One year ago, on March 10, 2024, Tamas Sulyok took office as President of the Republic of Hungary, replacing Katalin Novak, who resigned due to a clemency case, the Hungarian Mandiner news portal recalled. Mr. Sulyok was appointed to the new public role from his position as president of the Constitutional Court, amid a highly sensitive political situation, the portal wrote, citing a summary published by Index.
Over the past year, he has demonstrated, among other things, that he has broken with the previous clemency practice, as he has not exercised his right to grant pardons at all during his tenure, delivering on his promise.
During his first year in office, Hungary's president attended four major international summits and held fourteen bilateral meetings with heads of state, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the leaders of neighboring countries such as Slovak President Peter Pellegrini and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
The Hungarian head of state also met with eight foreign house speakers in his first year, receiving, among others, the leaders of the legislatures of Mongolia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Slovakia and Georgia at the Sandor Palace. Since March last year, the president has traveled to Transylvania four times, visiting Kolozsvar/Cluj-Napoca, Deva, Temesvar/Timisoara and Sepsiszentgyorgy/Sfantu Gheorghe.
As commander-in-chief of the Hungarian armed forces, he closely monitored international developments, visited the Kossuth Barracks in Veszprem, and made twenty decisions regarding the appointment of generals and promotions.
He inspected the southern border barrier and visited four locations in the Danube Bend during the Danube floods to assess defense efforts.
Furthermore, as a lawyer, he attended some twenty-five face-to-face meetings and public events specifically related to law and the various legal professions.
The president's office also released a short video summarizing the first year of Tamas Sulyok's presidency.
