{"id":529147,"date":"2026-04-13T20:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529147\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T20:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:50:10","slug":"peter-magyar-vows-to-pursue-those-who-plundered-hungary-after-election-win-hungary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529147\/","title":{"rendered":"P\u00e9ter Magyar vows to pursue those who \u2018plundered\u2019 Hungary after election win | Hungary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hungary\u2019s prime minister-elect, P\u00e9ter Magyar, has pledged to pursue those who \u201cplundered, looted, betrayed, indebted and ruined\u201d his country, promising \u201ca new era\u201d after a landslide election victory over his far-right predecessor Viktor Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

Magyar, whose centre-right Tisza party won at least 138 of the 199 seats in parliament, said the full election results should be confirmed by 4 May and he hoped his government could be installed the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur country has no time to waste,\u201d he said during a wide-ranging press conference on Monday. \u201cWe will do everything in our power to ensure this truly marks the beginning of a new era \u2026 The Hungarian people didn\u2019t vote for a simple change of government, but for a complete change of regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Magyar, a former Orb\u00e1n loyalist, secured a decisive two-thirds supermajority that should allow him to roll back laws that helped the outgoing nationalist prime minister transform Hungary into an \u201cilliberal democracy\u201d during his 16 years in power.<\/p>\n

Orb\u00e1n\u2019s four successive governments have comprehensively eroded the rule of law in Hungary, packing the courts with judges loyal to him, turning 80% of the media into government mouthpieces and vastly enriching a coterie of cronies.<\/p>\n

Orb\u00e1n has battled repeatedly with the EU \u2013 which has blocked billions of euros in funds \u2013 over a range of policies including justice, migration and Ukraine. He had the backing of both Donald Trump and Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

\"WhatWhat next for Hungary as country celebrates P\u00e9ter Magyar victory over Viktor Orb\u00e1n?<\/p>\n

Magyar said his government would swiftly implement anti-corruption measures, restore the independence of the judiciary and ensure freedom of the media, in hopes of a rapid unfreezing of EU cash. \u201cI hope \u2026 we can prepare an agreement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said Hungary would \u201cnever again be a country without consequences\u201d, promising to establish a national asset recovery office that would ensure the \u201cpolitical and economic criminals\u201d who \u201cstole from the country\u201d would be held responsible.<\/p>\n

Alongside other reforms aimed at unlocking the \u20ac17bn in EU funds, he said Hungary would join the European public prosecutor\u2019s office, giving EU investigators powers to probe fraud cases and examine how the bloc\u2019s money was used under Orb\u00e1n\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n

The new government would \u201cfundamentally \u2026 do everything to restore the rule of law, plural democracy, and the system of checks and balances\u201d, Magyar said, but insisted it would \u201cnot use anti-democratic measures to restore the rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n

It would, however, \u201camend the constitution, and write into it that in future anyone can only serve as prime minister for two terms \u2013 which is eight years\u201d, he said. Applied retroactively, this would bar Orb\u00e1n from running again.<\/p>\n

Magyar also said one of the new government\u2019s first steps would be to \u201cstop state-funded propaganda\u201d by suspending news broadcasts from \u201cstate-captured\u201d public TV and radio until unbiased coverage could be ensured by a new supervisory board.<\/p>\n

Describing them as \u201cpuppets\u201d of the former regime, Magyar called on the heads of the country\u2019s two highest courts, audit office and competition and media authorities, as well as the chief prosecutor and Hungary\u2019s president, to resign.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the Tisza party singing in support of Magyar. Photograph: Neil Milton\/Sopa Images\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was appointed just to sign everything,\u201d the prime minister-elect said of the president, Tam\u00e1s Sulyok. \u201cWe don\u2019t need people like that. To me, he is not the president. I call on him to leave. If he doesn\u2019t, we will find a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

EU leaders reacted enthusiastically to his victory on Monday. Although he outlined policies \u2013 particularly on migration and Ukraine\u2019s accession to the EU \u2013 likely to cause friction with the bloc, Germany\u2019s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, called it \u201ca good day\u201d that had sent \u201ca very clear signal against rightwing populism\u201d.<\/p>\n

Merz said decision-making in the EU, long hampered by Orb\u00e1n\u2019s repeated vetos, should get easier. The German government spokesperson said a change of government in Budapest should lead \u201cvery quickly\u201d to the release of EU cash for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Graph showing EU vetoes<\/a><\/p>\n

Orb\u00e1n, who last visited Moscow in November, blocked a \u20ac90bn loan to Ukraine after accusing it of sabotaging Russian oil deliveries to his country, something Kyiv has repeatedly denied. He delayed \u2013 and often opposed \u2013 EU sanctions on Russia.<\/p>\n

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said Brussels would start work with the new Hungarian government \u201cas soon as possible\u201d to make progress on issues including the release of frozen European funds.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen reiterated her warm welcome to Magyar\u2019s victory, saying \u201ctoday Europe is Hungarian without any question\u201d and that \u201cthe people of Hungary have spoken and they have reclaimed their European path\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Slovakian and Czech prime ministers, Robert Fico and Andrej Babi\u0161 respectively, both close allies of Orb\u00e1n, congratulated Magyar on his win and said they were looking forward to \u201cconstructive cooperation\u201d with the new government.<\/p>\n

But the Patriots for Europe group in the European parliament, home to Fidesz and other far-right parties such as France\u2019s National Rally, the Dutch Freedom party and Italy\u2019s Lega, said the result was \u201ca setback\u201d for \u201cforces advocating \u2026 for democratic self-determination and traditional European values\u201d within the EU.<\/p>\n

\"WillWill Orb\u00e1n\u2019s defeat in Hungary be a turning point for Europe? \u2013 The Latest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hungary\u2019s prime minister-elect, P\u00e9ter Magyar, has pledged to pursue those who \u201cplundered, looted, betrayed, indebted and ruined\u201d his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-529147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}