It took almost five days for the Hungarian government to confirm a minister's resignation

It took almost five days for the Hungarian government to confirm a relatively simple piece of information: the resignation of a government minister. Reports started coming in from several sources around noon last Wednesday that Minister of Technology and Industry László Palkovics had resigned because of plans to move matters of energy policy from his portfolio to a separate ministry, and he was not willing to manage what remained.

This is now not only a rumour, but an officially confirmed fact by Gergely Gulyás. Yes, László Palkovics has indeed resigned. Yes, a separate energy ministry is being set up. Yes, László Palkovics did not want to handle the rest.

The resignation of a minister is a relatively simple piece of information. And yet, it was not confirmed but was denied for days. What disadvantage would this have put the government at? This kind of thing happens all the time. Why not just say, yes, he has resigned, they are looking for a new minister and, if necessary, they will restructure the ministry?

It is a good indication of how insulated the system is that even the person concerned had not made any statement, although he was presumably not too happy with the developments. Palkovics did not answer Telex's question, and the only event where he could have been approached about this was also cancelled last Friday.

No other member of the government wanted to/dared provide a straight answer to the question of whether their fellow minister had indeed resigned. On Thursday, Minister of Regional Development and the Utilisation of EU Funds, Tibor Navracsics first said he had spoken to Palkovics about the resignation, which he had found surprising, then quickly corrected himself by saying "if he has indeed resigned".

Last week, as time passed and no one was officially confirming whether László Palkovics had resigned at all, the press was already writing a portrait of the new Energy Minister, Csaba Lantos, with pretty good accuracy. It was really typical how Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister's spokesman, first readily replied on Wednesday saying that we should ask the Prime Minister's Office, and then the Prime Minister's Office replied that such matters are for the Prime Minister to decide. And with that, they closed the case.

Looking back, it is of course easy to read between the lines, and it was clear that this time they did not resort to calling it "a hoax" or "fake news" and one must be able to interpret sentences such as "the Prime Minister decides on the members of the government, and if there is a change in its structure, the public will be informed".

Even if some may claim the opposite, political journalism does exist. Even in Hungary. One of the most important issues in this field is whether there is a change in the composition or structure of a government. This is a public matter, and it is the job of the press to ask. The government was, of course, communicating actively and even focusing on a theme throughout those days:

Uzbekistan

Gergely Gulyás tried to justify the long silence by saying that the announcement had to wait because the new Energy Minister, Csaba Lantos, only said yes to leading the ministry on Sunday evening, and Palkovics actually only left on Monday. We were even told that the Prime Minister tried to keep Palkovics on. He could have stayed in the government if he had accepted to lead the ruins of his ministry.

Whatever the case, one important piece of information has been confirmed in the last five days: when something unexpected happens, and on top of it all, the Prime Minister is abroad, busy, or perhaps on a plane to Uzbekistan at the moment of discovery, the system at home freezes.

The effect

The reverberations of Palkovics' resignation keep on coming.

On Monday, Dávid Vitézy, State Secretary for Transport also announced his resignation. In his Facebook post, he wrote that after the departure of László Palkovics, the government will abolish the Ministry of Technology and Industry,

"This will also put an end to my current duties as State Secretary for Transport."

David Vitézy had big plans. In an interview with Telex at the end of October, he said that by the end of 2023 we will be able to travel across the country under unified zone tariffs and uniform bus-train passes, he wanted to cut the 150-hour daily delay of MÁV, but he also spoke about when he thought we would be able to travel with the fifth metro line.

Late Monday the news came that István Tarlós has also resigned from his position on the board of directors of the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV).

The move came as a surprise to many because it was only a few weeks ago that Tarlós was appointed to the board of MÁV for another five-year term. Tarlós said he was resigning for family reasons, effective 31 December. The former mayor of Budapest claims it's a coincidence that his resignation was announced the same day as the changes in the ministry. Tarlós was the Fidesz-supported mayor of Budapest between 2010-2019, before the current, opposition mayor, Gergely Karácsony took over.

Interestingly enough, the transport portfolio will be taken over by János Lázár, Minister of Construction and Investment. Tarlós and Lázár have notably not been on the best terms in the past, and have been known to publicly criticize each other. This May Tarlós even revealed that he had not spoken to János Lázár for five years, "I think we have conspicuously not sought each other's company".