Exclusive interview with Dr. Tamás Sulyok, President of Hungary, for Tények

- Mr. President, thank you for receiving us. On behalf of TV2, we consider it a great honour that you are giving your first major television interview to us.
Thank you for having me on your show, and a warm welcome to our viewers.

- Our interview is taking place in Sándor Palace, which I must confess I have never been to before and I imagine that many of our viewers have only seen this wonderful place through media reports. Do you like it? Do you enjoy working here?
I really like working here, yes. Day by day, these historical walls confront me with our identity, or what makes us Hungarian, and that is a profound source of joy for me.

- This room is the centre of your office. Do you have any favourite places or special corners here where you like to retreat or where you simply enjoy spending time when there is no work to be done?
Well, I cannot really comment on that second phrase, because there is always work to be done here. Of course, there are wonderful places in this palace, the Salon Maria Theresa, the Blue Salon, I admire every room, I take delight in the Hall of Mirrors every time I enter. I cannot get used to it. I am a simple person, I find it hard to get used to this, but I cannot stop admiring this beautiful environment.

- Let's have a little insight into your daily life, what are the usual rituals to start the day and then how do you go through a day of work?
To a certain extent, the situation of the President of Hungary is peculiar, because the President has to perform different activities almost every day. It is not like an office where you just keep on doing the same tasks day by day. When I arrive in the morning, I always go to my room, I check the press, the news, I check the issues that I have to deal with that day, and then I get down to work. We lean in, and of course, I have regular meetings with my colleagues, depending on the kind of work that needs to be done. When we receive visitors, we are busy welcoming them and hosting them. If I have to go somewhere, we are busy with that. All these tasks are very nice and uplifting.

- I have heard from one of your colleagues that you enjoy spending time with them, such as having lunch together when there is not a protocol event scheduled.
Of course. I take every opportunity to talk to my colleagues. On the one hand, it is important for the flow of information, and on the other hand, I am interested in people. I have always been interested in them, and my colleagues are good people, I'm interested in their everyday problems, too, to see if I can help them, give them some advice, or if they can give me some.

- Well, let us rewind time a little bit. Not very long back, since it is barely half a year since you took up this post. You probably remember the moment you got the phone call letting you know that you are considered for this nomination. Do you remember where you were, what you were doing, what you were wearing, who you were with, how you hung up the phone, what feelings you had?
I was not the one who received the phone call, instead, it came through my chief of staff. I was having lunch with a guest at the Constitutional Court and I was not wearing this suit, but I was wearing something similar, yes. I cannot say that I was not taken by surprise.

- How did it feel? Because when you hear it for the first time, well, not many people in the country know what that feels like.
Well, yes, probably not many people. It is a very good feeling on the one hand, of course, because you feel honoured. That is one side of the coin, and the other side of the coin is that you have to start all over again with lots of things that I had learned at the Constitutional Court and have been able to do with some routine. I worked ten years as a constitutional judge, and there is now much new to learn compared to before, but I have always enjoyed learning new skills, and I continue to feel a great sense of anticipation.

- You obviously called your family, perhaps your wife, first with this news. What did the First Lady say?
The First Lady asked for a minute’s patience, hung up the phone and called me back, and said she would support me in everything.

- So this is how you got your family’s endorsement for this nomination?
Yes.

- You were elected to be the President of Hungary in an unusual situation. How were the first weeks and months? What was unexpected for you, or what did you specifically decide to do that you also did that way?
In fact, I came to realise on day one that it was necessary for me to know what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it, and I have had to maintain that state of mind since. The nomination itself was unexpected, but since then I have striven deliberately to eliminate this unexpected feature of things. Of course, you can never entirely eliminate the unexpected. Certain things are always unexpected, such as attacks. I mean, the political attacks against me have retained this feature. I put it down to the election campaign, which was, in tone, rather harsh and rather lacking in elegance. I believe that these political attacks could have been made against me as President of the Constitutional Court, but for some reason they were not. Well, they have now caught up with me. What shook me personally was the mean attack on my father. While it did shade my perception of him, it did not alter it at all.
In fact, if you look at my activities from a political point of view, you find that my taking office was in a sense associated with the power to grant clemency. Regarding this presidential power, I had to make up my mind about how I wanted to use it. I consider this as an additional and exceptional power that the President of Hungary has, and certainly not one in which the question of guilt can be opened up. I firmly believe that this power must be interpreted in close accordance with the principle of the separation of powers, and that means that, under the power of clemency, there is absolutely no possibility of reviewing a final judgment delivered by a court. I thought it was certainly important to articulate this very clearly for myself.

