Hungarian Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, Professor Máté Szabó visited the Control Yuan, accompanied by the representative of Hungarian Trade Office in Taipei, Mr. Levente Székely. He delivered a speech on the Hungarian ombudsman system at a plenary meeting of the Control Yuan. After the speech, Control Yuan President Mr. Wang Chien-Shien presented a bronze Control Yuan plaque to Dr. Szabó in expression of welcome and gratitude.
In his speech, Dr. Szabó first presented an overview of the development of the ombudsman system in Europe and then introduced the establishment of the ombudsman system in Hungary. He informed that the Hungarian ombudsman system was established in the mid 90s. In 2011, after amendments to the Hungarian Constitution, the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights was created by merging the original four ombudsman offices. Dr. Szabó said that the office will play a leading role in anti-corruption activities, and he therefore hoped to learn from Asia as the main purpose of this trip.
Dr. Szabó also exchanged ideas with four Control Yuan members—Dr. Louis Chao, Dr. Chou Yang-Sun, Dr. Ger Yeong-Kuang and Dr. Li Bing-Nan—to learn more about the Control Yuan's experience. During the discussion, the members introduced Dr. Szabó to the types and numbers of Control Yuan’s investigation cases involving corruption, the enforcement of "Sunshine Acts," and how the yuan maintains anonymity of complainants. Dr. Szabó said the information would be helpful to future reforms in the Hungarian system.
Dr. Louis Chao, who is also the chairperson of international affairs committee, praised Dr. Szabó for his great efforts in sharing his work experience with the international ombudsman community. He also expressed hoped that cooperation can be strengthened between the Control Yuan and its Hungarian counterpart.