Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is holding a series of consultations prior to presenting his new cabinet on 6 June, as announced in Parliament by Minister of State heading the Prime Minister's Office János Lázár.
Mr. Lázár stated that the new governmental structure would be "clear, simple and straightforward". According to a proposal submitted to Parliament on Saturday, the new government will work with nine ministries: the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Human Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of External Economy and Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Development and Ministry of National Economy.
Minister of State Lázár highlighted that the Prime Minister's Office will be turned into a ministry charged with governmental coordination, as well as with the distribution of European Union funds in Hungary.
State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Peter Szijjártó said that an integrated foreign economy and policy ministry will be set up to "successfully represent Hungarian interests in a new world order", facilitating that one third of Hungary's total exports will be sold outside the European Union by 2018, as well as increasing Hungary's agricultural and food exports by an annual 10 percent.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is holding a series of consultations, meeting with heads of various institutions, to have their input in their field of expertise, prior to forming his new cabinet. On Monday, he received the new and the outgoing presidents of the Hungarian Academy of Science (MTA), with whom he discussed the new goals of the institution within the field of Hungarian research. He later also met with President of the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA) György Fekete and stated that in terms of Hungary’s future, culture has a strategic importance.
Also on Monday, the Prime Minister met with President of the State Audit Office (ÁSZ) László Domonkos and his deputy Tihamér Warvasovszky, who presented their proposal to make the standards of state spending measurable and further reinforce a balanced, transparent and sustainable budget management.
After meeting with the 13 minority spokespersons, Prime Minister Orbán stated that the Government aims to place special emphasis on cooperation with the non-voting minority representatives in Parliament. The spokespersons stressed that they are open to the possibility of cooperating with the Hungarian Government and made suggestions regarding the development of relations between Hungary and the neighbouring countries.
Later, on Monday, the Prime Minister held a meeting with members of the judiciary, with whom they discussed relevant parts of the Fundamental Law and who summarised results and experiences regarding the reform of the judiciary.
On Tuesday, consultations continued with Governor of the Central Bank György Matolcsy, where the main topics included the increase in public-owned government bonds and the improving state debt, while with President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce László Parragh they discussed an agreement to be made with the new government on further developing the vocational training system, restructuring higher and adult education, the use of EU funds between 2014 and 2020, strengthening SMEs and developing the chamber’s system, based on the German model.
Finally the Prime Minister also met with leaders of the National Association of Hungarian Farmers Societies and Co-operatives (MAGOSZ) and the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, during which the parties set the goal of enhancing agricultural output to reach the 1990 level, developing rural labour-intensive sectors and putting in order the situation regarding the undivided joined ownership of agricultural land.