Hungary’s pro‑Europe shift

Hungary’s turn toward Brussels accelerated after Péter Magyar’s Tisza party won the April 12 election and began preparing a package of European Union-facing reforms. (politico.eu) Magyar has said he wants a “grand bargain” with the European Union to unlock frozen money by reversing parts of Viktor Orbán’s rule-of-law legacy. Politico reported the plan includes judicial changes, joining the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and ending Budapest’s opposition to a €90 billion European Union loan for Ukraine. (politico.eu) The money at stake is large. Politico said Hungary is missing about €10.4 billion in Recovery and Resilience Facility loans, €7 billion in cohesion funds and €16 billion in Security Action for Europe loans, while the European Court of Justice has also fined the country €1 million a day over migration policy. (politico.eu) Those talks start from a low base. In December 2024, the European Commission said Hungary had “not sufficiently addressed” rule-of-law breaches and kept budget-protection measures in place. (ec.europa.eu) Brussels had already tied Hungary’s access to European Union recovery cash to specific legal changes. The Commission’s 2022 assessment of Hungary’s recovery plan said €5.8 billion in grants depended on 27 milestones covering judicial independence, anti-corruption rules and safeguards for the European Union budget. (ec.europa.eu) Some of those conditions were only partly eased under Orbán. In December 2023, the Commission said Hungary’s judicial reform addressed deficiencies in judicial independence, but it still kept budget-conditionality measures in force. (ec.europa.eu) The political change also reaches foreign policy. Under Orbán, Hungary repeatedly held up European Union decisions on Russia and Ukraine; two days after his defeat, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used the result to argue again for majority voting in foreign policy. (politico.eu) Magyar is also signaling a wider reset beyond budget talks. Politico reported that his camp wants Hungary to rejoin the International Criminal Court, impose a two-term limit for prime ministers and pursue anti-corruption and defense reviews aimed at cutting Russian influence in state institutions. (politico.eu; politico.eu) The obstacles are still substantial. Politico reported before the vote that even a Magyar victory would not quickly free about €17 billion in blocked European Union funding, because Brussels will want enacted reforms, not campaign promises. (politico.eu) That leaves Hungary’s pro-Europe shift looking less like a single announcement than a negotiation measured in laws, court changes and released funds. The next test is whether Budapest can turn election promises into the milestones Brussels has been demanding for years. (ec.europa.eu; politico.eu)