Orbán is out. But what happens now is where it gets interesting.
Peter Magyar has set May 5 as his target date to take power. His first stop will be Brussels, where billions in frozen EU funds are waiting. Hungary has had three years of near zero economic growth partly because the EU withheld money over rule of law concerns. That changes now. The €90 billion Ukraine loan Orbán kept blocking could be approved by EU finance ministers as early as the same month.
It won’t be straightforward though. Magyar is a conservative, not a progressive. He opposes fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU membership, won’t send troops to Kyiv, and days after winning said Hungary will keep buying Russian energy for now, directly contradicting his own pledge to end that dependence by 2035. Slovakia’s Robert Fico has already said he intends to keep blocking EU progress on Ukraine alone.
Then there is Orbán himself, who is not going anywhere. He leads the opposition and Fidesz remains embedded in institutions and media across the country. Magyar’s first move after winning was accusing Orbán’s outgoing foreign minister of shredding confidential sanctions documents. That tells you everything about the transition he is walking into.
Hungarian stocks hit record highs the morning after the result. One analyst put it simply. Winners: Hungary, Europe, Ukraine. Losers: Trump, Putin, Vance.
