Whatever your view of the man, and there will be very few people who are neutral when it comes to Orbán, it is undeniable that his cumulative 20 years in power, 16 of them consecutive, have left quite the mark on Hungary’s political and economic landscape. The youngest man to be elected prime minister of Hungary when he led Fidesz to victory in 1998 at the age of 35, he was at the time also Europe’s youngest PM. That was a record he only lost when Sanna Marin became Finland’s prime minister in 2019, aged 34. No serving leader in the European Union has led their country for as long as Orbán. He will have his place in the Hungarian history books, whatever their judgement of his record might be.
The mood in Hungary among those who voted for Péter Magyar (a relatively mature 45 when he takes office, though that still seems a ludicrously young age to hold what is nominally the second highest ranked position in Hungary, albeit the one with all the real power) is undeniably upbeat. They have slain their dragon. Given where they started, that remains remarkable, but, as I have said before, the hard work starts now.
The European Commission must be relieved that a leader it seemed at times to have no idea how to handle can no longer be a thorn in its side. It has indicated a willingness to work with Magyar. It has engaged in multiple talks with the incoming leadership team already to help lay the pathway to a better relationship, and the mood music is undeniably improved. But it has also indicated there will be no extension to the Aug. 31 cut-off point for accessing the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility; that remains the final deadline for EU member states to meet all agreed milestones and targets. After this date, the facility will transition from implementation and payment to final verification and post-2026 oversight, meaning no new funding can be accessed beyond this point from that particular budgetary bucket. In other words, the EC is not going to cough up money for Hungary just because its former bête noire no longer runs the country.
Similarly, the relationship between Budapest and Kyiv will surely be better next month than it was last. Oil is flowing again through the Druzhba pipeline, Orbán’s veto on the EU’s EUR 90 billion loan to Ukraine and the latest Russian sanctions package has been lifted. But Magyar has made clear that he wants the rights of the ethnic-Hungarian community in western Ukraine to be protected. Similarly, he has said improved relations with Slovakia must be based in light of the post-World War II Beneš Decrees that stripped ethnic Hungarians (and Germans) of property rights including land, homes, businesses, and industrial assets. There is plenty of scope for spikiness here. These are not new concerns, but they underline that not everything changes simply because there is a new man, and a new party in charge.
Robin Marshall
Editor-in-chief
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of May 8, 2026.
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