Steven N.(UPDATED – see below)
Just a few days after announcing her resignation in protest over Viktor Orbán’s “pure Nazi” speech, advisor Zsuzsa Hegedüs indicated that her resignation had “become unnecessary” after the Prime Minister’s comments in Vienna yesterday, several Hungarian media outlets are reporting.
The Prime Minister’s commissioner for social mobility expressed this in a letter to the Fidesz leader, in which Hegedüs wrote that Orbán’s statement in Vienna had convinced her that he had “publicly distanced himself” from “incriminating phrases” in the speech delivered on Saturday at the annual Tusványos summer gathering.
Because of our 20 years of acquaintance and friendship, I also know what this public correction has cost you, so I appreciate you now taking this step even more than the topic itself would justify. So much so that my first reaction was that with this public statement, my resignation has become unnecessary But even more importantly, after some thought, I still think so a few hours later – I consider it unnecessary.
-the advisor wrote in her letter.
So, just as before 2010 and of course after that, regardless of whether I am officially your chief advisor or not, you can count on my help in the future, as you have in the past 20 years.
-Hegedüs closed her letter to Viktor Orbán.
Speaking on ATV‘s “Egyenes Beszéd” (“Straight Talk”) on Thursday night, Hegedüs said she was “proud of what Orbán said in Vienna.” It appeared that the Prime Minister had backtracked, she said, adding that it is rare for a leader in an international venue to correct his views, which in this case had caused quite a “fuss.” [444]
UPDATE (17:30 CEST): Hegedüs has informed Telex that despite her letter to Viktor Orbán on Friday, she will still resign her advisory position. “The letter does not mean that I am rescinding my resignation,” she told the news outlet.
A political water-entree, sure to raise a loud laughing applause!
What a farce this government is.
And there i was, for a few moments at least, beginning to have a tiny bit of respect for Hegedus.
Clearly that was misplaced! Cowards to the last man/woman of them. I wonder what “persuasion” Orban used to get her on board again?
A very strange “advisor”. Clearly, my hope of “better late than never” was misplaced. Like the condemned in the Stalinist “trials”, the accused-even on their way to their deaths- still embraced Stalin; in this case, Orban on her way out of being an “advisor”. Still, the appointment of new US Ambassador is at least some good news.
I read a lot of YouTube postings from Hungarians living in Hungary. One such posting said that Zsuzsa Hegedus oversaw a children’s social program, and that she could not account for how the money has been spent on this program. So she was in hot water and used Orbán’s speech as an excuse to resign. Funny how everything eventually comes out at the end.