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Hungary’s incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s pick for Justice Minister, Márton Melléthei-Barna, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the post.
Melléthei-Barna, who is Magyar’s brother-in-law, announced the decision in a post on social media.
“In order not to cast the slightest shadow on the regime change, I consulted with Péter Magyar and we agreed that the best interests of the country and the Tisza government would be served if the Prime Minister asked for a capable and committed professional to be appointed Minister of Justice, who would be judged by the public solely on the basis of his or her actions,” he wrote.
Melléthei-Barna is a lawyer and a university peer of Hungary’s next prime minister. He was one of the founding 10 members of the Tisza Party when it was formed in 2020 and served as the party’s legal director.
He has also held a number of other positions within the part requiring legal expertise, such as head of various sub-units or serving as party representative, for example on the National Election Committee during the 2024 European Parliament elections.
But Magyar was forced to defend his pick to head the justice ministry due to the family link between the two men.
Melléthei-Barna is married to Magyar’s sister, Anna Ilona, a fact that “created a serious dilemma for me,” Magyar said.
Hungary’s prime minister-elect was slammed for the nomination, primarily by figures in the now opposition Fidesz party, which was ousted from government when Magyar’s Tisza won 12 April’s parliamentary elections by a landslide.
“We need to start putting our country back on track, bringing home EU funds, kick-starting the economy and improving public services,” Magyar said in a roughly six-minute video uploaded to social media.
“As well as healing the wounds of the past decades, reuniting the Hungarian nation and of course bringing justice to those who committed the crimes of the past regime.”
In a comment below the social media post, Magyar thanked Melléthei-Barna for his decision and said that he thought his brother-in-law would have made a fantastic justice minister.
Magyar will now name a new candidate for the position of justice minister before the new government is sworn in on Saturday, which is also observed as Europe Day.
That date commemorates the 9 May 1950 Schuman Declaration, put forward by Robert Schuman, which proposed pooling the French, Italian and West German coal and steel industries and laid the foundation for the European Union.