Hungary’s incoming Prime Minister, Péter Magyar has set out an ultimatum for the Hungarian President and judicial leaders to resign by 31 May or face removal by new government.
At a press conference, Magyar repeated his warning to senior Orbán-era appointees, including the country’s President (picked by parliament) and key judicial leaders, that they should resign from their posts by 31 May or face removal by the new parliamentary majority.
He also disclosed the first names of Ministers in his incoming government, with former MFA official and Vodafone executive in London Anita Orban confirmed as the future Foreign Minister. She has no links to ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
András Kármán will serve as the Finance Minister, and former senior Shell executive István Kapitány will take the role of the Economy and Energy Minister. Hungarian-British doctor Zsolt Hegedűs, who served for years in the UK’s National Health Service system and rose to immediate global fame with his dancing moves on the election night, will take the health portfolio.
Former Chief of Hungarian defence forces Ruszin-Szendi Romulusz will be the new Defence Minister. László Gajdos will take environment, and Szabolcs Bóna will be responsible for agriculture and food. Ágnes Forsthoffer will be the party’s candidate for the new parliament’s Speaker. More names are expected to be in the coming days, with the government on course to be formed on 9-10 May.
Magyar also offered a bit more detail on how he wants to negotiate with the European Union on releasing the billions of euros in frozen EU funds earmarked for Hungary. He suggested that he could sign a political agreement with the EU in mid-May, suggesting somewhere between 15 and 20 May, which would include a schedule of Hungary’s planned reforms between then and the end of August. If necessary, further talks would be held daily, he said, adding that the release of the funds would help rebuild the investors’ confidence in the country. He said that Viktor Orbán’s negligence in this area amounted to a “betrayal” of Hungarian interests.
Magyar added that the first talks with the European Commission were “constructive” as he joked he would ask officials “not to plan too long holidays” as the focus this summer will be on unlocking the EU funds. He said that there is a lot of technical fixes needed to get the funds flowing again, not just at the political, but also at the administrative level. “We definitely have to implement this by August,” he said, adding that the new government will try to “do in three months what Orbán could not and did not want to do in three year.”
Earlier, the European Commission offered a brief update after this weekend’s early talks with the incoming Magyar government in Hungary. The commission’s Deputy Chief Spokesperson, Olof Gill, told reporters that the meetings were “extremely constructive and positive in tone.” He said it was “a very useful starting point for the necessary work that needs to happen, particularly in order to unblock funds for the benefit of the Hungarian people.”
Gill declined to offer more details on the new Hungarian government’s position on Ukraine, but he said, “The point here is that we are engaging with the incoming Hungarian government to move forward on a range of issues that for too long have been blocked.”
Magyar Comments On Druzhba Pipeline
Magyar commented on his position on the Druzhba pipeline given earlier suggestions, including from the outgoing Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, that Ukraine could be about to restore the oil flow after months of disruption.
Orbán suggested that Ukraine could restore oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline as early as today. The issue has been at the centre of tricky Hungarian-Ukrainian relations in recent months, and if confirmed, he suggested that he would be ready to drop the Hungarian block on the EU’s €90bn loan for Ukraine, even before Péter Magyar gets in in early May.
Magyar said that he was aware of suggestions that this could happen in the coming days, and warned Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with whom he didn’t hold any talks yet, against using the pipeline to pressure Hungary or the EU on related issues, including the €90bn loan for Ukraine. Magyar said that if the pipeline has been repaired and is ready to use, it should be reopened as soon as possible so Russia can resume oil shipments to Hungary.
He also confirmed that his government would lift the veto on the loan as soon as the pipeline becomes operational, something that Orbán also suggested earlier today.
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