- After your inauguration, one of your first high-profile trips abroad was to the Vatican, to meet with Pope Francis. Why was it important to pay one of your first visits there?
The successor of the Papal States is the Vatican and the Holy Father. I believe that the Holy Father embodies the unity and cohesion of Europe. Moreover, the Pope symbolises this in an eternal historical continuity. For me, the Papal States and the Vatican have always been a symbol of this, because I think Europe’s cultural unity is a very important aspect, which, historically speaking, is based on the unity of religion. That was the reason behind my decision. Secondly, Pope Francis is an extraordinary person. To meet him, I think, is a tremendous opportunity for people, to talk to him personally is again something that everyone would like to put on their bucket-list, I suppose, and few people get the chance to have 20 minutes of a personal conversation with the Pope. In addition, the Pope loves Hungarians. In Argentina, he spent some time with Hungarian nuns who had fled communism. The Holy Father knows a few words of Hungarian, and he even greeted me in Hungarian. He has a great joke that he often tells, asking his conversation partner if they knew what language was spoken in the afterlife. If somebody does not give the right answer, i.e. says something like Latin or Italian, the Holy Father says no, because it is Hungarian, because learning Hungarian takes an eternity. It is indeed an extraordinary opportunity to meet and talk to the Holy Father.

- Then, very importantly, you also attended the opening ceremony of the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union in Brussels. This is now a very topical issue. How do you see Hungary's position in the EU and in the world in general?
It was a wonderful experience. It was also a wonderful experience to open the Hungarian House with the Prime Minister. In Brussels, in the middle of the government quarter, right opposite the Belgian Prime Minister's Palace. I believe that the Hungarian House is a place we have absolutely no reason to be ashamed of – none at all. The cultural significance of this building and its rooms is a celebration of Hungarian identity. Its primary purpose is to showcase our thousand-year-old culture and affirm our place in Europe, making Europeans aware of our rich heritage. Of course, there are disputes in the European Union. The fundamental debate is whether the Union has sovereignty on its own, or whether only the Member States have sovereignty. As a constitutional lawyer myself, I have always taken the view, and the majority view among constitutional lawyers is the same, i.e. that the European Union is a union based on the constitutions of its Member States. What the Member States transfer is not their sovereignty, as sovereignty cannot be transferred. 

- Do you think that the current presidency opens up special opportunities for Hungary?
Of course. I believe that the rotating presidency of the European Council, can highlight certain issues by focusing attention on them. The issue of competitiveness, chosen by the Hungarian Presidency, is extremely important. Furthermore, the Hungarian presidency aims to address competitiveness across all policies and enforce the requirement to enhance competitiveness in each policy area. Of course, the focus on illegal migration is also very important, as well as the focus on farmer-centred agriculture. I believe these highlights carry very important messages for other Member States as well. Therefore, I am optimistic about the presidency.

- As the President, you are also the Commander-in-Chief of the military. Obviously, in peacetime, say two years ago, this task was not in the public eye to the same extent. Now, however, with a war in our neighbourhood, what burden does this place on you, whether mental or administrative?
I can approach everything from a personal perspective. I achieved the rank of lieutenant in the Hungarian People's Army. I served 18 months there. I have experience. It is well-known in my generation that university enlistees were not treated gently in the Hungarian People's Army. I have direct knowledge of military life. Time, - I was first drafted fifty years ago, on September 1 - time naturally makes things look better. Nevertheless, what I have learned now as Commander-in-Chief, from the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, or from the heads of our military security services, or from the materials available to me, presents a different dimension than understanding the operation of the Hungarian People's Army as a soldier. I can say that fundamentally, everything is in order, and there is no need to worry. Naturally, the details cannot be discussed.
Regarding the rank of Commander-in-Chief, this is not a rank. It is part of the constitutional status of the President. In Hungarian, this means that the direction of the Defence Forces, not the command, but the direction, is provided jointly by the Parliament, the Government, and the President, and this is a constitutional guarantee. This also means that the President cannot give orders, thus the President is not part of the military organization. The President has certain functions in the direction of the military, for example, they appoint the Chief of Staff, generals, and approve the defence plan, but they do not have any other concrete, commanding functions. I am actually glad about this.

