Foreign Minister Anita Orbán announced on her Facebook page on Friday that He sends home 37 mission leaders. According to Telex’s information, the recalled heads of foreign missions include:
- Jenő Csiszár (Italy, Milan)
- Anna Zsófia Vitézy (Colombia, Bogota)
- Levente Gábor Szarka (Algeria, Algiers)
- Osama Ibrahim Naffa (Iraq, Baghdad)
- Ferenc Takács Szabolcs (Washington, USA)
- Ferenc Kumin (United Kingdom, London)
- Tamás Gábor Nagy (New Zealand, Wellington)
- Géza Fílöp Viktor (Republic of South Africa, Pretoria)
“Some of the changes are related to expiring mandates, and in other cases the personal decisions are justified by the goal of having Hungary’s interests represented by ambassadors who can credibly and efficiently represent and serve our country in line with the new foreign policy priorities,” wrote the foreign minister. According to Anita Orbán’s post, the goal of the personnel changes is professional renewal, while the goal of the ministry is to build a professional diplomatic faculty.
Zsófia Vitézy The cousin of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the daughter of his maternal aunt, was the press chief of the Ministry of Human Resources, headed the Budapest Festival Center, the Hungarian Institute in Brussels from 2013, and then became the ambassador to Colombia in 2022.
Jenő Csiszár presenter moved to Italy after 2001, he was consul general in Milan from autumn 2017, and in May 2019 he received the rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.
Gabor Magpie as chancellor, he directed the transformation of the University of Theater and Film (SZFE), and since 2023 he has been the Hungarian ambassador to Algeria.
Osama Naffa businessman of Jordanian origin, received Hungarian citizenship in 2014, headed the Hungarian embassy in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates between 2015 and 2023, last year he was appointed to head the Hungarian embassy in Iraq.
Ferenc Szabolcs Takács he was the Union State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office and then the Ministry of Justice, in 2018 he was appointed ministerial commissioner responsible for the Hungarian appearance of the 2020 Dubai World Expo. In 2019, he was appointed ministerial commissioner responsible for the coordination of the handling of the foreign policy and foreign economic effects of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) affecting Hungary. Since 2020, he has been Hungary’s ambassador to Washington.
Ferenc Kumin political scientist, marketing expert, publicist, diplomat, who headed the Strategy and Communication Department of the Office of the President of the Republic between 2006 and 2010, and was the deputy secretary of state responsible for international communications in the second Orbán government between 2012 and 2014. According to our information, he is leaving due to the end of his mandate.
Tamás Gábor Nagy Between 1998 and 2019 he was the Fidesz mayor of the 1st district of Budapest, from 2021 he first served as a consul in Lithuania, at the Embassy of Hungary in Vilnius, and then from 2025 he became the ambassador to New Zealand.
Géza Fílóp Viktor he got a job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by Péter Szijjártó, first he was a foreign trade attaché, and at the end of 2023 he became a consul in the office of the Hungarian Embassy in South Africa, Pretoria in Lusaka, Zambia. In May of this year, he received the rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and he also represented Hungary in several African countries.
Even after Anita Orbán’s announcement, we contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out which countries are affected by the recall of the heads of foreign missions, and when it is expected that the new appointees will take up their posts. In their response, they wrote that “The 37 countries concerned were selected according to a complex multi-factor criteria system, where, in addition to professional, human and political credibility criteria, other aspects, such as practical ones, such as functionality, were included”.
They wrote that they are trying to get the new names as soon as possible, since it is in Hungary’s interest to ensure the legal continuity of its representation.
“The new nominations will be made within a deadline, but in the meantime we will ensure the continuity of work at the stations. Three types of cases can be distinguished in relation to the heads of foreign missions called home. Some have reached the retirement age or their term of office has expired, some are replaced due to perceived shortcomings in their political or professional credibility, and some are recalled from the foreign service, but other they will remain Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials,” they wrote in their response.
In the April election, 149 foreign missions of 100 countries they could vote voters residing abroad with a Hungarian address, so there are at least as many embassies and consulates operating.
“We are opening a new era,” he commented on the recalls in his video László György Velkey. According to the parliamentary state secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the times when the most important positions in diplomacy were often given to “friends and cronies well-placed in the government” are over. Places not yet filled will be tendered. The processes are overseen by the newly appointed State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eszter Árvai, who also spoke about the tasks of the new Human Strategy and Training Deputy State Secretary in the video:
