by Eric J. Lyman
Péter Magyar soundly defeated entrenched Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán in April. But changing the attitudes that sustained Orbán for 16 years will be a challenge.
Weeks after dramatically defeating Viktor Orbán to become Hungary’s first new prime minister in 16 years, Péter Magyar wasted no time in reversing many of the policies put into place during Orbán’s tenure.
But Magyar, a former member of Orbán’s Fidesz Party who broke ranks with the party in 2024, is finding out that the former leader’s supporters are still putting up a fight.
Orbán, 62, had been among President Donald Trump’s most reliable allies in Europe, as well as the loudest European Union voice opposing steady European support for Ukraine in that country’s war with Russia and an opponent of rules supporting Europe’s ambitious “green transition” toward renewable energy.
Vice-President JD Vance even traveled to Budapest to show support for Orbán just days before the vote.
Despite backing for Orbán from the White House, Magyar’s Tisza Party won 138 of 199 seats in April’s elections, five more than needed for a super-majority. Fidesz was second, with 55 seats, and Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) Movement holds the remaining six seats. Orbán called his defeat “painful and unambiguous.”
In the early weeks of his tenure, Magyar has focused on improving relations with Brussels that had been strained under Orbán, securing the release of nearly $19 billion in funds frozen by the European Union over Orbán-era policies on academic freedom and treatment of the country’s LGBTQ community, and reversing what had been a largely pro-Kremlin foreign policy stance.
But despite Magyar’s early efforts in these areas, analysts note that the former leader’s Fidesz Party still controls municipal and county-level governments, business networks, civic organizations, and it remains popular in rural areas.
Tamas Sulyok, an Orbán appointee, is still the country’s head of state and his procedural support is required before major policy changes can enter into force.
Meanwhile, Orbán’s strong views against mass migration, in favor of national sovereignty within the European Union context, promoting family-oriented policies and stirring national pride continue to resonate in much of the country.
Hungary analyst and Princeton International Affairs Professor Kim Lane Scheppele said that while Magyar’s victory over Orbán could serve as a “blueprint” for other European opposition movements facing entrenched leaders, it will be a difficult challenge for the new prime minister to erase Orbán’s policies.
“It will be much easier for the Magyar government to change laws than to change widely held attitudes,” Scheppele said.
Even in parliament, where Magyar’s Tisza Party holds a super-majority, it would take only a half dozen defections to erase that advantage, something insiders say will prevent Magyar from trying to do too much too quickly.
The unity among opposition lawmakers was on display when the Hungarian parliament voted to reverse the Orbán-era withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. Without a reversal before June 2, Hungary would become just the third country (following Burundi and the Philippines) to withdraw from the ICC.
That will not happen – the vote ended heavily in favor of the remaining in the ICC, with 133 votes in favor and 37 against. Now it awaits the formal approval of the country’s president, Sulyok.
The vote was the first major legislative test since Orbán was ousted, and it demonstrated that Fidesz remains a disciplined opposition force with the numbers, organization, and institutional footholds to influence Hungary’s political debate while Magyar works to change political attitudes that sustained Orbán for 16 years.
Eric J. Lyman
Source: https://justthenews.com/world/europe/hungarys-new-government-faces-old-reality-check
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