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In a social media post on Sunday, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar promised that at Monday's session of Parliament, he would introduce the proposal about the National Agency for the Recovery and Protection of State Assets (Nemzeti Vagyonvisszaszerzési és Védelmi Hivatal-NVVH) and “the amendment to the Fundamental Law that will put an end to the struggles of Orbán’s puppets,” i.e. the proposal that would remove President Tamás Sulyok and other high-ranking public officials from office. Setting up an independent state agency which will work to recover misused state assets was one of the key promises of the Tisza Party's election campaign and a subject the importance of which Péter Magyar has often spoken about since they won the April elections. As he began his pre-agenda address entitled "The Cleansing Fire" before Parliament, however, he started by speaking about the murders committed by the Italian mafia several decades ago and mentioned by name several Italian prosecutors and judges who had investigated cases involving the mafia who were subsequently murdered by the organization. He spoke about Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino who had investigated cases which covered all of Italy and said that their murders in the 1990s sparked such widespread public outrage that the Italian government introduced strict laws and established an anti-mafia agency. He then noted that just as the Italian mafia did, the Hungarian political mafia also had its own henchmen, oligarchs, and media outlets it operated through. “If we are to cut off the mafia’s tentacles, we must act as decisively and strictly as possible in all areas,” the Prime Minister said. Magyar noted that the big difference between Hungary and Italy is that “We will not allow Hungarians to go through the same turmoil as Italian society did back then. We will free the Hungarian people from the political and economic mafia,” Magyar said, which was met with thunderous applause from the Tisza faction. In his view, April 12 was a historic day, but June 22 will be just as historic. “Mark my words: today we are launching Operation Cleansing Fire,” Magyar said. The PM explained that Operation Cleansing Fire will be a comprehensive political and legal effort aimed at freeing Hungary from the grip of corruption and the mafia that has spread its tentacles to all parts of the country. One of the most important elements of this will be the National Agency for the Recovery and Protection of State Assets, whose establishment will require the amendment of 47 laws. According to Magyar, this is an extremely difficult task, because the targets of the new agency—the criminals—are tenacious, persistent, and potentially violent. It took decades to build up the mafia, but “Today we’re setting out on this path and we will begin to defeat the Hungarian Cosa Nostra. We will proceed step by step, brick by brick, criminal by criminal.” Magyar noted that during the forty days they have been in government they have gained insight into the workings of the state in the period behind. According to him, they keep finding more and more billion-forint contracts, concessions, and overpriced contracts all the time. He then specifically addressed the leader of Fidesz’s parliamentary group, Gergely Gulyás and listed at length a series of bizarre and overpriced projects, each stranger than the last: the canopy walkway without any trees around it, the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, the football stadium in Kisvárda, and the rowing center planned for the shores of Lake Velence, which is drying up. “Why is there a need for Operation Cleansing Fire?” Magyar posed the question, then answered it himself. “Because the mafia ensures that its own trusted and/or easily blackmailed people are positioned at the most critical checkpoints. As long as these checkpoints are held captive, Hungary remains captive as well.” He explained that it is no coincidence that the proposal to establish an agency for the recovery of assets and the amendment to the Fundamental Law are being submitted together, because, according to Magyar, there is no point in talking about asset recovery if the puppets who failed to prevent the theft for years still remain in their positions. He announced that as part of Operation Cleansing Fire, they would initiate the termination of President Sulyok’s mandate through an amendment to the Fundamental Law. Starting in September, they would launch a comprehensive process of constitutional reform in which they would involve the entire Hungarian public, and at the end of the process, the Hungarian people would be the ones to ratify the constitution through a referendum. In addition to dismantling the political and business mafia, the goal of Operation Cleansing Fire is to ensure that such a system can never be established again in the future. For this reason, in the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law, they are also proposing to limit the term of office for members of the National Assembly to 12 years. Magyar announced that the president of the Constitutional Court will be elected by the constitutional judges from among themselves, and the 70-year age limit for constitutional judges will be reinstated. The mandate of constitutional judges over the age of 70—including that of Chief Public Prosecutor Péter Polt—will be terminated, as will their immunity. Judicial self-governance will be strengthened, and the rules governing the election and recalling of the heads of the Supreme Court and the National Judicial Office will be changed. They will propose that judges elect the president of the Supreme Court and the National Judicial Office from among their own ranks. The President of the Republic would then need to appoint the president of the aforementioned offices from among the three candidates who received the most votes. “Not only do we have the authority to do this, dear representatives of the opposition, but we have been given the mandate to do exactly this by many, many millions of Hungarians,” declared Péter Magyar. The Prime Minister pointed out that there is an entire network of lawyers, accountants, financial experts, political enforcers, puppets, and janissaries behind the plundering of the Hungarian state. Hence, the country’s best professionals are needed in the new office to dismantle the mafia. He added that from now on, Hungarian prosecutors and police officers will be free to carry out their work in accordance with their oaths, and they are expected to work more rigorously and precisely than ever before. Referring back to the Italian example, Magyar noted that in order to dismantle the mafia, it is not enough for the fight against them to be led by committed individuals. As he sees it, the mafia can only be defeated if the entire society stands behind those who have taken up the fight against it. Magyar called on the public to stand behind the appointed leaders of the National Agency for the Protection and Recovery of State Assets. He named Fidesz MPs János Lázár, Péter Szijjártó, and János Pócs specifically before saying that “Anyone who has acquired wealth from public assets should get their paperwork in order and start coming up with explanations.” PM Magyar believes that the only viable path for the country is if the whole nation stands up against the criminals who were previously leading it. The Prime Minister warned everyone: the struggle will be long, and in order to ensure genuine investigations, justice, strong institutions, and dedicated professionals, we will need patience, consistency, and the support of the whole society. He said that the government will provide all necessary budgetary and legal resources, but the new office will be completely independent of the government and will be established by Parliament. The Prime Minister asked the Hungarian people to participate in the process that will precede the submission of the bill. “Don’t ever think, even for a moment, that you don’t understand this or that it’s not up to you,” Magyar said, adding that the draft bill will be posted on the government’s website today, where anyone will be able to comment on them. Finally, he pointed out that corruption has amounted to between 8–10 percent of Hungary's GDP, which the previous regime took away from the Hungarian people, and said this was the reason why the public should also play a role in this process. “My fellow countrymen, let the Cleansing Fire begin! Long live the homeland!” Magyar concluded his speech. The Tisza faction gave the Prime Minister a standing ovation. First to respond to Péter Magyar’s remarks from the ranks of the opposition was Gergely Gulyás, the leader of the Fidesz faction. He sees the 16 years his party spent governing quite differently than the Tisza Party: “This period was the most successful time in the last hundred years of Hungary’s history,” Gulyás said, The Fidesz parliamentary group leader also said that comparing the former ruling parties to the Italian mafia is destructive and undermines meaningful political dialogue. He found it incomprehensible that the Prime Minister would compare the government which Hungarians elected four times to an organization responsible for mass murder. “You are not fighting the mafia; you are building a dictatorship,” Gulyás argued, adding that there are several Tisza politicians too, whom he has met in various places over the past few years who would do well to engage in some self-reflection. He advised Magyar to reconsider whether he had set out in the right direction, because, in his view, the style employed so far and the planned legislative changes are not going to move the country forward. 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