Tamas Lanczi, who accepted to head Hungary's Sovereignty Protection Office, was interviewed on Hir TV about his upcoming job. The political scientist said that the first step is to establish the office. This will be a longer process as the institution has no predecessor. The new Sovereignty Protection Office is slated to be up and running by February 1.
Shortly after, in June, there will be two elections in the country, one for local governments and one for the European Parliament. One of the experiences of the national parliamentary elections in 2022, Lanczi said, was that there were attempts from abroad to influence the outcome of the process.
The first task of the office will be to ensure the transparency of this year's two elections.
The head of the new office also responded to questions about how the body will guarantee political bias-free and impartial operation.
I have heard concerns over this mainly from people who have been entangled in the so called Dollar Media and Dollar Left cases over the past year. So, I could also say that the people shouting, might be the ones with their house on fire,
Mr Lanczi said in the interview.
He also explained that the Sovereignty Protection Office is not an authority, as it does not conduct investigations nor issue sanctions. It examines and relies on the other state administrative bodies that have investigative and sanctioning powers. Basically, the office's role is to observe and monitor political and public life events, and if it sees that there is a risk of foreign influence, to report this to the relevant state body.
We will be working to raise their awareness, to develop a methodology for them to carry out their sovereignty protection tasks in addition to their other work,
he said.
