BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) 鈥� Hungary鈥檚 new Prime Minister P茅ter Magyar on Friday personally removed fencing around a historic building in the capital Budapest that served as the office of his autocratic predecessor
Magyar announced that the famous Karmelita, located at Budapest’s landmark Castle Hill, overlooking the Danube river, will be open for public until authorities decide on its future role.
The former Catholic monastery become a symbol of Orb谩n鈥檚 rule after he had it cordoned off in 2021.
鈥淭here is no place for cordons in Hungary after the change of regime,鈥� Magyar told reporters as he symbolically pushed open the fences. He said the institutions had been built 鈥渇rom the money of the Hungarian taxpayers and made so beautiful with those funds.鈥�
and his center-right Tisza party swept Orb谩n from power in an election in April, winning a two-thirds majority that gave him a clear mandate for major changes after his predecessor’s 16 years in power.
Magyar has vowed to restore democratic institutions and governmental checks and balances that were heavily eroded during Orb谩n鈥檚 rule, and to clamp down .
He has revealed the luxury renovations that former government members carried out on their offices. himself has said he would move his seat to the administrative part of the city on the other bank of the Danube.
The Karmelita building, he said, will now be accessible for an 鈥渆xtensive period.鈥� Already, a website has been set up where visitors can book a tour. Magyar said some buildings in the castle zone have been renovated while other are under construction.
The situation 鈥渋s likely to generate a number of new ideas,鈥� he added without elaborating.
The prime minister has promised to repair his country鈥檚 ties with its European Union partners and restore Hungary鈥檚 place among Western democracies.
Magyar plans to form a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds misused during Orb谩n鈥檚 tenure.
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