In Hungary, the announced change at the top of the Ministry of Justice is to be accompanied by new responsibilities in the government. The designated future justice minister, Bence Tuzson, will no longer be responsible for EU affairs, unlike the previous minister, Judit Varga. This was announced by the state news agency MTI on Thursday. Tuzson was quoted as saying that he wanted to run a “traditional Justice Department”. EU affairs are of particular concern in Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government, on the one hand because of the negotiations with the European Commission over the frozen EU money due to deficiencies in the rule of law, on the other hand because of the Hungarian EU presidency in a year’s time. You could go into the prime ministerial office under Minister Gergely Gulyás.
Varga wants to run for the European Parliament in 2024. She initially did not confirm that she should head the list of Orbán’s Fidesz party, citing the pending decision of the party leadership. With her resignation announced on Wednesday at the end of July, she says she wants to gain legroom for the election campaign. “This task demands everyone,” Varga explained in the pro-government newspaper “Magyár Nemzet” when she left the government.
People who are well connected in Orbán’s ruling party, Fidesz, pointed out some time ago that Varga wanted to move her future sphere of activity back to Brussels or Strasbourg. The lawyer, who also speaks English, French and German, worked there for almost ten years as an advisor to several Fidesz MEPs before moving to the government in Budapest.
Overthrow “Left Liberal Dominance in the EU”.
Varga should therefore work in Europe “to strengthen the conservative forces”. This is likely to be aimed at Orbán’s – so far unsuccessful – efforts to bring together a party alliance with other representatives of the European right such as Giorgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen, Jarosław Kaczyński and Herbert Kickl. Fidesz left the Christian Democratic European People’s Party in 2021. Varga told Magyár Nemzet: “We are seeing a resurgent conservative movement unfolding across Europe.” She wants to build on that. “I’ve always said that it doesn’t matter who belongs to which party family, the point is that the disproportionate left-liberal dominance in the EU must be overthrown.”
As a minister, Varga was extremely loyal to Orbán. She defended the numerous laws that had come under criticism from European partners, eloquently, but also with harshness and sharpness: whether electoral law reforms, the state of emergency with the possibility of governing by decree or restructuring in the judiciary. If Varga should have ambitions for a commission office, she is unlikely to meet with much concession there. The Hungarian platform HVG, which is critical of the government, comments: “The members of the European Parliament will have a veritable buffet in front of them of what they can argue against them.”
