Latest news with #ZsoltSemjén
Budapest Times
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Deputy PM: Tisza Party is an empty vessel bereft of ideas
Zsolt Semjén said the Tisza Party was incapable of saying anything meaningful about any relevant issue. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said the opposition Tisza Party is an empty vessel bereft of ideas, and all it can do is hurl hatred and slander at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. During a podium discussion at the 34th Balvanyosi Summer Free University and Student Camp in Baile Tusnad (Tusnadfurdo) on Thursday, Deputy PM Semjén said the Tisza Party was incapable of saying anything meaningful about any relevant issue. 'They don't have party experts, which is why they're not setting up a shadow government,' he said, adding that Tisza could not name their candidates for Hungary's 106 individual constituencies 'because they don't have 106 people' available as candidates. He said the 2026 general election would be won by parties that win 60 individual electoral districts and do well on national party lists, 'especially if the Hungarians in Transylvania, too, support them'. Commenting on Hungarian-Romanian bilateral relations, he said much closer cooperation should be maintained between the two countries, which would serve the interests of both Hungary and Romania and therefore the interests of Transylvanian Hungarians, too. President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, Hunor Kelemen, told the podium discussion that it was a fundamental interest of Transylvanian Hungarians to strengthen bilateral relations and make dialogue permanent. He said he had attended the informal meeting of Orbán and Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on Wednesday evening. He added that the two prime ministers had immediately found a common wavelength and had been able to consult about important issues. The nearly two-hour meeting was characterised by mutual respect and sincere dialogue, he said.
Budapest Times
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Deputy PM: Day of Pope Francis's funeral will be a national day of mourning
The day of mourning will "express the nation's gratitude for the Holy Father and the nation's grief", the deputy prime minister said. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén announced on Monday that the government intends to declare the day of Pope Francis's funeral a national day of mourning. The day of mourning will 'express the nation's gratitude for the Holy Father and the nation's grief', the deputy prime minister said. Deputy PM Semjén, who also leads the co-ruling Christian Democrats, said he was 'shocked to learn of the news of the Holy Father's death'. He said 'all Hungarians' were grateful to the pope, who called on Hungarians three times by visiting the 'national shrine of Csiksomlyo' during his visit to Transylvania before attending the Eucharistic Congress in Budapest and then making an apostolic visit to Hungary. Deputy PM Semjén said the Holy Father 'was rightly called a man of peace', adding that the pope supported peace 'in every way', arguing that diplomacy rather than weapons should take hold of events. The deputy PM also said the pope and the Hungarian people had a special relationship and 'a deep connection'. Having worked among Hungarian nuns in Argentina, whenever he met a Hungarian, the pontiff would always say 'God bless you!' in Hungarian, Semjén noted.
