The Fidesz faction nominates Tamás Deutsch to head the Fidesz EP list.
Before the start of the spring session of the parliament on February 26, the governing parties held an external faction meeting in Balatonalmádi. Máté Kocsis, Fidesz, and István Simicskó, KDNP faction leader, informed the press about the decisions.
Máté Kocsis stated that the Parliament will decide on Monday whether to accept Katalin Novák's resignation. The faction association will accept this resignation. The governing parties consider it right if the Parliament can elect the new president of the republic as soon as possible, but they have not yet been able to comment on the date of this.
The faction leader of Fidesz announced that the proposal made by the president of Fidesz was accepted, and Tamás Sulyok, the president of the Constitutional Court, is being proposed as president of the republic.
The Fidesz-KDNP faction proposes constitutional judge Tamás Sulyok for president
The faction leader of Fidesz also said: the party's presidency proposes that Tamás Deutsch be the leader of the EP list of the governing parties. The faction leader added: the committee still has to decide.
Máté Kocsis also touched on the fact that László Varju was sentenced today.
He asked that whoever is legally convicted leave Hungarian public life immediately. They call on László Varju to leave Hungarian public life today. Máté Kocsis asked András Fekete-Győr to do the same as a result of his court case. Due to the action of antifa and the Szikra Movement, Máté Kocsis asked for an end to the violence.
Regarding child protection, Máté Kocsis said: they have been working on the second package for a long time, he noted that in the case of the first one, the left did not support, for example, the searchable pedophile registry.
He also said that the new package of laws is planned to be submitted in the spring parliamentary session. 20 laws are proposed to be amended, but not all issues have yet been decided. But Máté Kocsis revealed that
the penalties for pedophile crimes are further tightened;
- they would make it accepted that such crimes committed against persons under 18 years of age would never become statute-barred;
- they also recommend that there should be no acquittal in such cases, and the Basic Law will exclude the possibility of receiving a pardon;
– and they also recommend that such offenders should never again receive a moral certificate.
According to István Simicskó, they operate according to a proven system, the meetings of the parliamentary factions are suitable for thinking through the tasks before them and reviewing the legislative proposals.
The faction leader of the KDNP expressed Sweden's NATO accession as saying that he welcomes the Swedish Prime Minister's visit to Hungary.
Regarding military relations, he said, the factions of the government party have come to the conclusion that they will support Sweden's accession to NATO. He called the situation encouraging in relation to Swedish-Hungarian relations, but the criticisms from his group members were justified, they will not give in to pressure in the future either, they are happy that the Swedish Prime Minister saw the necessity of visiting Budapest.
When asked about Bishop Zoltán Balog, Máté Kocsis believed that the Reformed Church should decide what is right in this matter.
Máté Kocsis called the child protection law and the sovereignty protection law very important, but if the child protection law had been adopted earlier, it would not have prevented the pardon case from happening either.
How did you manage to convince the critical members of the faction regarding Sweden's NATO accession? the question was asked
in connection with which Máté Kocsis explained: the visit of the Swedish Prime Minister and the preliminary negotiations of the past few days took the relationship between the two countries in the right direction, these were the few gestures they were waiting for. Máté Kocsis is not afraid that the ratification will not pass in the Parliament, if only because the opposition factions will probably support it.
When asked if he personally knows Péter Magyar, Judit Varga's former husband, Máté Kocsis said: he knows him personally and considers what is happening to be the "mutilation of an injured person". The leader of the faction has not yet seen any claim that Péter Magyar has attached support for, and he does not believe that this will change in the future. According to Máté Kocsis, there is an injured person who has lost opportunities in his life, so now he blames others, looks for reasons, and fights.
To the question of whether the Fidesz faction should investigate the background and why of the pardon case, Máté Kocsis said: they could, but there was no official justification as to why, there is no paper about it that an investigation could find; the reason for the pardon decision can only be answered by the person who made it, but the head of state left his office. However, Máté Kocsis maintains that he also wants to understand how this clemency decision could have happened.
According to Máté Kocsis, losing Judit Varga to the faction is a painful loss, but the right decision. Everyone took note of his departure. The faction leader revealed that this is not the best period of their lives, but in his opinion, this situation should not have arisen.
In response to a journalist's question, Máté Kocsis said that it should not be assumed that not all parties supported Tamás Sulyok, a member of the Constitutional Court in 2014, because the opposition parties reject everything.
The ruling parties are convinced that in the current situation Tamás Sulyok is the one who can best express national unity, because, for example, he does not come from a party.
In response to a question, Máté Kocsis informed us that they will nominate their candidate for mayor in March, there is still time, he said: "our noses are still a little above water". At the faction meeting, Viktor Orbán did not speak about the mayoral nomination.
Máté Kocsis said at the press conference: they will win the EP election in the competition of the parties, mandate estimation was not discussed at the faction meeting.
The leader of the faction explained: the current leadership in Brussels was a disappointment, wrong decisions were made in the epidemic situation and because of the war, the misguided sanctions caused inflation; but, for example, they also made bad decisions regarding migration and "LGBTQ propaganda".
Máté Kocsis emphasized: change is needed in Brussels, this must be told to the people, and accordingly a good result must be achieved in the European Parliament elections.
Cover photo: Máté Kocsis, Fidesz (j) and István Simicskó, faction leader of the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) at the press conference held on the postponed Fidesz-KDNP faction meeting in Balatonalmádi on February 22, 2024
Source: MTI/Zoltán Máthé
