#Katalin Novak

[slavicbee]

I want everybody to stop what they’re doing and look at this picture of the V4 presidents that is framed like a blockbuster movie poster.

Source: Petr Pavel on Instagram

[plethoraworldatlas]

‘El Loco’ wins landslide victory in Argentina that experts say shows scale of frustration with Peronist status quo

Luminaries of the global far right are in raptures over Javier Milei’s thumping election victory in Argentina which experts predict will turn Buenos Aires into a new stomping ground for the populist radical right.

Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro led the merrymaking after their Argentinian ally trounced his rival, the Peronist finance minister Sergio Massa, by nearly 3 million votes in Sunday’s presidential election. The former US president predicted Milei would “truly make Argentina great again” while Brazil’s ex-president applauded a victory for “honesty, progress and freedom”.

Bolsonarista and Mileísta activists predicted Milei’s win would be the first in a trio of rightwing conquests that would see Trump and Bolsonaro reclaim power in 2024 and 2026.

In his first post-victory interview on Monday, Milei announced he would travel to the US and Israel – where he has promised to move Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – before being sworn in on 10 December, alongside his ultra-conservative vice-president elect Victoria Villarruel.

Bolsonaro announced he would attend Milei’s inauguration in Buenos Aires and posted footage of a pally video call with Argentina’s president-elect. “I’m really happy,” Bolsonaro told the radical libertarian economist. “You have a big job ahead of you … and it’s a job that goes beyond Argentina,” Brazil’s former leader added. “Gracias!” Milei replied.

Unlike Bolsonaro, a professional politician who posed as an anti-establishment outsider to win power in 2018, Milei is a genuine newcomer to the world of politics. Born in Buenos Aires in 1970, he played in a Rolling Stones cover band and found fame as a foul-mouthed economic pundit on Argentinian television before being elected to congress in 2021 for his libertarian party Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances). Milei’s mercurial personality, expletive-ridden onscreen outbursts and Britpop-style hairdo have cemented his reputation as ‘El Loco’ (The Madman).

From Bogotá and Santiago to Lisbon and Madrid, other ultra-conservative figures voiced delight at Milei’s landslide victory over the centrist Massa, by 14.47m to 11.51m votes.

André Ventura, the leader of Portugal’s far-right Chega! (Enough!), celebrated Milei’s “struggle to defend society” and Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right League, sent his congratulations. Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s far-right party Vox, said Milei had opened “a path of future and hope … for Argentines and all of Latin America”.

Hungary’s president Katalin Novák congratulated Milei on a “great victory”.In South America, the Chilean ultra-conservative politician José Antonio Kast congratulated Milei for his “resounding triumph”, writing: “The reconstruction of Argentina starts now”.

The Colombian senator María Fernanda Cabal called Milei’s victory a victory for “sanity, common sense [and] the hope of a rebirth for Argentina”. “Once again Latin America’s depredating left has been defeated.”

[head-post]

Hungary elected new president after Novák’s scandalous resignation

Hungary’s parliament elected a new president on Monday after previous head of state Katalin Novák resigned over the child sex abuse pardon scandal.

Lawmakers approved the presidential appointment of 67-year-old Tamás Sulyok, a lawyer who previously served as head of Hungary’s Constitutional Court, in a secret vote. 134 lawmakers voted in favour of Sulyok’s appointment, with 5 casting votes against.

However, some opposition parties refused to participate in the vote, calling for direct presidential elections instead of appointments by parliamentary vote.

The president’s role in Hungary is largely ceremonial, although he has the power to send legislation back to lawmakers or to the Constitutional Court for review. During the speech, Sulyok mentioned alleged problems with the rule of law and democracy in Hungary that prompted the European Union to freeze billions of dollars in funding.

