Péter Magyar Sworn in as Hungary’s Prime Minister

Reuters

Péter Magyar receives a standing ovation in parliament during his swearing-in ceremony.

Pro-European centre-right leader Péter Magyar was sworn in as prime minister of Hungary on Saturday, officially bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power.

During the ceremony, Magyar invited Hungarians to join him in “writing Hungarian history” together and to “step through the gate of regime change”. The event came one month after his opposition Tisza Party secured a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections.

The outcome sparked celebrations in Budapest and beyond, as Orbán and his populist nationalist movement had long been regarded by the global far right as a political model to emulate.

Minutes after he was sworn in, Magyar said Hungarians had given his party a mandate to launch a “new chapter” in the country’s history. “A mandate not only to change the government, but to change the system as well. To start again.”

He pledged to build a more inclusive Hungary, one that would be more free, humane and hopeful. “What connects us will be stronger than what divides us,” he said. “Hungary will be home for every Hungarian, and everyone can feel like they have a place in the Hungarian nation. Family, friends and communities will be able to speak to each other again.”

Early on Saturday, people started pouring into the square outside the country’s neo-Gothic parliament to follow along as the inaugural session was broadcast on large screens. At each glimpse of Magyar, the crowd cheered, while some booed lawmakers from Fidesz and the extreme right Our Homeland party.

Magyar inherits an economy that only just emerged from stagnation in the first quarter and now faces fresh headwinds from surging energy costs linked to the Middle East conflict, which could weigh heavily on Europe's import-reliant economy. Data released on Friday showed Hungary's budget deficit had reached 71% of ⁠the full-year target by April, driven by Orbán’s pre-election spending. Magyar has said the deficit could approach 7% of output this year.

He has pledged to reaffirm Hungary's Western orientation. The NATO member had been seen as drifting towards ⁠the Kremlin under Orbán, who opposed EU efforts to support Ukraine against Russia's invasion.

Magyar has also said he would suspend public media news broadcasts after taking power, accusing state media and pro-Orbán ⁠outlets of helping the former leader maintain his hold on power while giving limited airtime to critics. The new Hungarian PM aims to broker a deal with EU leaders to unlock suspended EU funding by May 25.

As she spoke, the crowd behind her began cheering wildly as the newly elected speaker of the house, Ágnes Forsthoffer, announced that the EU flag would be returned to the building after it was taken down by Fidesz in 2014.

The landslide victory, in which Tisza won 141 seats in the 199-seat parliament, was a stunning outcome for Magyar, who until recently had been a little known former member of Fidesz’s elite. He burst into public view in early 2024, after he turned on the party, laying bare the inner workings of a system he described as rotten and accusing officials of expanding their power and wealth at the expense of ordinary Hungarians.

The new parliament marks the first time since the country’s democratisation in 1990 that Orbán – whose decades-long career saw him shift from pro-democracy campaigner to a Russia-friendly figure lauded by the U.S. Maga movement – will not sit in parliament. Late last month Orbán, 62, said he would instead focus on the reorganisation of his movement.

Source: Reuters, The Guardian



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