-This is not related to the war, but it is evident that the level of violence is increasing worldwide. There is tremendous migration pressure, and a new trend appears to be emerging, for which we must now prepare: attacks on leading politicians. Recently, Robert Fico and Donald Trump have survived such attacks. What is your opinion on this?
I am horrified because seeing that violence is gaining more ground worldwide and becoming more widespread, and seeing specific assassination attempts on heads of state and government, often with their survival being a matter of luck, is terrible. The spread of terrorism is also dreadful. In every respect, I am a proponent of peace. A lawyer cannot be otherwise because law cannot effectively function in war; it can only function very limitedly. I see this as part of a situation where we are witnessing wars, we are witnessing local wars in more and more places, and people are becoming accustomed to the daily reality of human death. It is not something we should allow ourselves to become accustomed to. This is against human nature, for us to get used to this, and I urge everyone to never become accustomed to it, not even by accident, despite the media featuring this daily. We must fight to the utmost to prevent this from happening. Personally, I am very glad to see that President Trump and Prime Minister Fico are recovering well, and I wish them both a continued and speedy recovery.

- In one of your most important speeches, you outlined your creed. You said that those struggling due to circumstances beyond their control, unable to care for themselves, suffering, elderly, sick, and lonely people can always count on your attention. What will this mean in the coming years?
The President has powers defined by law and the constitution. Besides these powers, the President can focus on certain overarching societal problems. My focus is on communities, and the lack thereof, considering how harmful it is that in the 21st century, people are becoming atomized and increasingly shifting away from their communities, with extended families disintegrating. This has many social causes and cannot be fully restored, I believe, due to work opportunities and many other influences. Yet building communities and strengthening their power to retain and protect, to allow us to live in balanced relationships within families, within circles of friends, whether young or old, I think, raises a series of complex societal issues, and I want to focus intensely on these. In the future, I believe there will be visible signs of these efforts.

- Mr. President, as we near the end, let me touch on a more personal note. I checked this morning, and your Facebook page now has 18,000 followers, which is a very nice number considering when it started. It has official and personal content. From the personal content, I see you enjoy cooking, love your family, and you had a very nice post about the grandchildren's favourites, tasty titbits marinated by grandpa, a pinch of salt, and the secret ingredient, love. What do you enjoy doing when you are not the President, but a husband, father, and grandfather?
I don't have a specific hobby. I love hiking, cycling, mountain biking, though people find it odd that I prefer biking uphill rather than downhill, perhaps due to a bit of vertigo that comes with age. I love these activities. I greatly enjoy being with my family. I love cooking, which I often do with my wife.

- Do you cook well?
I cook well, but there are certain roles in the family that are predetermined, and there is no need to fight against them. My wife cooks excellently. So, I assist her, but there are dishes - like yeast dough - that she doesn't like making, while I enjoy it very much, although sometimes I make Golden dumplings in a way my wife finds strange, which makes my family smile. I also use more utensils than necessary, but that is just how things go. For example, my children loved it when I cooked kale cassarole all by myself. Besides that, I help my wife with peeling vegetables, giving advice, and other tasks.

- Is being a grandfather a significant role in your life?
I believe it is entirely different from being a parent. Being a grandfather is a wonderful feeling because it is only about love and there is no responsibility involved. You can love your grandchildren unconditionally. At the same time, the interaction is very good; that is how I see it. Grandchildren accept many things from grandparents that they would not from their parents. I experienced this with my own children too. It is a special relationship, and I am very grateful that I have been given this privilege.

- Mr. President, thank you very much for the conversation.
Thank you very much.