MoD Officeholders Are Sworn In

Friday morning the officeholders of the Ministry of Defence took their oath in the building of Parliament. Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende, MoD Parliamentary State Secretary Dr. István Simicskó, MoD Administrative State Secretary Gen. (Ret.) Lajos Fodor, Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő, Chief, MoD Defence Staff, Dr. Levente András Gál, Administrative State Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice and Zsolt Csampa, Vice-Chairman of the National Assembly Defence and Law Enforcement Committee attended the event.

After the historical flags were brought in at the beginning of the ceremony, the attendants jointly sang the national anthem. Afterwards MoD Chief of Staff Dr. Gábor Szarka recited the oath for the MoD officeholders who were sworn in at the event. In what followed, Dr. Csaba Hende addressed the audience on the ceremonial occasion.

“There is more to the homeland than lands and hills, dead heroes, mother tongue, the forebears’ bones in the cemetery, bread and landscape. The homeland is you, your soul and body. It gave you birth and will cover you one day, you are living and expressing it in all those wretched, magnificent, superb and boring moments that make up the totality of your life. Your life is a moment in the life of the homeland too", this was how the Defence Minister started his speech, quoting Sándor Márai. Dr. Csaba Hende stressed that those present were standing in front of the Sacred Crown that accompanied the history of the Hungarian nation in the last 1,000 years.

“The Crown has witnessed many remarkable moments in the life of the nation, including glory and fall, destruction and construction. It has seen heroes and traitors, statesmen and bunglers. It has seen people doing their duty and others who missed out on the most important moments in their lives and the life of the nation. Now, dear friends, it is our turn. We have been given the task and the opportunity to serve the country and the nation", Dr. Csaba Hende said.

The Defence Minister pointed out that the officeholders have a serious and respected position which offers noble assignments and good salary, so they must do their job conscientiously, readily and precisely.

“Like in every other workplace, the ones who feel well here are those who do not try to find excuses for not carrying out their tasks but rather those who are doing their job delivering a 110 per cent performance. And we generally like to do those jobs we are good at doing.", Csaba Hende said, stressing that to be an officeholder in the Ministry of Defence is a serious vocation that involves huge responsibility because the work being done here is a service in the interest of the nation, the Hungarian Defence Forces and their servicemembers.

“It is up to us what we can accomplish from among the objectives of national defence. It is up to us that we do all what we can. Let everybody make his own contribution to this aim", the Minister addressed the sworn-in officeholders, adding that no one of those present has been chosen for his or her position by chance, as everybody has proven their knowledge and skills over the last six months.

“People take oaths very rarely, and this act is permissible only if deep in our hearts we are committed to keep to our oath and are willing to do our best to achieve this. There is no one more pathetic than a man who breaks his oath.", Hende Csaba said, pointing out that everybody can make mistakes or be mistaken, and it may even happen that someone cannot live up to his task. Those breaking their oaths, however, are people who fail in their humanity.
Finally the Minister asked the members of the audience to do their job with humility and commitment, faith and morals fitting the nobleness of the cause, but above all with unconditional patriotism in the coming years as well. “Let us never forget that we are doing everything for the homeland", Csaba Hende said. “Dear friends, let us be guided by God’s blessing on our way", this was how the Minister finished his speech.

The swearing-in ceremony finished with the sounds of the Szózat (second national anthem).