BUDAPEST, April 13 (Reuters) – Hungarian election winner nL8N40W0GT Peter Magyar vowed on Monday to change the constitution in a drive to restore democratic standards, following a landslide victory https://www.reuters.com/world/hungary/elections/ he said showed the country wanted to be anchored in Europe after 16 years of nationalist rule.
Hungary’s veteran Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his nationalist Fidesz party lost power to the upstart centre-right Tisza party in Sunday’s election, marking a setback for Orban’s allies in Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House.
Following is a rundown of some key quotes from Magyar’s news conference in Budapest.
TAKING OVER POWER
“According to the rules, the result of the election becomes final by May 4 the latest, but this could happen earlier and the President… must convene the first session of the new parliament 30 days after the election at the latest.”
“I call on President Tamas Sulyok to convene the inaugural session as soon as possible, and not wait until May 12.”
EUROPEAN UNION
“The Hungarian people yesterday, exactly 23 years after the referendum on our EU membership, confirmed Hungary’s place in Europe.”
“I would like to see a strong Central Europe within a strong EU.”
REFORMS
“We will have a lot of tasks… the first, to adopt the functional measures, to start Hungary’s accession to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office… to amend the fundamental law (constitution), and to write into it that in the future in Hungary anyone can only serve as prime minister for two terms, which is eight years.”
RULE OF LAW
“We will fundamentally restore, we will do everything to restore the rule of law, plural democracy, and the system of checks and balances.”
“I would like to underline that we will not use anti-democratic measures to restore the rule of law, but luckily our two-thirds mandate allows us to do a lot.”
“A government’s job is to ensure the independence of the judiciary, the independence of the investigative authorities, to provide all possible financial and other resources to carry out their tasks.”
PRESIDENT
“We don’t need this president,” Magyar said, referring to Sulyok, saying he was only signing off on all papers that were proposed to him.
“I call on him to leave, if he doesn’t, we will find a solution.”
Sulyok became Hungary’s ceremonial head of state with the backing of Orban’s Fidesz party.
CENTRAL BANK
“Hungary is in a difficult financial and economic situation. The National Bank is primarily responsible for ensuring exchange rate stability. I myself believe… Governor Mihaly Varga is doing his job in line with the central bank law and I think that in a country which is in a difficult economic situation, cooperation with the national bank is important… of course while respecting the independence of the central bank.
“So I will try to work this way, and if we see that the central bank governor and the bank itself work in line with their legal mandate and are not, for example, trying to obstruct the financial policy of the new government… then we will be able to work together. We do not need yet more chaos… to harm investors’ confidence in Hungary.”
PRIDE, LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
“I have clearly stated several times already last year that everyone has the right to assemble in Hungary.
“We have clearly stated that, according to Tisza and the many millions of Hungarians who support Tisza, everyone can live with, and love, whomever they want, as long as they do not violate the laws and do not harm others.”
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Krisztina Than, writing by Anna Wlodarczak-SemczukEditing by Gareth Jones)
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