Budapest, May 9 (EFE).- Conservative leader Péter Magyar was sworn in Saturday as Hungary’s new prime minister, pledging to dismantle the “illiberal regime” built by longtime nationalist leader Viktor Orbán over the past 16 years and to restore closer ties with the European Union.
“I ask everyone here, within these walls of parliament, to hear the message Hungarians have delivered: they want change, not only a change of government, but a change of system,” Magyar said in his first speech as prime minister.
Magyar, 45, was elected prime minister with 140 votes in favor and 54 against in Hungary’s 199-seat parliament.
His political platform centers on dismantling Orbán’s political system, restoring relations with the European Union and strengthening anti-corruption measures.
Parliament held the swearing-in ceremony on Europe Day, a symbolic date marked by the reinstatement of the European Union flag inside the chamber after it had previously been removed under the leadership of a parliamentary speaker from Orbán’s Fidesz party.
Magyar’s Tisza Party won the Apr. 12 elections by a wide margin over Fidesz and secured a more than two-thirds majority in parliament, giving the new government enough support to introduce constitutional reforms aimed at dismantling what Magyar calls the country’s “illiberal regime.”
In his inaugural address, Magyar announced plans to create an Office for the Recovery and Defense of National Heritage, arguing that “Hungarians have the right to know how public assets became private wealth.”
The office will investigate funds allegedly diverted to oligarchs linked to Orbán and Fidesz.
Several journalistic investigations have highlighted the growing wealth of Orbán’s inner circle, including his childhood friend and son-in-law, who rank among Hungary’s richest persons.
Transparency International has repeatedly ranked Hungary as the most corrupt country in the European Union.
Orbán and several senior Fidesz figures, many of whom have served in parliament since Hungary’s first post-communist elections in 1990, have reportedly declined to take up their parliamentary seats and returned their mandates to the party.
Magyar also called on senior officials appointed under Orbán, including President Tamás Sulyok, to resign before the end of May.
Following the ceremony, Magyar was expected to address supporters in Budapest’s Kossuth Square during what organizers called the “People’s Festival of Regime Change,” an event expected to draw tens of thousands of participants.
The new cabinet’s ministers are scheduled to appear before parliamentary committees in the coming days, with the 16-member government, including four women, expected to be formally established by Tuesday.
Magyar said there was “no time to lose” and pledged to immediately begin reforms aimed at restoring the separation of powers, rebuilding trust in institutions and normalizing Hungary’s relationship with the European Union. EFE
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