Socialist leaders criticised for boycotting presidential inauguration
May 18th, 2012A leading left-wing commentator praises President János Áder’s inauguration address and scolds leading MSZP (Socialist Party) officials who collectively refused to attend the ceremony.
In 168 óra, founding editor-in-chief Ákos Mester put forward by the absentees, who argued that they had not received a written invitation to the inauguration ceremony on 10th May.
The left-wing commentator believes the new President, despite his status as a longtime ally of PM Viktor Orbán, sent a warning signal to the Premier when he cautioned against haughtiness and advocated humility in his inaugural address. Mester also appreciates Áder’s words about a “Western-style civic modernisation of Hungarian society,” and the need for a “new Hungarian compromise.” He goes so far as to assert that no “more important or benevolent programme would be imaginable from any new head of state,” in a deeply divided country like Hungary today.
Mester does not exclude the possibility that in practice, Áder will behave differently, but he believes that “there are occasions where one must not be absent and there are handshakes that should not be missed.”