News outlets covering the election noted that Orbán’s campaign had focused primarily on foreign policy, aligning Hungary with Russian interests and repeatedly attacking Ukraine’s government, while largely neglecting domestic issues such as Hungary’s stagnating economy and deteriorating public services.
This left the field open for Magyar, who broke from Fidesz in 2024 and spent the following two years campaigning relentlessly across the country, visiting settlements that had seen little attention from national opposition figures, decrying corruption and calling for stronger ties with the EU and NATO.
Consequently, Magyar’s victory was welcomed across the EU, where Orbán’s sustained use of the Hungarian veto had caused continuous friction. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the result on social media. “Hungary has chosen Europe,” she wrote.
On the evening of April 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Magyar on Telegram. “It is important when a constructive approach prevails,” he wrote, adding that Kyiv was ready for direct meetings and joint work with the incoming government.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry echoed the congratulations on April 13, pledging to advance cooperation and address longstanding bilateral issues, including rights protections for the ethnic Hungarian minority in Ukraine. It lifted its recommendation against travel to Hungary the same day.
On April 15, in his first appearance on Hungarian public broadcasting since 2024, Magyar called on Orbán to lift his veto on the EUR 90 billion loan package to Ukraine before leaving office in May. Magyar noted that Orbán had voted in favor of the package in December, before blocking it when the pipeline dispute arose, and had publicly stated during the campaign that resumed oil flows were his only condition for lifting his veto on the loan.
Magyar also called on Zelenskyy to resume oil transit through Druzhba, adopting Orbán’s own characterization of Kyiv’s continued suspension as blackmail, while making clear his government would not maintain the veto once in office. The Hungarian Defense Forces also began withdrawing troops Orbán had deployed to protect energy infrastructure the same day.
Orbán, still the legal prime minister until the handover, expected around May 10, declined to act on Magyar’s request. On April 19, he posted on X that Brussels had passed on Ukraine’s readiness to resume oil deliveries from April 20, provided Hungary lifted the loan block first. His response was typically uncompromising.
“Hungary’s position has not changed: no oil = no money,” Orbán wrote. He added that Budapest would withdraw the veto once flows resumed. For his part, Zelenskyy announced on April 21 that Ukraine had delivered on its commitment to Brussels and Budapest.
“Ukraine has completed repair work on the section of the Druzhba oil pipeline that was damaged by a Russian strike,” he stated on Telegram. “The pipeline can resume operation.” It had been offline since a Russian drone strike damaged it in late January. Zelenskyy noted that no guarantee could be given against further Russian strikes, and called on EU partners to unblock both the loan and Ukraine’s accession negotiation clusters.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on April 21 responded with cautious optimism. High Representative Kaja Kallas said she expected Budapest to lift its veto within 24 hours. “I don’t want to jinx it,” Kallas said. “I hope everything goes well, because we have seen some turns in this file.”
The same meeting moved to restart a package of sanctions against Russia that had been blocked alongside the loan, including measures targeting the maritime services sector for Russian oil tankers.
EU ambassadors were scheduled to meet on April 23 to formally approve the loan, with disbursements expected to begin in late May. The initial 2026 allocation stood at EUR 16.7 billion in financial support and EUR 28.3 billion in military assistance. Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic negotiated opt-outs from the borrowing when the loan was agreed in December.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of April 24, 2026.
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