Hungary to abolish county assemblies following parliamentary vote

The Hungarian Parliament has voted on several legislative changes, most notably the decision to abolish the current system of county assemblies. Péter Magyar stated that these assemblies have become “political pay-off points” used by failed opposition parties and that their dissolution could save tens of billions of forints annually to be redirected toward development projects.

In addition to the administrative restructuring, the Parliament approved changes regarding the use of terminology, reverting the names of counties and government commissioners. The legislature also voted to reduce the Prime Minister's gross monthly salary to 2.5 million forints in cases where the Prime Minister also serves as a Member of Parliament.

Furthermore, the Parliament elected the members and chairperson of the Independent Media Board, an entity designed to protect the independence of public media. The newly appointed members include Viktor Bálint, Miklós Hargitai, György Szabó, Judit Bayer, Árpád Kollár, and Miklós Sükösd.