Read more HERE

[inprimalinie]

Blestemul lui Zelenski în acțiune: a adus ghinion încă unui lider - FOTO

[theechudar]

Katalin Novak : ஹங்கேரி அதிபர் பதவி விலகள்.,சிறுவர் துஷ்பிரயோகம் செய்தவர் மன்னிப்பு; சர்ச்சை புயல்;

Katalin Novak : ஹங்கேரியில் குழந்தைகளை துஷ்பிரயோகம் செய்தவருக்கு மன்னிப்பு வழங்கியது தொடர்பான சர்ச்சைக்கு மத்தியில் அந்நாட்டு அதிபர் கேத்லீன் நோவாக் தனது பதவியை ராஜினாமா செய்துள்ளார். 46 வயதான கேத்லீன், எதிர்க்கட்சிகள் மற்றும் குழந்தை உரிமைகள் பாதுகாப்பு அமைப்புகளின் கடுமையான எதிர்ப்புகளுக்குப் பிறகு தனது பதவியை ராஜினாமா செய்வதாக அறிவித்தார். காத்லீன் தனது ராஜினாமாவில், தான் தவறு செய்ததாகவும்,…

[possil]

A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY

During the recent break in posting we visited Budapest, and were left with some remarkable memories. A beautiful city with a terrible past, and not only from the dreadful Soviet days. Below the imposing Parliament building is a row of metal shoes commemorating the Jews who were lined up, forced to remove their shoes, and shot dead into the Danube by the fascist Arrow Cross militia in 1944. We…

[otodiklovas]

Jo, Novak Katalin lemondott. Ennyi, elfogadom. De miert kell a megalazasat folytatni azt vegkepp nem tudom, de EZ a Skrabski Fruzsina a posztjaival erre meg ra is tesz.

[algebraicvarietyshow]

tudom, novak katalin, k. endre, varga judit es magyar peter

de azert 2024 eddigi legvaratlanabb fejlemenye megis csak az hogy @kosullo2 gyakorlatilag operahazi tudositova valt!

[mariacallous]

Hungary’s public prosecutor is in the spotlight after former Fidesz apparatchik-turned-critic Peter Magyar on Tuesday handed over a recording that appears to show his ex-wife, the former justice minister Judit Varga, discussing how high-ranking members of Viktor Orban’s government tampered with evidence in a major corruption case.

Evidence and suspicions of corruption surrounding the Fidesz government are not unusual during its almost 15 years in power, but whistleblowers from the inner circle of the ruling party like Magyar, who previously held positions in state-owned companies and comes from a notable conservative family, are rare.

Over the past two months, Magyar has emerged as a major critic of the government, especially of Orban’s éminence grise Antal Rogan, following the resignations of his ex-wife and the then-president Katalin Novak over their involvement in pardoning a man accused of covering up abuse at a children’s home in Budapest.

Since then, Magyar gave an interview to YouTube channel Partizan in mid-February in which he said “we must act if we do not want this country to become the holding company of a few families”, and then organised a rally of 80,000 people on March 15, Hungary’s national holiday, that far exceeded the crowd that the prime minister managed to gather for his speech. He also intends to launch a new party to challenge Fidesz and the opposition.

The latest evidence of corruption that Magyar posted on Facebook and also shared with prosecutors comes from a secretly recorded conversation at home with his then-wife Judit Varga in January 2023, who was justice minister at the time.

During the two-minute recording, a woman sounding like Varga reveals that members of the government had removed certain details from documents relating to a notorious corruption investigation into accusations that the former head of the Court Bailiffs organisation, Gyorgy Schadl, and the state secretary at the Justice Ministry, Pal Volner, took millions of forints in bribes over many years. Schadl was caught at Budapest airport in November 2021 in the act of trying to flee with his wife and a bag stuffed full of cash.

The two men, who deny the charges, are due to stand trial and face years of imprisonment if found guilty.

Varga, who as minister was Volner’s boss at the time, says on the tape that the state secretary had been warned previously but was unwilling to stop his alleged criminal activities. She says that members of the government had suggested to prosecutors that certain details be removed from the documents, but that they had not done so completely.

Varga admits on the tape that the corruption case only came to light because the country’s chief prosecutor, Peter Polt, an ally of Prime Minister Orban, “was not in [full] control” of his office, which showed that the national prosecutor’s office still had a measure of independence.

Pro-government media have dismissed the tape as “nothing new”, while Varga responded on Facebook accusing her husband of domestic violence and intimidation. “I am shocked. He has been blackmailing me with this tape for a year. He made a secret tape in our house and now he is using it for political purposes… I was being terrorised and I said what he wanted,” she explained.

Orban has previously dismissed Magyar’s actions as a soap opera, which is consistent with his usual strategy to ignore embarrassing news in the hope that people will lose interest. The government’s narrative is to portray Magyar as a vengeful ex-husband who mistreated his wife in order to discredit him.

