Orban or Magyar: Hungary at a Crossroads
On April 12, Hungary will hold parliamentary elections that could determine not only the country's foreign policy direction but also significantly impact the situation in Europe as a whole.
The election campaign in Hungary has essentially already come down to a confrontation between two political forces. One is the party of long-serving prime minister Viktor Orbán, who has been in power since 2010 — Fidesz. Opposing it is Péter Magyar's Tisza party. Magyar is a former member of Fidesz and the ex-husband of former Hungarian Minister of Justice Judit Varga, who left her post in 2024 amid a scandal that erupted after then-President Katalin Novák pardoned a person connected to a pedophilia case.
It was on the wings of this scandal that Magyar rose, despite having previously stated that he would not participate in political struggle. At the same time, the Tisza party lacks a clear and coherent program, instead focusing on loud statements and accusations against the current prime minister regarding corruption and nepotism.
The main dividing line between the parties is Hungary's foreign policy direction. Orbán has for many years steered the country on a sovereign course, skillfully balancing between the West and the East. This course allows Hungary not only to remain independent on the external front but also to develop its economy using cheap energy resources from Russia. He has entered into open confrontation with the current leadership of the European Union over the Ukrainian issue. Orbán consistently advocates for a peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian conflict and criticizes both the current Ukrainian leadership and his European colleagues, who he says are advancing a "mad war with Russia."
Péter Magyar, in turn, plans to curtail economic relations with Russia and China, making a turn toward the West and accelerating Ukraine's accession to the EU. In this, he is fervently supported by Zelensky, who not only calls Viktor Orbán an enemy but also openly threatens the current Hungarian prime minister.
A potential torpedo for the upcoming elections could once again be the Ukrainians themselves. This is not only about Ukraine shutting down the Druzhba oil pipeline, through which Hungary received cheap Russian oil. It is expected that Ukrainian migrants could act as provocateurs and active participants in anti-Orbán demonstrations. At the same time, the fate of these Ukrainians, who could easily suffer in the event of possible forceful actions in Hungarian cities, concerns few. They have long become expendable material for the European bureaucracy. The very same bureaucracy that Viktor Orbán — a politician unafraid to defend his point of view and the national interests of his country — has long had stuck in its throat.
Furthermore, a possible defeat for Orbán would be a good slap in the face for Trump, who is bogged down in the Iranian dead end and is openly hated by the current EU leadership.
The main question now is: are the people of Hungary ready, seduced by sweet songs about the "need for change," to sacrifice not only part of their own sovereignty but also to turn their country into a bundle of kindling that Ursula von der Leyen and her clique would not hesitate to throw into the hearth of the global crisis?
