Little is known internationally regarding Hungary’s new president, Tamás Sulyok. But it’s worth taking a look at the newly elected man, who is a great friend of Germany.
Katalin Novák resigned as President of Hungary in mid-February, and the formal acceptance of this resignation by the Hungarian National Assembly took place on February 26, 2024. The parliament had to deal with a mammoth program, not only was Sweden’s NATO membership ratified on the same day, but also the lawyer and former President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, Dr. Tamás Sulyok, appointed new president. 134 MPs out of 199 voted for Sulyok, meaning he achieved the required two-thirds majority in the first round of voting. It is worth noting that Sulyok never saw himself as a political actor, but primarily as a lawyer and guardian of the law. He is considered a strict advocate of non-partisanship and the duty of neutrality of state organs.
Primarily a lawyer
Tamás Sulyok was born on March 24, 1956 in the southern Hungarian town of Kiskunfélegyháza in Bács-Kiskun County into a family of lawyers. After passing the state law examination in 1980, he initially worked as a legal advisor and then as a lawyer from 1991. In 2000 he was appointed honorary consul of the Republic of Austria in the southern Hungarian city of Szeged and has been lecturing in constitutional law at the university there since 2005.
After his election as a constitutional judge in September 2014, he quickly rose up the career ladder. In March 2015 he was appointed Deputy President of the Constitutional Court before being elected President of the Constitutional Court by Parliament in November 2016, at that time also with opposition votes. His time as President of the Constitutional Court is considered by experts to be a time of solid decisions, completely free of political ambitions. Sulyok repeatedly stated publicly that he was primarily a lawyer, that he thought in legal terms and that he had no use for political attacks; he was never interested in politics.
Experiences with communism
Tamás Sulyok’s family encountered the communist exercise of power up close. After 1945, his father had to take a break from practicing law for a decade because a former opponent of the case from the 1930s now held a high position with the communists and thus took revenge on the lawyer. Incidentally, Sulyok wrote his doctoral thesis in 2013 on the subject of “The Constitutional Status of Lawyers” – probably also a homage to his father’s fate and a quintessence from his own family history.
But in the 1980s he also experienced firsthand how much communism and its ideology took control of the legal system and society. After the second state law examination, his county court president suggested that he join the country’s communist party, otherwise he would not be able to become a criminal judge. His astonishing and laconic answer that he didn’t want to be a criminal judge earned him a transfer to the neighboring county and, with it, years of commuting between his place of work and his place of residence.
But his time in the country sensitized him to the concerns and reality of life of the rural population. She thinks differently regarding the challenges of life. “This includes the belief: What I sow today, I will reap tomorrow,” says Sulyok.
A good friend of Germany
Sulyok, who has now been newly elected to office, not only speaks and writes excellent German, but is also considered a great friend of Germany. He repeatedly used his time as honorary consul and as President of the Constitutional Court to further expand the close ties between Hungary and the German-speaking countries and to deepen the network of relationships.
Throughout his entire life, the cultural, historical and, above all, legal connections to Germany were always very important to him. With the Konrad Adenauer Foundation he developed a scholarship program for young Hungarian lawyers, within which legal internships might be completed at important German legal institutions. This initiative also strengthened the bilateral fabric between Hungary and its partners, which is necessary to talk to each other instead of just regarding each other.
In legal circles, Sulyok is considered a personality who is unparalleled in stature, solidity and integrity. For this reason, his election as the new head of state can also be seen as a sign of the lived, well-founded and solid rule of law in the country. A man of justice and balance is certainly not a bad choice in these turbulent times.
Messages from the new head of state
In his inaugural speech to the plenary session of the Hungarian National Assembly immediately following his election, Sulyok stated – probably as a reference to the background to his predecessor’s resignation – that he would exercise full transparency in matters of the right to pardon. He also declared that he would strive for a Europe whose institutions primarily focus on legal and not political work.
He expressed his belief that there are no European values that are separate from the member states and that the concept of sovereignty is indivisible. This means that the member states of the European Union might not transfer sovereign rights, but only responsibilities. However, they do not do this as an end in itself, but because the joint exercise of responsibilities is more efficient.
With regard to a discussed political community in Europe, he emphasized that there is no uniform European political nation, but only the respective political nations of the member states, which are to be interpreted as state-forming factors. Because of this fact, the European Union is not a state at all, said Sulyok in his first speech.
Conclusion
Political analysts interpret the quick, quiet and, above all, successful election of Tamás Sulyok as a sign that the crisis has calmed down and as an expression of the internal unity of the governing parties. The fact that the opposition was unable to agree on a common opponent or on the election of Sulyok makes them appear in a bad light. On the eve of the presidential election, the opposition called for a demonstration for a direct election of the head of state, but only a few followed. The green opposition party LMP did not even take part. Some observers also point out that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán responded quickly and confidently to a completely unexpected crisis and was able to make a virtue out of necessity. His position appears to have been strengthened by the election of an unimpeachable lawyer as president. It has been shown once more: crisis management is usually more important than the crisis itself.
The author is director of the German-Hungarian Institute for European Cooperation at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium and co-editor of the Hungarian Conservative magazine. He writes regularly for German media and recently published his book “Hungary is different”. The original text first appeared on Tichys Insight on March 2nd. It has been slightly revised for this release.
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