Ministers take office in Hungary's first non-Orbán government in 16 years

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The Hungarian government's new Cabinet was sworn into office on Tuesday, marking the final transfer of power from the former administration of Viktor Orbán to a new center-right government led by Prime Minister Péter Magyar.

The swearing-in of the 16 ministers came after only two days of parliamentary committee hearings, a sign that Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer who took office on Saturday, is seeking the quickest possible end to the political system Orbán led for 16 years.

Magyar’s pro-European Tisza party defeated Orbán’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in Parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orbán a reputation among his critics as a far-right authoritarian.

During comments following the swearing-in of his new ministers in Hungary's Parliament, Magyar said “the government now being formed will be the government of all Hungarians” and “a servant of the nation and not of the prime minister,” in a direct critique of his predecessor.

“We must repair the destruction, division, backwardness and loss of trust over the past two decades by making Hungary a functioning, livable and self-reliant country again,” he said.

Tisza gained 141 seats out of 199 in parliament, while Orbán’s euroskeptic Fidesz party now controls 52 seats, down from 135 before the election. The far-right Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) holds six seats.

Many of the nearly 3.4 million Hungarians that voted for Tisza expect Magyar to hold Fidesz officials and their business allies accountable for the perceived misconduct and corruption of the outgoing administration.

Magyar plans to form a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds misused during Orbán’s tenure. He has also said Hungary will join the European Public Prosecutor's Office, allowing EU officials to investigate fraud cases and the way money from the bloc was spent.

He’s also vowed to suspend the news services of Hungary’s public broadcaster — widely seen as a mouthpiece of Orbán’s party — until objectivity can be restored.

In his inauguration speech, Magyar again called on many of Orbán's appointees, who are in their roles for lengthy terms, to step down no later than May 31, including the president, the attorney general, the head of the media authority and the chief justice of the Constitutional Court.

Hungary's new government has 16 ministries, up from 12 under Orbán's last administration. Magyar has vowed to conduct a major overhaul of much of the governmental structure, and there are now separate ministries for health, environmental protection and education that did not exist under Orbán.

He's also said he will prioritize restoring democratic institutions and the rule of law which eroded under Orbán’s rule, and to hold accountable those who he says were responsible for overseeing and benefiting from widespread official corruption.

Magyar's administration is expected to transform political dynamics within the European Union, where the former prime minister had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, most recently concerning support for neighboring Ukraine.

As part of those efforts, Magyar's government has signaled it will prioritize the unblocking of about 17 billion euros ($20 billion) of EU funds frozen during Orbán’s time in office over rule-of-law and corruption concerns. The money is sorely needed to jump-start Hungary’s struggling economy, which has stagnated for the past four years.

In a video posted to Facebook on Monday, the new foreign minister, diplomat and foreign policy expert Anita Orbán, said her ministry’s primary task will be to “bring EU funds home,” and to “consolidate Hungary’s place in Europe and in the EU.”

Among other cabinet members who took office Tuesday were Minister of Economy and Energy István Kapitány, a former Shell executive, and Minister of Finance András Kármán, an economist and former executive at Erste Bank.

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McNeil reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Béla Szandelszky in Budapest contributed to this report.