BUDAPEST
The members of Hungary’s new government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban took their oath of office in Parliament. President Katalin Novak appointed the ministers of the fifth Orban government. Addressing the deputies, Orban said that never before in Hungary’s democratic history has a government had such a strong democratic mandate as this one. Orban said he selected the members of his new government with the aim of finding the best solutions for the challenges Hungary will face over the next four years.
“The new government is facing a particularly hard task,” he said, recalling the challenges posed by the coronavirus, the conflict in Ukraine and the country’s disputes with the European Commission.
He also added that he had been a member of Parliament for 32 years but had never seen “as much uncertainty about the future as today.”
Most of his former ministers kept their portfolios. Zsolt Semjen remains deputy prime minister and will also be responsible for the implementation of national policy programs, church affairs and ethnic minorities.
Istvan Nagy is minister of agriculture again and Sandor Pinter remains interior minister also in charge of education, health and social affairs.
Janos Lazar will lead the new Construction and Investment Ministry. Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky replaces Tibor Benko as minister of defense.
