Hungary’s New Government Takes Office Pledging To Clean Up EU’s ‘Most Corrupt’ Country

Hungary’s new government, sworn in Saturday after 16 years of uninterrupted rule by the defeated prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is quickly setting its sights on cleaning up what it describes as years of rampant corruption under Mr. Orbán’s Fidusz Party.In an otherwise conciliatory speech following the swearing-in, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said his party’s overwhelming election victory last month represented a mandate “not only to change the government, but to change the system as well. To start again.”Repeating a claim that was a staple of his campaign, Mr. Magyar said Hungary had become the most corrupt country in the European Union, the Guardian reported. “Orbán’s associates and the elite have a long way to go until they are confronted with what they have done,” he said, pledging to bring to account those who were trying to “steal everything.”While taking a tough line on corruption and demanding the resignation of senior Orbán appointees — including President Tamás Sulyok — Mr. Magyar held out an olive branch to the country’s various minorities, telling enthusiastic supporters outside the parliament building that Hungary is able to “once again be a common homeland for all Hungarians.”As if to stress the point, the rally was treated to a playing of anthems representing a minority known as the Szekelys and the nation’s 700,000 Roma community. Supporters also cheered the raising of the EU flag on the parliament building for the first time since it was removed by the Orbán government in 2014.Apart from reconciliation and reestablishing close ties with the EU, the new government must quickly confront an economic crisis, with a fast-rising budget deficit topping 6 percent of GDP — twice the agreed target level for EU members.“The main priority is to set up the government … on the ruins of the previous one,” the incoming minister for social relations and culture, Zoltán Tarr, told the BBC. “We are ready to face a very grim economic situation. But at the moment, we just don’t know the severity.”In an earlier speech to lawmakers following the swearing-in, Mr. Magyar reiterated his plan to establish a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office that would seek to recover public funds that the prime minister charges were misused during Mr. Orbán’s tenure, the AP reported. “We must understand, however, that there can be no new beginning without reconciliation. There can be no reconciliation without justice. And there can be no justice without confronting the past,” he said.Mr. Tarr stressed to the BBC that the goal is not to seek revenge but to hold to account those responsible for financial crimes.“We are talking about investigations and actions which are totally in line with the rule of law. Interestingly enough, the current chief prosecutor and the police have started certain investigations which they did not start before the election. They are questioning people,” Mr. Tarr said.Another source close to the prosecutor’s office was quoted telling the British network that what had been a trickle of investigations in the past “is turning into a steady flow … not because we didn’t want to prosecute before, but because the police and the tax office were reluctant to gather evidence.”The source added: “What has changed is that people are now coming forward. So a lot more evidence is suddenly available.”Presumably expecting the worst, some wealthy Fidusz-allied individuals have been fleeing the country in private jets or racing to invest their assets in other countries, the Guardian reported, quoting unnamed sources. It said others have been looking into securing visas to come to the United States, where the Orbán government had admirers among conservatives impressed with the party’s hard line on immigration and skepticism toward the EU.

Hungary’s New Government Takes Office Pledging To Clean Up EU’s ‘Most Corrupt’ Country

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