Hungarian defense minister resigns

According to a statement by the Government Information Center, the national defense cabinet was in session on Monday and reviewed the status of the illegal immigrant situation. Following the meeting, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende handed in his resignation to the Prime Minister.

Members of the national defense cabinet listened to a report concerning progress on the construction of the temporary border security fence along Hungary’s southern border with Serbia.

Following the meeting, Minister of Defense Csaba Hende handed in his resignation to the Prime Minister, which Viktor Orbán duly accepted. The head of the government has asked István Simicskó to take over the duties of Minister of Defense.

That is the official communiqué but the news portal index.hu believes the reason behind the sudden resignation is that the prime minister is not satisfied with the technical support the army provided for building the fence along the Serbian border to keep illegal migrants.

According to the news portal, the resignation and the nomination of the current state secretary for sports affairs were so sudden and unexpected that István Simicskó could not be notified before the news agency came out with the news from the defense cabinet meeting.