dismissal

April 10, 2024 – 07:44

“Now I see the attention of today’s hon. Here is the answer: Why should the government trust a man who wants to overthrow it?!”

– this is what Tamás Menczer, Fidesz’s communications director, wrote to Péter Magyar on Facebook after Magyar urged him to respond to his post in a comment under one of his posts related to his ex-husband Judit Varga. Abban Magyar wrote that one of the speakers of their Saturday protest, Zoltán Tarr, was fired from his job with immediate effect on Monday due to his participation.

The former synod councilor spoke at the Saturday demonstration organized by Magyar, and said about the pardon case: what Zoltán Balog did was unacceptable, as well as the way he has been behaving since the case broke out.

Péter Magyar wrote that Tarr was a probationary employee at a state-owned technology company, so they cannot raise legal concerns. “But it violates serious moral principles and is against the constitution if someone is put on the street for his opinion and for assuming it,” he wrote. According to him, the Reformed minister’s only “sin” was that he spoke at the Saturday demonstration and spoke out against Zoltán Balog.

In the post, Péter Magyar also announced that he would invite Zoltán Tarr to be his candidate for the European Parliament. In an interview with Válasz Online on Monday, the Reformed pastor talked about the fact that he gave the association he founded to Péter Magyar for free. He said that he did not contact Péter Magyar, a mutual acquaintance brought them together, but the common point was the clemency case. “We had already decided to terminate it when it became clear that Péter Magyar needed an association. The name was also very good: Be the change! We decided that since we don’t have a plan with him anyway, we’ll hand it over to him,” said Zoltán Tarr, who was also contacted by Telex on Tuesday, but could not be reached.

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“I did professional work in a professional workplace, but it seems that it is unthinkable for someone to work for the state if he does not agree with the government,” Zoltán Tarr, a Reformed pastor who was fired from his state workplace after he spoke at Péter Magyar’s demonstration on Saturday, told Telex , on Kossuth square.

Zoltán Tarr, former synod councilor, who is also one of the founders of Péter Magyar’s association announced on Saturday, worked at Neumann János Nonprofit Kft., a background institution of the Ministry of National Economy, until Monday. He still had a week left of his probationary period when he was informed that it would not be finalized your contract. Zoltán Tarr dealt with digitalization technology topics at the company, his task was to research direct EU sources and prepare professional background materials. He said that there was no element of trust in his work, that together with his colleagues he prepared professional materials that were also used for the texts of Minister of Economic Development Márton Nagy.

The situation may be spicy, but working for the state does not mean that one cannot have a different opinion than the current government

Tarr said when asked if he did not consider the work at the company to be incompatible with the speech at Kossuth Square. According to him, it would be incompatible if he had talked about any secret government plan or strategy that he had come to know about. “There was no problem with me or my work,” said Zoltán Tarr, who claims that he was painstakingly careful not to mention his workplace or professional work in any of his speeches.

The Reformed pastor says that he has been involved in research development and digitalization for a long time, participated in the development of smart city strategies, and worked at Invitech until 2019. When he criticized Zoltán Balog after the pardon case broke out, and gave an interview to the Reviewthen “informally warned”.

I do not rule out that Zoltán Balog was involved

Tarr said about his dismissal, adding that he considers it his mission to resolve the Balog case in the Reformed Church, saying “it is such a deep condition that needs to be addressed.”

He spoke in detail about the fact that he had not met Zoltán Balog personally since the pardon case broke out, although he asked him for an appointment, but he did not receive an answer to his request.

“When I wrote my first letter, I was already aware that an atrocity could happen, but the case of mercy and its handling within the Reformed Church made me realize that I could not remain silent, I felt that I had to speak up within the church. Zoltán Balog let the President of the Republic and the former Minister of Justice fail, made stilted statements, and is painfully careful not to meet with the church at a decisive meeting. It is completely irrational that he is still in his post, Zoltán Balog should resign from all his posts,” he said.

Although Katalin Novák did not publicly share details of the pardon decision that led to her resignation, Direkt36 and Telex were previously told by several independent sources close to the government and the head of state’s office that Zoltán Balog, the Hungarian Reformed, played an important role in the pardon case. Church leader, former minister, Novák’s advisor and old mentor, we wrote about the details here.

Zoltán Tarr also responded to Tamás Menczer’s claims. Fidesz’s communications director a He wrote on Facebook To Péter Magyar regarding Tarr’s dismissal: “Why should the government trust a person who wants to overthrow him?!”

“Every word of Tamás Menczer’s statement is against democracy, democratic principles, and it is a false statement,” Tarr told Telex.

Exchange of messages between Péter Magyar and Tamás Menczer on Facebook

According to Zoltán Tarr, the post is an admission that anyone who disagrees with the largest government party should leave his job.

In addition, the justification for overthrowing the government is also a lie, because I spoke only about the Balog case and I was informally warned long before my speech, after the publication of the interview given to Szemlélek. It seems that Bishop Balog intervenes as Caesar, sometimes for mercy, sometimes for execution

said Tarr, who also told 444 that is considering an employment lawsuit. As he told Telex, “in addition to many sympathetic and kind inquiries and encouragement, several lawyers offered to help” him, but he had not yet thought about how much compensation he would seek, if at all.

In the post announcing his dismissal, Péter Magyar also announced that he would invite Zoltán Tarr to be his candidate for the European Parliament. The pastor was surprised that his name came up, but said it could be a relevant option. “I’m in the movement, I think it’s important, I want to help turn the accumulated negative energy into a positive direction, the Hungarian Reformed Church cannot renew itself without it,” said Zoltán Tarr about his relationship with Péter Magyar and the Talpra Hungarian Community.

At the beginning of April, Péter Magyar spoke for the first time about preparing for the summer EP and 2026 parliamentary elections with a party, an association and a movement operating as an umbrella organization. It is still not known with which party Magyar plans to run in the EP elections in June, but he has put out a tender for the candidate positions.

In an interview with Válasz Online on Monday, Zoltán Tarr talked about the fact that he gave the association he founded to Péter Magyar for free. He said that he did not contact Péter Magyar, a mutual acquaintance brought them together, but the common point was the clemency case. “We had already decided to terminate it when it became clear that Péter Magyar needed an association. The name was also very good: Be the change! We have decided that since we don’t have plans with him anyway, we will hand it over to him,” Zoltán Tarr told the newspaper.