Hungary's Orbán sees paedophilia scandal as over despite protests

The paedophilia scandal currently causing outrage in Hungary has run its course, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said during a traditional annual address to the nation.

While the case was "a nightmare" that affected all of Hungary, the resignation on February 10 of Katalin Novák as president and the withdrawal from public life of former justice minister Judit Varga had restored the country's unity, Orbán said.

The right-wing prime minister said that the two women had greater dignity in their little fingers than all the leaders on the left. "Even good people can take poor decisions," he said.

On Friday evening, tens of thousands gathered in Budapest to protest at the government's handling of the scandal, caused when both women signed a pardon for an orphanage director who had covered up child sex abuse at his institution.

The demonstrations have widened into a general protest against Orbán's Fidesz party, which together with an ally holds a two-thirds majority in the Budapest parliament.

Novák resigned after it became known that she had pardoned the orphanage official in April 2023. Varga, who was justice minister at the time, stood down from parliament and withdrew from leading Fidesz into this year's elections to the European Parliament.

On Friday, the head of the Hungarian Reformed Church, Bishop Zoltán Balog, resigned after acknowledging that he had pushed for the pardon. Balog, a long-term associate of Orbán, had served as an advisor and mentor to Novák.

In his address, Orbán said that the Hungarian parliament would soon ratify Sweden's accession to NATO, becoming the last NATO member to do so. He had promised this to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last month, he said. Parliament meets again on February 26.