Orbán’s good cop, who crosses doctors and teachers but pardons a terrorist

It’s been exactly one year since Katalin Novák took office. The former Fidesz Minister for Family Affairs promised that as president she would act as the ears, heart and mouth of the people, and that she would only sign good laws. But a year after her inauguration, it appears that she likes to sign the laws that Viktor Orbán and his party adopt, and doesn’t listen to the voices of the protesters. She outperforms her predecessor János Áder in two ways: she grants pardons more often and travels much more than he did. On her foreign trips she tries to show the more cordial side of Hungarian diplomacy in the role of the good cop assigned to her. She likes to appear approachable, but never goes completely against the government’s official position. Such was Katalin Novák’s first year as head of state.