Magyar’s victory over the autocrat Orbán strengthens the EU from the center-right and stops Putin and Trump

For years, Orbán has used the right of veto as battering ramblocking or at least delaying – almost always alone – decisions that the EU considered crucial: from support for Ukraine or sanctions against Russia to punitive measures against violent Israeli settlers. Magyar has promised end this policy of obstructionwhich translates into immediate relief for Brussels.

“Hungarians have voted yes to Europe“, proclaimed the leader of Tisza, attached to the European People’s Party (EPP), which has overcome the two-thirds majority necessary to reform the Constitution and reverse the repressive laws of the Orbán era. Participation has reached a record level close to 80%.

“The election result, although not yet complete, is understandable and clear, painful for us, but unequivocal“, admitted the Fidesz leader, who quickly acknowledged the end of his 16 consecutive years in power and called his adversary to congratulate him.

“The heart of Europe beats stronger today in Hungary,” celebrated the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyena regular target of attacks by the outgoing prime minister. “Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country regains its European direction. The Union is strengthened“says the German.

The fall of Orbán opens the door for Brussels to unlock up to 18 billion euros in the short term in community funds for Hungary – to which are added another 15,000 million in SAFE credits for Defense -, frozen for years due to the authoritarian drift of the ultra-nationalist leader.

The Community Executive accused Budapest of undermining judicial independence, fueling corruption, suffocating critical media, questioning the right to asylum and attacking the LGTBI community and other civil society organizations. Magyar is committed to restoring the rule of law in Hungary and it has the necessary votes to do so.

In his victory speech, Magyar announced that his first trips abroad will be to Warsaw and Vienna, after which he will visit Brussels to try to unlock community aid. “We will recover the EU funds that belong to the Hungarian people“he said.

The result of the elections is a severe blow to Putin, Trump and the European forces of the radical right – brought together in the group Patriots for Europe, to which Vox belongs -, who had actively supported Orbán’s re-election. Not surprisingly, the Hungarian prime minister has acted as its Trojan horse within the EU, eroding its unity from within.

“It is a disaster for Putin, MAGA and their far-right allies,” says Mujtaba Rahman, a researcher at the Eurasia Group. “Definitely, This represents a rejection of Trump and Vance. The announced new era of official US interference in European internal politics has begun in a calamitous way,” he noted.

On a whirlwind trip to Budapest last week, Trump’s vice president denounced alleged pressure from “EU bureaucrats” while openly campaigning for Orbán. “Let’s make election interference great again, JD Vance“, the former French commissioner Thierry Breton has replied ironically after learning of Orbán’s fall.

The most immediate beneficiary of the defeat of the ultranationalist leader will be Ukraine. Orbán has alone exercised the veto of the 90 billion loan intended to support Volodymyr Zelensky’s Government – reversing his previous support in December -, has blocked the twentieth package of sanctions against Moscow and also slowed down kyiv’s accession negotiations to the EU.

But what had most alarmed European leaders are the latest journalistic investigations that suggest that both the outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister and his Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártóthey leak to the Kremlin, in real time, the content of the discussions in Brussels, including confidential documents.

“Congratulations to Péter Magyar y al partido Tisza for his resounding victory. It is important that a constructive approach prevails. “Ukraine has always sought good neighborly relations with everyone in Europe and we are ready to advance our cooperation with Hungary.”Zelensky wrote in his X account.

Also on this front, Magyar (a former Orbán man who publicly broke with the Government just two years ago after a controversial pardon scandal involving his ex-wife) will have to move quickly, in a context in which Ukraine is on the verge of running out of funds and no longer has the financial support of the Trump administration.

The victory of the leader of Tisza has been received with satisfaction by the leaders of the three large parties of the ‘grand coalition’ that supports Von der Leyen – popular, socialists and liberals – who see in the result a reinforcement of the pro-European axis in the EU.

“Tonight is the victory of the people of Hungary. They have confirmed that our center-right, people-centered policy wins elections. Content. Solutions. Unity, not empty slogans or fear,” wrote the EPP president, Manfred Weber.

“Today Europe and European values ​​win. Congratulations to all Hungarian citizens for a historic election. Looking forward to working together, Péter Magyar, for a better future for all Europeans,” says the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez.

“France welcomes a victory of democratic participation, of the attachment of the Hungarian people to the values ​​of the European Union and of Hungary in Europe,” celebrated the French president, Emmanuel Macron. “Hungary, Poland, Europe. Together again! Glorious victory, dear friends!” highlights Poland’s Donald Tusk.