In an interview published on Telex, Katalin Novák emphasized that the primary shaper of foreign policy is the government, but it can represent the country at the highest level, so she wants to sit down at the negotiating table with the right information. When he talks to the Hungarian Prime Minister, of course foreign policy is also discussed - read the summary published by MTI.
The head of state also said that he and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán used to meet weekly for about an hour, but he does not discuss his own messages with the government or the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office.
He has the opportunity to criticize the government, but so far there has not been a situation where he felt the need to do so, and he does not see his main task as being the main critic of the government, he added.
When asked whether he should stay away from the will of the government, he answered that he considers himself a decisive actor for the basic law in this respect, and as head of state he is independent from the government.
He sees the expansion of his range of motion in the fact that his attention and responsibilities can now be more diverse.
He considers the approach that Hungarian life is primarily about the decisions of the government to be simplistic. Regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war, he said that an armed attack on a sovereign state is unacceptable, and he believes that the majority of Hungarian people share this position.
In his opinion, the Hungarian people want peace and do not want to be part of the war. He said: We stand by the victims, and this is true not only in words, but also in actions. I feel that the Hungarians were able to put aside all previous grievances, and since the outbreak of the war they have been helping where needed.
Katalin Novák also announced that she is not planning a visit to Kyiv, and that she has not been invited to Russia either. When asked whether he would go to Moscow if invited, he replied that this is now a theoretical question, which I do not see as being relevant.
Regarding the signing of the laws, he said that he is guided by two things: on the one hand, whether they are in accordance with the Basic Law, and on the other hand, whether he serves the interests of the Hungarian people according to his best conscience.
Regarding the initiation of laws, it is possible that I will use this opportunity in the next five years, but I do not have such a plan now, so I would not designate a specific area, the head of state stated.
In the interview, he was also asked whether he supports the tightening of abortion rules, as he said when he was elected president: I will support those who take care of life from the moment of conception. To this, Katalin Novák replied that her statement was not about the tightening of the abortion law, she will not initiate an amendment to the law on abortion, but she believes that life is a value that must be protected and that she wants to help as many people as possible decide to keep the life they have already conceived. In any case, he does not consider it timely to amend the abortion law.
Regarding how he intends to represent the LGBTQ community, he said that I am not a president of gestures, but of deeds. I would like as many Hungarians as possible to feel that I am also their president. Of course, this also includes homosexual Hungarian people.
The President of the Republic also mentioned that the sentence contained in the Basic Law - that the mother is a woman and the father is a man - is evidence for him. It will definitely protect what is written in the Basic Law, according to which the family is based on the marriage of a man and a woman, and on the child-parent relationship.
The greatest success of Katalin Novák's term would be if as many people as possible feel that it is good to be Hungarian, and if knowledge of Hungarian aspects and understanding of the Hungarian position increase in the international world.
Source: MTI
Featured image: MTI/Kékesi Donát
