EU officials arrive in Hungary for high-stakes talks with Magyar’s government | Hungary
EU officials arrived in Budapest weeks before the new government took office for high-stakes talks aimed at reshaping the bloc’s tense relationship with Hungary; The country’s outgoing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has acknowledged that “the political era is over” and said he will remain as leader of his party in his first interview since the election.
To talk pro-government outlet Orbán described Sunday’s election as “an emotional roller coaster” after the opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory, ending 16 years of rule, Patrióta said.
Péter Magyar’s party won a supermajority, giving it the power to amend the constitution and potentially undo the pillars of Orbán’s “illiberal democracy” drive.
The size of the loss has raised questions about what the future holds for Orbán, whose decades-long political career has been marked by efforts to steadily reduce the checks and balances that have constrained his government’s power since 2010: rewriting election laws to suit his own interests, maneuvering to have loyalists control an estimated 80% of Hungary’s media, and reorganizing the country’s judiciary.
Speaking late on Thursday, Orbán said the results showed the right-wing populist Fidesz party needed a “complete renewal”. When asked who was responsible for the defeat, Orbán said he had no one to blame but himself. “Yes, since I am the chairman of the party… I must take 100% of this responsibility,” he said.
He added that Fidesz will vote for a new leadership in June. “I won’t be the one deciding what I should do,” he said. “If they say I have to get the team on the field, I’ll take them on the next game.”
His comments came hours before an EU delegation arrived in Budapest; this is seen as a critical reset for both sides. For the bloc, the visit represents a chance to turn a new page in Orbán’s turbulent tenure and persuade Hungary to lift its veto on a 90bn euro (£78bn) loan to Ukraine. Magyar, meanwhile, is pushing to release around €17 billion in frozen EU funds.
A time constraint looms over the talks. “The clock is ticking on a number of issues,” EU commission chief spokeswoman Paula Pinho said. he told reporters on Thursday, while explaining why officials went to Budapest before Magyar takes office in early May. “It is of course in Hungary’s interest, and in the EU’s interest, that we make progress as quickly as possible and waste no time.”
The frozen funds include around €17 billion from the EU budget (€10 billion of which expires at the end of August), which requires Hungary to implement conditions such as anti-corruption checks, the right to asylum and academic freedom. More than €16 billion in low-interest defense loans may also be offered.
Orbán’s government has said the ousted leader will not attend the final EU summit next week, saving EU officials from a possible showdown over his continued veto of a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine.
Péter Krekó, director of the Budapest-based Political Capital think tank, said in Friday’s talks that Magyar and Tisza will likely be caught between campaign promises, EU demands and institutional constraints created by Fidesz’s 16 years in power. “Tisza needs to cut this Gordian knot somehow, which will not be easy,” he said.
Since coming to power in 2010, Orbán and his Fidesz party have filled the Hungarian state, media and judiciary with loyalists, and it remains unclear how they will react to the changes made by the Tisza-led government.
Krekó said that there is still a lot of will between the EU and Tisza to find a solution. “EU funds will be desperately needed for Tisza to deliver at least some of his promises,” he said; The EU was aware that the alternative would be to return to its “obstructive and destructive” relationship with Orbán. “I think the political will is definitely there for the new government to ensure that Orbán does not come to power again.”
In the days since Sunday’s election, Magyar has sought to reinforce his “regime change” message with a series of actions and statements that make clear his intention to break with Hungary’s recent past. The audit office, the country’s two highest courts, demanded the resignation of the competition and media authorities, as well as the attorney general and the Hungarian president, describing them as “puppets” of the old regime.
In interviews with state-run news organizations on Wednesday, he vowed to suspend news broadcasts, accusing them of spreading fear, lies and propaganda worthy of North Korea and Nazi-era Germany.
The next day, he said on social media that Orbán would not be moving into his office in the historic Castle Quarter, which towers over Budapest and overlooks the Danube River, but would instead open shop in a ministry building near the Hungarian parliament.
He also reiterated his pledge during the campaign to impose term limits on prime ministers; It was a move that could prevent Orbán from returning to power, and he promised to pursue those who “plunder, pillage, betray, indebt and ruin” the country.
On Thursday, Orbán said he was filled with “pain and emptiness” as the election results became clear. “Even I thought we were going to win. There were so many of us everywhere.”
However, he emphasized that the party continues to have a broad voter base, receiving around 2.4 million votes in a country of 9.5 million people. “Let’s not act as if the entire country has rejected our government,” Orbán said.
