In Hungary, a person with a visual impairment will sit at the cabinet table for the first time. The blind Vilmos Kátai-Németh is also a martial artist.
04/26/2026, 07:4404/26/2026, 07:44
Thomas Wanhoff / t-online
The new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar is currently putting together his cabinet. A name sounds familiar. However, Anita Orbán, the new foreign minister and deputy prime minister, only has her last name in common with Viktor Orbán.
However, Magyar has a historic appointment in the Ministry of Social Affairs. For the first time in the country’s history (and in the EU), it will be led by a blind person: Dr. Vilmos Kátai-Németh. He lost the ability to see at the age of 16, the new prime minister wrote on the platform X. Kátai-Németh, who grew up in Budapest, most recently worked as a lawyer. Cabinet colleagues had better not mess with him because the new minister has a black belt in the martial art Aikido.
The new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar (center) with Social Minister Dr. Vilmos Kátai-Németh (l.) and Transport Minister Dávid Vitézy., (Source: x.com/Magyar Péter)Image: x/petermagyar
Blind ministers already in England and Sweden
“As a visually impaired person, he knows from his own experience the challenges faced by people with disabilities,” wrote Magyar. Equal opportunities are particularly important to Kátai-Németh. He considers his family to be his greatest source of strength: he has two children and a grandchild. The new minister’s main goal is to ensure that every Hungarian citizen – regardless of their place of birth or origin – has access to quality healthcare and education. On Friday, Magyar nominated education researcher Judit Lannert as the future education minister.
Blind ministers existed in Europe before. In Great Britain, David Blunkett was successively Education and Employment Minister, Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Minister under Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997 and 2005. Bengt Lindqvist served as Deputy Minister of Social Affairs (responsible for social security and family affairs) from 1985 to 1991.
Sources used:
- x.com: Profile of Peter Magyar