The Hungarian State Assembly (unicameral parliament) will hold its first session after the winter recess. Deputies will have to decide on two important issues on Monday: electing a new president to replace the resigned Katalin Novak and ratifying the agreement on Sweden’s admission to NATO.
This article was reported by Report on the basis of TASS.
The spring session of parliament opened amid a scandal over the pardon of a paedophile. Novak took responsibility for last year’s erroneous decision and announced his resignation as head of state on 10 February. Opposition parties demanding his resignation will try to use the situation to inflict political damage on Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his FIDES-Hungarian Civic Union party.
The government, which has shown intolerance towards paedophile offences, has proposed harsher penalties and a package of laws aimed at protecting children. In particular, Orban has launched an initiative to amend the country’s constitution to prohibit pardons for paedophile offenders. MPs will draft these bills during the spring session.
At the same time, the Hungarian government is under serious pressure from its Nato allies because of delays in the approval of the Swedish proposal. Hungary remains the only country in the North Atlantic Alliance whose parliament has not yet ratified the documents. Until recently, Washington and Brussels accused Budapest of undermining Euro-Atlantic unity and “acting in Russia’s interests”.
Judging by its recent statements, the Hungarian government wants to put these two issues behind it as soon as possible. Its reputation in the eyes of its own electorate and its relations with its NATO allies will depend on how well it accomplishes this task. This is particularly important for him in view of the European Parliament elections in June. The Orbán government attaches great importance to these elections and hopes to strengthen the position of right-wing parties in Europe.