Two women are to be in key positions.
Tisza Party leader and Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar named seven ministers of the future Tisza government on Monday during a press conference held after the first meeting of the Tisza parliamentary group.
Magyar said he is proposing Anita Orban as foreign minister, Andras Karman as finance minister, and Istvan Kapitany as minister of economy and energy for the Tisza government, which is expected to consist of 16 ministries.
He also said that he proposes Zsolt Hegedus as minister of health, Laszlo Gajdos as minister of the environment, Romulus Ruszin-Szendi as minister of defence, and Szabolcs Bona as minister of agriculture.
Tisza agriculture expert Sandor Bona will become minister of agriculture, he added.
All candidates have accepted the nomination, Magyar said.
Magyar announced that his cabinet will include ministries for the prime minister’s office, interior, justice, transport and investment, education, social affairs, rural development, digital and technological affairs, and a portfolio covering science, sport, civil society, churches, and media regulation.
The precise titles of the ministries will be disclosed when the nominees are presented, he said, adding that new ministerial candidates are expected to be announced later this week.
Magyar also confirmed that the final plan for parliamentary committees, reflecting the structure of the new government, will be submitted to the National Assembly’s directorate on Monday.
Regarding the number of ministries, Magyar said: “I see the propaganda machine is tireless and has begun thrashing about,” claiming that the future Tisza government would have the most ministers ever, even though there were more ministers in both the Antall government and the first Orban government.
He rejected the idea that the number of ministers would be the determining factor regarding government performance.
The Tisza government, he added, would have no super-ministries. Every important field would have its own minister and ministry, he said, adding that the party’s stance had always been “honest” on the matter. “The Hungarian people have given us a mandate for this,” he declared.
Magyar said talks on forming the government formation are under way, with himself, the party leadership and the parliamentary group consulting with ministerial nominees and other leaders. “We are striving to assemble a government that will be worthy of the Hungarian people’s trust, of the tremendous mandate they have given us, and of our shared goal of building a functioning and humane country.”
Regarding Tisza’s first parliamentary group meeting, Magyar said the parliamentary group unanimously supported the election of Agnes Forsthoffer as Speaker of Parliament and Andrea Bujdoso as parliamentary group leader. He welcomed their acceptance of the nominations and noted that both candidates would face “a very difficult task”.
Forsthoffer won her individual seat in Veszprem County, in Balatonfured, while Bujdoso won hers in Pilisvorosvar near Budapest. Until now, she had led the Tisza parliamentary group in the capital, he noted.
The parliamentary group heard campaign manager Peter Toth’s report on the election campaign, with “impressive figures”, Magyar said.
Noting that the group was “the strongest parliamentary group ever, representing more than 70 percent of the parliament,” he said: “This is a tremendous mandate and an equally great responsibility. The most important item on the agenda at the parliamentary group meeting was how we can live up to this,” he added.
Magyar said they had discussed future working methods and how to most effectively represent the Hungarian people over the next four years. He announced that they will meet again early next week and continue to consult regularly in the future.
He said that the fact that none of the lawmakers in the Tisza group had ever sat in parliament was “a very big advantage”.
“We want to act as human beings, respecting professional standards and political dialogue; we believe in a different style of governance and in the National Assembly. The Hungarian people have given their mandate for a different style of politics,” he said.
“Real experts are being appointed now; they will not just be push-button operators.”
The new government is expected to be formed in about three weeks, he said. The inaugural session, where a new prime minister will be elected immediately and take his oath of office is likely to take place around May 9–10, followed by hearings of the ministerial nominees by the parliamentary committees, he said.
MTI/Pannonland
