, many think that in reality, PM Orbán dictated the text that appeared in February.
In the article Gerő argued that a symbiosis between the state and Budapest would be more efficient. Thus,
real power should be in the hand of the General Assembly and the mayor of Budapest.
Furthermore, local councils should only be their prefectures. As a result, all money and power would be concentrated in the hands of the mayor and the General Assembly. Moreover, Gerő wrote that Budapest needs a government commissioner. As a result, strategic development plans would be easier to carry out.
No clear planning
Clearly, the government knows that
city development has to be institutionalized.
This is why they chose a minister without portfolio responsible for the development of county-ranked cities in 2017.
In contrast, many ministers and commissioners are responsible for the development of Budapest. Thus, there is no common concept or uniform plan. According to Gerő, the government seems to have discovered its responsibility for the county-ranked cities, but not yet for Budapest.
According to 24.hu, this means that power and money should be transferred from the districts to a commissioner. This means the government and finally, PM Orbán.
Even Fidesz mayor Tarlós would be disranked
The above plan would mean that not only the 23 district mayors but also Budapest’s mayor István Tarlós would be disranked. An interviewee of 24.hu said that PM Orbán likes to build, things, e.g., stadiums in Budapest. And
he simply does not care what the residents of Budapest think about his plans.
Thus, there is no sign of uniform development plan. There are only individual ideas. He added that even Tarlós realised that he is without means, so he tries to put a bold face on. In the name of the PM Balázs Fürjes, Commissioner for Major Budapest Developments tries to maintain the good relationship with the mayor of Budapest with more or less success.
István Tarlós, mayor of Budapest.
In March former BKK (Centre for Budapest Transport) CEO Dávid Vitézy said that the whole centre by which the whole public transport of the capital should be placed under governmental control. He later added that his proposals are purely professional ones.
Public transport can be the key
For PM Orbán it is very important that his voters consider
the annexation of Budapest as the only viable solution of a severe problem.
Therefore, they have to create and exaggerate the problem as it happened in case of migration. In fact, this problem might be the question of public transport which concerns 1.8 plus 1.2 million people from the suburbs. In this case, the division is self-evident. BKK belongs to the general council of Budapest while MÁV and Volán to the ministry of national development. However, according to one of 24.hu’s interviewee PM Orbán will not concentrate on the solution of the problem. His aim is not to solve it but to use it to annex the city in which Fidesz’s candidates might suffer a terrible defeat on the local elections next year.
Why Fidesz may lose Budapest?
According to the April results, people living in the capital are the most dissatisfied with the work of the government. However, to defeat Fidesz cooperation and coordination between the opposition parties is inevitable. In fact,
Fidesz lost most of its votes in the bourgeois districts of the city.
For example, prominent government officials like Gergely Gulyás, Mihály Varga and István Simicskó were squeezed by Democratic Coalition candidates considered chanceless before the elections.
Interestingly, Fidesz is currently leading 17 of the 23 districts. The 6 exceptions are the 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 20th and 23rd districts.
According to 24.hu, Fidesz received mostly around 40% in Budapest. However, this result might not be enough,
Leftist Democratic Coalition (DK) will challenge the result of the vote on political party lists in the recent parliamentary election at the Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, citing election fraud, and demand a repeat of the nationwide vote “under European control”.
Speaking at a press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Sándor Rónai, the opposition party’s deputy spokesman, said the National Election Office (NVI) had accepted the final result of the party list vote even though it had been found that the votes cast on opposition party lists had “vanished” in several constituencies.
Rónai said opposition parties had received zero votes on party lists in several constituencies where voters cast up to hundreds of votes for individual candidates of those parties.
As a “typical example of fraud” he mentioned that László Varjú, DK’s candidate in a northern Budapest district, received 244 votes but no votes were cast on the party’s list in the same constituency.
Since the governing Fidesz party alone is not affected by “vanishing votes”, these cases cannot be treated as accidental mistakes, he insisted.
Rónai said
the election was “not only not free and fair” but it also raises the suspicion of a “systemic, nationwide election fraud”.
The National Election Office on Friday rejected recent press reports suggesting a sudden filing of thousands of residence registrations near the Ukraine border before the April 8 general election.
A total of 60 new permanent residents and 30 temporary residents have been registered in the villages in question since January 1 this year, the office said.
The number of residents in Botpalád, Csaholc, Fülesd, Kispalád, Milota, Sonkád and Zsarolyán, all belonging to the 4th constituency of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, totalled 5,882 on Jan. 1 and 2,949 people cast their votes in these villages on April 8.
Citizens casting their vote in individual constituencies must have a permanent address in Hungary. Those without one can cast their vote for a national party list and are required to register before mailing their ballot.