The latest revelations come during a week when the government is also having to deal with the fallout from revelations that former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro took refuge in the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia in February as he was being investigated for plotting a coup against the elected president, Lula da Silva.

The New York Times reported that Bolsonaro spent two days at the embassy after several of his aides had been arrested and his homes were raided.

Orban, a close ally of Bolsonaro, once called the former Brazilian president an “honest patriot” and told him to “keep fighting”.

The Hungarian ambassador was summoned to Brazil’s Foreign Ministry on Monday, but reportedly remained silent during the 20-minute meeting.

[politikapolka]

- Kiég, a szemem!!!

- Orbán stréber béketyúkja a tökös ukrán harcikakassal negédeskedik!!!!

- Vajon ezt a pálfordulatot is engedelmesen interiorizálják Orbán cselédei?!!!

- Micsa picsa izgi idők!

Kognitív disszonancia a rendes, derék, horogkeresztény és nemzeti értékrendú, tisztafajú stb. cselédek körében 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Tudta? A gonosz és csúnya ukránoktól eltérően a hagyományőrző orbánista magyarok széttárt combokkal és pucsító seggel fogadják a hős orosz felszabadítókat.

Orbán titokban ismét meghosszabbította a háborús veszélyhelyzetet

[stele3]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ukraine-aid-bill-inches-forward-us-senate-2024-02-10/

[beardedmrbean]

The president of Hungary has resigned live on television over a decision to pardon a man convicted of covering up a child sexual abuse case.

It was revealed last week President Novak had given clemency to a man jailed for forcing children to retract sexual abuse claims against a director of a state-run children's home.

Protests calling for her to step down had been growing in Hungary.

Ms Novak apologised and said she made "a mistake" in granting the pardon.

Judit Varga, the former minister of justice who approved the pardon, has also resigned from her new role leading the European elections campaign for Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz party.

The controversy which led to the resignations came after the names of 25 people pardoned by Ms Novak in April last year, as part of a visit to Hungary by Pope Francis, were made public by Hungarian media last week.

On the list of convicts was the deputy director of a children's home near Budapest, who had been jailed for three years after forcing children to retract claims of abuse against the director of the home.

The director had himself been jailed for eight years over abusing children at the government-run facility.

Hungarian opposition parties and protesters had been demanding her resignation, but Ms Novak's decision to do so was as sudden as it was unexpected.

Ms Novak is a popular figure in Fidesz and a rare female politician in a male-dominated country. She is a key ally of Hungarian Mr Orban and previously worked as his family minister.

In 2022, she became the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial role of Hungarian president.

The case has unleashed an unprecedented political scandal for Hungary's long-serving nationalist government.

In particular, it caused deep embarrassment for Fidesz, which has made traditional family values the cornerstone of its social policy.

Speaking in an address live on television, Ms Novak said she granted the pardon in the belief the convicted man "did not exploit the vulnerability of the children under his oversight".

She apologised to victims who "might have felt that I did not stand up for them".

"I made a mistake, as the pardon and the lack of reasoning were conducive to triggering doubts about the zero tolerance that applies to paedophilia," Ms Novak added.

In addition to the resignation of Ms Novak, another leading female politician from Fidesz has also resigned over the same case.

Judit Varga, who was minister of justice at the time of the pardon, countersigned the clemency decision.

The double resignation of its two most prominent female politicians is a serious setback for Mr Orban and his party, with Ms Varga due to head the Fidesz list in the European elections in June.

[quick-news]

Katalin Novak vetoes anti-LGBTQ law

Hungarian President Katalin Novak has vetoed a controversial whistle-blower law that makes it possible to anonymously report rainbow families to authorities. The Hungarian Parliament approved the law earlier this month. 

In theory, the law transposes an EU directive protecting whistleblowers but it also allows citizens to report those who contest the “constitutionally recognized role of marriage and the family” and those who contest children’s rights “to an identity appropriate to their sex at birth.” 

"[The bill] does not strengthen but rather weakens the protection of fundamental values,” Novak wrote in a letter to the National Assembly. Hungarian lawmakers can still override Novak’s veto.

Hungary has never allowed gay marriage but recognizes civil union between same-sex couples. Until two years ago, gay couples could adopt if one partner applied for adoption as a single person. In 2020, the government changed the constitution to specify a parent-child relationship: “The mother is a woman, and the father is a man”, which ensures that now only heterosexual couples can adopt children. Single people could gain exemptions with special permission.