Fazekas also told the paper that over the next four years he will be involved with the work of ruling Fidesz’s parliamentary group. The outgoing minister’s successor has already been chosen and will soon be announced by the prime minister, Magyar Idők said.

Asked about the restructuring of the agriculture portfolio, Fazekas said the ministry could be assigned new responsibilities concerning rural development. Looking back on the ministry’s achievements of the past several years, Fazekas said Hungary’s farming sector had made rapid progress since 2010 and “the countryside has also got back on its feet”.

Fazekas also highlighted the government’s Farmland for Farmers programme, which saw the sale of some 200,000 hectares of state farmland to farmers. The government has also boosted family farms, of which there are now some 27,000 in the country, he said.