New resignation in the state scandal that shakes Hungary, thousands of demonstrators
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is due to deliver his State of the Nation speech on Saturday February 17. But this usual exercise will be particularly scrutinized because the ultraconservative is facing an unprecedented political crisis after the avalanche of resignations at the top of the State, notably the President of the Republic. On February 3, an independent media revealed that she had pardoned the accomplice of a pedophile. A scandal that continues to trouble Hungarians.
The affair which led to the resignation of Hungarian President Katalin Novak and former Minister of Justice Judit Varga continues to outrage Hungarian society. Protesters gathered the day before Prime Minister Viktor Orban's speech, in Budapest, February 16, 2024/ © Bernadett Szabo / Reuters
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With our correspondent in Budapest,
Florence La Bruyère
Viktor Orban has not spoken since
the resignation of the President of the Republic
a week ago. A few months before the local and European elections, an unprecedented scandal is shaking Hungary. The scandal caused an avalanche of resignations in a few days: first the president, then the former Minister of Justice, and Friday February 16 the Calvinist bishop at the head of the Reformed Church, who had advised the president to pardon the man in question.
The Prime Minister tried to close the affair as quickly as possible: according to independent media, it was
Viktor Orban
who pushed President Katalin Novak and
former Minister of Justice Judit Varga to resign
.
But the scandal led to another: after the minister's resignation, her ex-husband Péter Magyar made shocking revelations on an independent channel. In an interview watched by more than 2 million Internet users, this senior official castigates, with supporting examples, a
corrupt and quasi-mafia state
: “
Is it normal that a handful of families own half the country
?
“, he said.
For the moment, Viktor Orban is still popular among his supporters and the affair will probably not tarnish his image. Unless other revelations emerge. According to her ex-husband, the Minister of Justice did not want to sign the amnesty: in reality she would have been forced to do so by Viktor Orban's entourage.
Friday evening, at the call of a hundred artists and influencers, nearly 50,000 Hungarians demonstrated in Budapest, in solidarity with the victims betrayed by this decision. An event which was intended to be apolitical but which did not prevent the crowd from jeering Viktor Orban's party: “
Dirt of Fidesz
”, “
You are criminals
”.
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