No further restructuring in the government is planned in the next two years until the 2014 general elections, but personal changes cannot be ruled out, Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Tibor Navracsics told MTI in an interview on Friday.
During the first half of the government cycle the focus was on a reform of major sectors in which the Justice Ministry had been assigned a major role, said Navracsics.
Now most part of the operation of the new systems have been passed, as the Prime Minister’s Office will get a major political coordination role in the next two years until 2014, he said.
He added that the transfer of social integration, church and civilian affairs from his ministry to the restructured new Human Resources Ministry went naturally with the appointment of state secretary Zoltan Balog as minister.
Concerning legislation tasks ahead for the next two years, Navracsics noted the law for the country’s new administrative systems that defines setting up 175 new administrative districts in the country and 23 in Budapest, in line with the existing districts, in early 2013. He expected fierce debate about the new Civil Code in the autumn in parliament, especially in family law and personality rights.
Asked about a clemency plea for [homebirth midwife with suspended prison sentence] Agnes Gereb, Navracsics said he had asked meticulous work from his colleagues in preparing a request to the president. Given the human rights and international aspects, the matter requires sensitivity and carefulness, he said.
Concerning a recent ruling of the Curia, the top court, on acquitting Janos Ftatanolo, the former chairman of the Hungarian Workers’ Party 2006, of the misdemeanor of using the symbol of a totalitarian regime by wearing the communist red star, Navracsics said that the governing majority has no intention to amend the current legislation on the ban of the red star. “Whoever is aware of Hungary’s history, will know why,” he added.
