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Mr Orbán said those who commit crimes against children must be punished, and their punishment must be served out; there are no excuses, there is no lenience, there is no parole, “there is no clemency.” There are no excuses for those who serve as guardians of children; in Hungary, they cannot expect clemency, he pointed out. He said human judgement is not enough here; the laws, too, must guarantee that something like this should never happen again.
The Prime Minister said it is important to review the laws in effect, including the relevant constitutional guarantees.
He said a task that awaits resolution is that there should be no scope for granting parole to criminals convicted of paedophilia on any grounds, for any reason; in Hungary this gate has yet to be closed. He asked Members of Parliament to close this gate, while he asked courts to adopt decisions in pending cases accordingly.
He said the crimes committed in the Bicske children’s home raise serious concerns also regardless of the clemency case. Why we did only succeed in convicting a paedophile children’s home principal at second attempt? he asked, observing that we must get to the bottom of this.
Mr Orbán confirmed that he had ordered an investigation extending to the head of every child protection institution. They will scrutinise everyone because in the case of child protection institutions, the relevant conditions of aptitude must extend to everything, including lifestyle, sexual deviance and psychological aptitude, he stated.
The Prime Minister said crimes committed to the detriment of children provoke strong emotions because everyone immediately thinks of their own children, and so there is every reason to expect the authorities to conduct the most comprehensive and most thorough investigations possible.
The Prime Minister thanked departing president of the republic Katalin Novák for her work. He recalled that the reason for her resignation was a clemency case regarding which only a single decision could have been adopted: the application should have been rejected. This is not what happened, and so resignation was the right thing to do, he added.
He indicated that Parliament will decide on Mrs Novák’s resignation and will elect new head of state Tamás Sulyok on Monday. He said Hungary is a strong and stable country, a change in the person of the president of the republic must be carried out in a way which enables us to prevent the emergence of even temporary issues in the country’s life. He said they are able to honour this duty by electing a new president without delay.
Mr Orbán thanked the parliamentary groups of Fidesz and KDNP (Christian Democratic People’s Party) for having proceeded in this spirit, and for “having demonstrated once again that they are worthy of the trust of the electorate.” He also thanked incumbent president of the Constitutional Court Tamás Sulyok for having accepted the nomination, and asked Members of Parliament to support him with their votes.
“An enormous amount of experience, knowledge commanding respect and undisputable authority,” the Prime Minister said, describing Mr Sulyok, stressing that the decisions of the Constitutional Court have in recent years provided guidance on the most important issues, and these decisions have also met with the approval of lawyers and the people. “I believe that at this point in time Hungary needs just such a president,” Mr Orbán added.
In his address, the Prime Minister asked parliamentarians to adopt the proposed parliamentary resolution on Sweden’s NATO accession.
NATO is a defence alliance; we forge an alliance to mutually defend one another in the event of any external aggression. There is no graver commitment than that, and so it is important that before we let a new member into the alliance we first settle our disputes, he pointed out.
He took the view that Hungary has long-standing relations coloured with a number of different disputes with the countries of Scandinavia, and several entities attempted to interfere in these from outside. However, these – rather than helping – only hindered the cause. Hungary is a sovereign country, and will not tolerate that others should want to dictate to it, regarding whether the contents or timing of decisions, he laid down.
He said the Swedish prime minister’s visit on Friday successfully contributed to the restoration of fair and respectful relations between the two countries. There are and there will be differences, but we look upon our differences with understanding, he stated.
He listed the concluded military and defence industry agreements, indicating that in addition to the prolongation of the earlier agreements on Swedish fighter planes, Hungary is buying another four new fighter planes, and as a result, the Hungarian air force will be able to complete NATO missions also outside the territory of the country. In summary, he said Swedish-Hungarian defence industry cooperation and Sweden’s NATO accession will enhance Hungary’s security.
The Prime Minister urged an immediate ceasefire and peace talks on the anniversary of the outbreak of the war. There is no military solution to this conflict; rather than deepening and widening the war, we must put an end to it, he said, adding that this is equally in the best interests of the European, Ukrainian and Russian people.
He recalled that Hungary helps Ukraine in providing care for the injured and disabled war veterans as well as in the restoration of its power network. At the same time, Hungary supports people who have lost their homes due to the war with the biggest humanitarian aid campaign in its history.
Mr Orbán also mentioned that since the previous session of the legislature important government decisions had been adopted, including the extension of housing grants, pay rises and the development of the generation and storage of green energy.
