After serving two five-year terms, President János Áder will leave his post on May 9. On this occasion, he gave a lengthy interview to the Magyar Nemzet. We will look at this.

When asked, he said: every profession, including politics, has its own difficulties. People often feel that their work is criticized even when they are acting to the best of their ability in accordance with the constitutional rules. If someone doesn't get used to this, they will probably run away from this track. Insults and unworthy attacks make everyone sick. But a politician only needs to pay attention to whether the decision he has made is humanly, morally and legally correct. In 2012, when I was elected, in my speech in the Parliament, it was emphasized that I undertake to represent Hungarian interests and values. Looking back on the past ten years, I can say with a calm heart, on behalf of myself and my colleagues, that we have fulfilled this commitment.

In his parliamentary speech, Áder said: "If I receive a hundred flawless laws from the National Assembly, I will sign all of them." And if there are 100 bad, faulty ones, I will send back all 100 of them." The outgoing president spoke about the balance of this as follows:

The numbers speak for themselves, but obviously you cannot evaluate the activities of the head of state based solely on them.

In connection with the laws adopted by the Parliament, I raised a political veto thirty-seven times, twenty-eight times in my first term and nine times in my second term. In addition, I appealed to the Constitutional Court eight times, five times between 2012 and 2017, and three times after 2017. Perhaps it is not a negligible circumstance that I did all this during the governments formed by the party coalition that nominated me.

The President of the Republic found his meetings with the Pope very important. He met Pope Francis five times. The relationship between the two was also defined by the protection of creation. According to Áder

"If it is possible to rank, I would highlight the first and the last (meeting-ed.). The first because one of the topics of the visit was drinking water protection, which is considered one of the biggest problems of the century. I brought a bottle of water as a gift from the spring in Mátraverébély, known as one of the best-known Hungarian farewell places. He opened the bottle and drew a cross on my forehead. During our conversation, we came to the conclusion that the Holy Father is preparing to publish an encyclical on the subject of water. And the last one took place on the occasion of the World Eucharistic Congress, after the epidemic. One of the topics of our conversation in the Museum of Fine Arts was the protection of creation, more precisely, what decisions we made in this area since we last met, and the other topic was about family protection. He expressed appreciation for everything our country has done to protect families. It was a very pleasant conversation, so perhaps it is no coincidence that after the meeting he said that he really hopes to visit Hungary again soon. So we look forward to welcoming you.

I will be an active retiree. There are two foundations of which I am the founder. One is István Regőczi, the other is the Blue Planet Foundation. The former's activities are perhaps better known to newspaper readers. We do not simply provide help to children and young people orphaned as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, but we also try to support them until they obtain their diploma or profession. There are babies who, unfortunately, will only be able to see their mother in photographs, in their case they will receive support from the foundation for at least another eighteen years, according to our intention. It can be seen that we have two decades ahead of us, when the resources necessary for the goals must be secured. In the first year, this was relatively easy, as the depressing news and images caused by the epidemic reached almost everyone. But as the years go by, new tragedies come, and the disaster caused by Covid can easily be forgotten. Our task will be to prevent this from happening, we must work on it.

I have another plan, but the government has yet to approve it. After three successful water world meetings in Budapest, we organized a sustainability expo last year, and we would like to be able to organize the second one in 2023.

The number of visitors, interested parties and the volume of deals speaks for itself, so I really hope that there will be a continuation. I see fantasy in making Hungary the center of this idea.

 

Source and full article: Magyar Nemzet

Featured image: András Éberling