There is, of course, history here. Depending on how picky you want to be about what constitutes Germany, you can go all the way back to King-Saint István’s marriage to Gisela, daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, and sister of the future Holy Roman Emperor, Henry II. The heavily armed Bavarian knights that Gisela brought with her proved more than helpful to István in solidifying his position as Hungary’s first Christian king. But you can go even further back than that: the pagan Magyar horse warriors were much taken with raiding what we would now call Germany, until a Hungarian army led by Bulcsú was annihilated at the Battle of Lechfeld in August 955, a defeat which forced the Hungarians to retreat and lick their wounds (they never invaded Germany again), while also leading to a revival of the Holy Roman Empire and, for a while, German dominance over it.
There were plenty of other interactions over the years, but fast forward the best part of a millennium, and Germany was very much enamored with Hungary, if only as the place where East and West Germans, otherwise separated by the Berlin Wall, could meet in relative peace on Balaton’s strands. Those Zimmer Frei! signs on houses around the lake weren’t so much calling out to Austrians as to Germans. The role Hungary played in allowing East Germans through the Iron Curtain into Austria and on to West Germany has not been forgotten.
For a while, Hungarians and Germans were political allies, and the money flowed into this country. It still does, though few would claim the politics is anywhere near as warm as it once was. The Hungarian government is well aware of this. Speaking ahead of German Unity Day on Friday (Oct. 3), Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás suggested that cooperation and shared priorities should take precedence in German-Hungarian relations; the differences that exist between the two governments do not impact interpersonal relations, he insisted. It is a view with which Ágoston Sámuel Mráz, head of the Nézőpont Institute, would agree. For this year’s annual Hungary-Germany Barometer, a survey of 1,000 respondents in each country revealed that 43% of Germans and 66% of Hungarians hold a positive view of the other nation. Moreover, 65% of Germans and 75% of Hungarians expressed a desire for closer bilateral ties, Mráz says.
A relationship that goes back more than 1,000 years will, inevitably, have its peaks and troughs. For now, the emphasis is on personal connections and common business interests. BMW’s cutting-edge factory in Debrecen opened as we were preparing the Germany Country Focus inside this issue. As EY partner Róbert Ésik says in our exclusive interview inside, “There are 2,400 German companies, and they continue to spend significant amounts of money on investments on an annual basis. Mostly these are expansion projects or additions of [….] functional areas.” While the politicians continue to talk past each other, business relations continue to shape both countries.
Robin Marshall
Editor-in-chief
This editorial was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of October 3, 2025.
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