Hungary's top meteorologist, dismissed after canceled fireworks called back to his old position

There is an interesting change on the website of the Hungarian National Meteorological Service (OMSZ): former Deputy President Gyula Horváth, who was dismissed along with former President Kornélia Radics at the end of August by then Minister of Technology and Industry László Palkovics, has returned to the institution as Chief Advisor to the President – even though the service still doesn't have a president, only an acting President (in the person of László Hanyecz, who was Deputy President of Economics before his appointment).

In other words, Gyula Horváth is now the chief adviser to the non-existent president and is according to our information, doing essentially the same job as before his dismissal.

We contacted Gyula Horváth, who told us that the National Meteorological Service had contacted him after his dismissal to say that he was needed, and that he had been back at the organization since 1 October, roughly after a little bit more than a month. He did not wish to say more than that, and we have not been able to get any more information from OMSZ either, for example on whether a similar turn of events may be expected in the case of the institution's former President Kornélia Radics.

Many will recall that on 22 August there was a huge uproar over the government's sacking of the OMSZ leadership, as it later emerged, for "various incompetence issues". After the sacking, Gyula Horváth himself told our paper that he only learned about his alleged lack of competence from the government briefing.

As for the alleged lack of competence, many thought that the real reason behind the sacking was that government had to postpone the 20 August fireworks because of the OMSZ forecast, as the storm they had predicted did not come. The personal consequences were foreshadowed by the fact that the public media and the government-friendly press immediately attacked the meteorologists for the incident, even though on the morning of the 20th, they had only predicted a 75-80 percent chance of rain or downpours around 9pm. The government's reaction came fast enough, with Minister Palkovics firing President Kornélia Radics and Deputy President Gyula Horváth on 22 August without explanation.

As Gyula Horváth told Telex at the time, he had just returned from a three-week holiday and started work on Monday, when they were summoned to the Ministry of Technology and Industry in the afternoon. He also said that there was no indication that the government was unhappy with the weather service's reports. In fact, on the 150th birthday of the National Meteorological Service in 2020, Viktor Orbán himself had written a letter congratulating them and thanking them for their work.