Hungary after Orbán: what the new majority has changed
Viktor Orbán governed Hungary for sixteen years. Since Péter Magyar's Tisza party won a two-thirds majority in April 2026, parliament has elected a president Orbán's government had removed from the Supreme Court, the government has accepted the Commission's conditions for unfreezing €16.4 billion, and Hungary has expelled ten Russian diplomats. In September parliament opened the first corruption investigations into ministers of the Orbán years.
Viktor Orbán ran Hungary for sixteen years and lost power in April 2026, when Péter Magyar's Tisza party won a two-thirds majority in parliament. The first big use of that majority was the presidency. On 11 August parliament elected András Baka, by 140 votes to six, to a job that is largely ceremonial. Baka had headed the Supreme Court from 2009 and was ousted in 2012, after calling an Orbán-era cut in the judicial retirement age, from 70 to 62, a judicial purge.
The EU and the United States called that change illegal, and in 2016 the European Court of Human Rights ruled Baka's dismissal had violated his freedom of expression. His election followed a constitutional amendment cutting short Tamás Sulyok's presidency, which Euronews reported rights groups likened to Orbán's own methods. Hungary still runs on the Orbán-era Basic Law, and Magyar says Baka will serve only until a constitution drafted with wide public participation replaces it. In August he put that at one to one and a half years.
In May 2026 Magyar and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed terms for unfreezing €16.4 billion in EU funds, under 27 conditions the Commission calls super milestones. The four on judicial independence were met early, and on 31 August the government said it had delivered all of them. On 23 September von der Leyen said Hungary had taken important steps to strengthen the rule of law, and the Commission proposed releasing €4.2 billion of frozen cohesion money. Euronews reported member states could vote on it on 13 October.
At the Bled forum on 31 August Magyar said the EU lacks political leadership. He called unfair a daily EU fine over a 2020 court ruling on asylum, which he said costs Hungary €1 million a day. Viktor Orbán had been closer to Moscow than any other EU leader. Hungary expelled ten Russian diplomats on 8 September on national-security grounds. On 1 October Russia ordered Hungarian staff out of the embassy in Moscow and the consulates in St Petersburg and Kazan within two weeks, by 15 October.
On 28 September parliament lifted the immunity of two Orbán-era ministers, opening the first corruption investigations into top figures of those sixteen years. Balázs Hankó, the former culture minister, is accused of embezzling more than €40 million, part of which prosecutors say financed the 2026 election campaign. Both ministers deny wrongdoing. Parliament lifted Magyar's own immunity too, at his request, over a 2024 case he calls a sham, in which prosecutors say he threw a man's phone into the Danube. Fidesz and its ally KDNP boycotted the session.
”Hungary became a captured state under Orban.”
The numbers
What the comparison shows
Where they agree
The Commission and Magyar's government both want the frozen money released. The government said on 31 August that it had met every milestone tied to the €10 billion in recovery money, and the Commission has since proposed releasing €4.2 billion of cohesion money and reopening Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe to Hungarians.
Where they split
The Commission and Magyar do not describe the relationship the same way. Von der Leyen says the proposed release shows that reforms deliver results. Magyar, who signed the conditions, says the EU lacks political leadership and treats Hungary unfairly, and his government has cut Hungary's SAFE defence-loan request to €5.4 billion from the €16.4 billion Orbán sought.
What nobody is saying
The €10 billion of recovery money expires later in 2026, and on 23 September the Commission's assessment of Hungary's claim on it was still running. Euronews reported the same day that a further €2.2 billion of cohesion money remained blocked over academic freedom. The 28 September immunity votes cleared the way for prosecutors to investigate, and all three men reject the allegations.
Who says what
He told AFP that officials like the president had been appointed to keep the old system politically alive after an election defeat, not to restrain the government's power.
”Hungary became a captured state under Orban.”Hungary became a captured state under Orban.
Agreed the Commission's reform conditions in May 2026. At the Bled forum on 31 August he said EU bureaucracy kills initiatives, and that Hungary is treated unfairly in Brussels over an EU fine he puts at €1 million a day.
”There is a lack of political leadership, to be honest, in the European Union,”There is a lack of political leadership, to be honest, in the European Union.
On 23 September she proposed releasing €4.2 billion of the frozen cohesion funds and reopening Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe to Hungarian students and researchers. She called that proof that reforms deliver results.
”Hungary has taken important steps to strengthen the rule of law and protect the Union's financial interests”Hungary has taken important steps to strengthen the rule of law and protect the Union's financial interests.
Says the smaller loan was Hungary's own choice. The Commission had allocated €16.4 billion under SAFE, and Budapest told Brussels it would take €5.4 billion.
”they have now decided to take less than what we initially allocated to Hungary”They have now decided to take less than what we initially allocated to Hungary.
Explains the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats by the Vienna Convention. Her ministry said Hungary does not want diplomatic tensions to escalate and that its missions in Russia continue to operate in full.
”had been engaged in activities in Hungary that are unacceptable for diplomats under the Vienna Convention”They had been engaged in activities in Hungary that are unacceptable for diplomats under the Vienna Convention.
Our coverage
- Russia expels Hungarian diplomats as Budapest breaks from the Orbán eraFriday, 2 October 2026
- Hungary's parliament strips PM Magyar of immunity in nightclub phone caseTuesday, 29 September 2026
- Hungary's new government slashes EU defence-loan request by two-thirdsSaturday, 26 September 2026
- Hungary's Magyar tells EU to decide whether it wants to 'survive or win'Tuesday, 1 September 2026
- Hungary on track to unlock €10bn in EU funds before August deadlineTuesday, 25 August 2026
- Hungary's parliament elects the judge Orbán removed as presidentWednesday, 12 August 2026