Hungary – As reported by the opposition sites Index.hu and 24.hu on 9 November, Hungary’s Technology and Industry Minister László Palkovics has handed in his resignation to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán following the latter’s decision to create a Ministry of Energy as proposed by Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy. Until now, energy has been a responsibility of the Ministry of Technology and Industry.
This information was confirmed on Monday by the Director of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás, at a press conference where he announced that the Ministry of Technology and Industry would cease to exist, that its competencies would be divided between the Ministry of Economic Development and other ministries, and that a Ministry of Energy would be created on 1 December so as to pursue a unified management of Hungarian energy policy.
The new Ministry of Energy will be headed by economist Csaba Lantos, a former deputy managing director of the OTP bank, and later the chairman of MET Holding AG – a European energy group based in Switzerland – as well as a board member at the Hungarian pharmaceutical company Gedeon Richter Nyrt.
It should be noted, however, that the management of the Paks nuclear power plant’s expansion will now fall under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, headed by Péter Szijjártó. Finally, the State Secretariat for Transport, headed by Dávid Vitézy and attached to the Ministry of Technology and Industry, will also be abolished.
