The new government will be “significantly reshuffled”, says prime minister

Viktor Orbán said in his today morning interview in Kossuth Rádió that he planned to present members of his new, “significantly reshuffled” government between May 20 and 30. 

He said considerable changes were planned, “reflecting the many considerable changes in the world”. Christian Democrat, nationally minded governments usually start work by assessing the challenges of the upcoming four years, Orbán said.

Protection against migration pressure must be boosted, he said.

“The [coronavirus] pandemic has not disappeared” and there is a war going on, he added. “We must form a government that is able to protect Hungary,”

he said.

Talking about possible additional EU sanctions he said he did not consider them a good solution on the whole but Hungary must at least maintain its veto in the areas most important for the country. As a result, he said he had been willing to approve the first five packages of sanctions but made it clear that the energy embargo would be a red line.

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They also wanted to put Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on the sanctions list but “we will not support including church leaders” on the list because that would affect the freedom of religion for Hungarian communities which is “sacred and inviolable”, Orban said.