Sándor Pintér plans to begin his fourth term as Minister of Interior with unchanged goals, including continuing to strive to protect Hungary’s culture and national sovereignty, and maintaining order and security, the current Minister said on Monday at his hearing before a joint meeting of Parliament’s National Defence and National Security committees in Budapest.

At the beginning of his two-and-a-half-hour hearing, Mr. Pintér gave a short review of his professional career and thanked the electorate for giving him a clear mandate to continue his work.

He highlighted that illegal migration represents the greatest danger with relation to maintaining law and order, and the most important related task is to protect the country’s borders. The Government would still not like anything to endanger the security of citizens’ everyday lives, he said. He stressed that in future he would like to continue to consult with all political parties prior to submitting legislative proposals that are particularly important or require a two-thirds majority.

“Everything can be done a little better”, he said, adding however, that Hungary is listed as the world’s 15th safest country, which is proof of the fact that the efforts of the Ministry of Interior in recent years have not been in vain.

Mr. Pintér also told the Committee that he is not planning any significant changes to the Ministry’s structure or top officials.

The candidate for the post of Minister then moved on to the Ministry’s various spheres of competence, explaining that the further reduction of state tasks and the expansion of self-governance is to be expected within the field of local government, in addition to which the Government will continue to prevent settlements from falling into heavy debt.

He stressed that the Government also plans to maintain the public work system to enable work to be a part of family socialisation and assure that benefits are only received by people who, for instance, are incapable of working because of their health. According to Mr. Pintér, several EU countries are showing an interest in the Hungarian public employment model, partly with relation to illegal immigration.

The Minister underlined the fact that the duty of the police is to guarantee public safety that is balanced and free of extremism in every area of the country.

He pointed out that the career model scheme for law enforcement employees will draw to a close in early 2019 with a further wage increase of 5 percent.

The Minister told the Committee that every area of the Ministry, including electronic public administration and the technical development of law enforcement, will be undergoing IT development.

With relation to disaster management, Mr. Pintér promised to raise the fire safety of all settlements to a similar level, while with relation to the penal system he said the Ministry plans to realise the employment of prisoners within the public work scheme to facilitate their future reintegration into society.

Courts must be afforded the opportunity to hold online hearings, in addition to which the Ministry will be continuing the fight against corruption.

Mr. Pintér said the Counter-Terrorism Center had performed its activities “without fault”, which in his opinion is also indicated by the fact that the organisation performs some 200 arrests-a-year without injury.

The candidate for the post of Minister indicated that he will be reporting on the planned reorganisation of the secret services within the framework of a closed session of the Committee, but did state that the Constitutional Protection Office will be moving to new premises during the Government’s current term in office and that the technical development of the national security services will continue.

In reply to a question from an opposition party member of the Committee, Mr. Pintér said he didn’t feel Hungary had any kind of visa issue with the United States, explaining that a preferential two-year review is currently being performed, which was established in 2016, as part of which a U.S. delegation is currently in Hungary and is yet to complete its full review. He trusts that Hungarian citizens will continue to be able to travel to the United States under the most preferential conditions, Mr. Pintér underlined.

The National Defence Committee approved Sándor Pinter’s reappointment as Minister of Interior by six votes in favour (Fidesz-KDNP), two votes against (Jobbik and LMP) and one abstention (MSZP), while the National Security Committee gave its approval with four governing party votes in favour, two opposition votes against and one abstention from the same parties.

(MTI)