Budapest, Hungary
In recent decades, the United States and Russia have rarely backed the same candidate in a foreign election. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán was an exception. But as it turned out, they backed the loser.
For the White House, Orbán – a lodestar for right-wing populists – was seen as key to its push for a more nationalist, “like-minded” Europe. For the Kremlin, Orbán was the chief wrecker of the European Union’s efforts to arm Ukraine and wean itself off Russian fossil fuels.
But now, US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will have to make do without their ally in Budapest. Orbán’s Fidesz government suffered a thumping loss as voters flocked to Péter Magyar’s opposition Tisza party, with a record turnout. Magyar’s campaign railed against the corruption and cronyism that flourished during Orbán’s 16 years in office, calling for a break with Russia and warmer relations with the European Union.
“Our country has no time to lose,” Magyar told reporters in Budapest on Monday. “Hungary is in trouble. It’s been robbed, betrayed, devastated.”
If Magyar’s victory was a blow to Trump and Putin, it came as a huge relief to Europe. “I’m so happy. I think I’m happier than you,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on a Sunday night call with Magyar. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, vilified by Orbán’s campaign, congratulated Tisza and said Ukraine was “ready to advance our cooperation with Hungary.”
When Hungary’s new parliament forms in the next 30 days, Magyar will face stiff challenges at home, from boosting Hungary’s anemic economy to weakening Fidesz’s control of the media and judiciary. But the incoming prime minister will also have to juggle the demands of the three powers – the US, Russia and the European Union – that have of late become so invested in Hungary’s affairs.
The path he plots will have consequences far beyond Hungary’s borders.
Once described by Steve Bannon as “Trump before Trump,” Orbán is said to have developed a “model” of illiberal governance. He presented himself as a defender of free speech and “traditional values,” and railed against what he called the corrupting influence of the European Union.
As well as backing Trump’s presidential campaigns, Orbán courted the MAGA movement, positioning Budapest as a European headquarters for the world’s national conservatives. The Trump administration, in turn, threw its weight behind Orbán’s election campaign – with Vice President JD Vance stumping for him in person.
In response to a CNN question at a press conference in Budapest, Magyar said Orbán’s loss was also “a great defeat” for his American supporters. “Orbán was their poster boy,” Magyar said. “He was the intellectual mastermind who was behind this fight against Brussels.”
In a blow to the Trump administration’s push for a more Orbánist Europe, Magyar said his government would not help prop up the ideological infrastructure Orbán has built through generous government grants. For instance, Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) – an educational institute described by critics as a training ground for national conservatives, which Vance visited last week – is funded by a 10% stake in Hungary’s largest oil and gas company.
Since 2022, Budapest has also hosted Hungarian versions of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a prominent right-wing political gathering which began in the United States. In a statement Sunday, before the election results, CPAC said that it was closely watching the vote and that it “firmly” backed Orbán, calling him a “leader with strong conservative values who has courageously stood up to elitists and globalists.”
Magyar told CNN that neither MCC nor CPAC would receive state funds under his government.
“I believe the state should never have financed them in the first place. It was a crime. Mixing party financing with government spending from the state budget is, in my view, a criminal offense,” Magyar said. He added that institutes like MCC “should be investigated” by anti-corruption institutions he plans to set up.
“CPAC can come to Budapest. They’re very welcome. But not from Hungarian taxpayers’ money. From Fidesz’s money, or Orbán’s buddies’ money – before we take it back,” he said.
Magyar said he did not speak to Vance during his visit to Budapest, but added: “Hopefully we’ll get to know each other.”
Russia supported Orbán not least because he has long obstructed EU efforts to sanction Russia and arm Ukraine, following Putin’s full-scale invasion.
In December, EU leaders agreed on a vital €90 billion ($105 billion) loan for Ukraine. Orbán always insisted Hungary would not contribute – and later blocked the loan altogether, citing Ukraine’s slow pace in fixing an oil pipeline that runs from Russia to Hungary, via Ukraine. On Monday, Magyar reaffirmed that Budapest would not contribute to the €90 billion, saying Hungary was in a “very difficult” financial situation, but did suggest it would drop its veto. Because the decision “was already made in December,” Magyar said, his administration “would like to be coherent” with Hungary’s previous commitments.
Orbán also helped Russia by buying its oil. When EU countries agreed to phase out Russian oil, the bloc allowed Hungary and Slovakia more time to reduce their dependence. Instead, they increased it. Last year, 92% of Hungary’s crude oil imports were from Russia, up from 61% pre-invasion.
Days before the election, Orbán’s campaign was damaged by leaked calls between his government and the Kremlin. Bloomberg reported that in a phone call in October, Orbán told Putin that, “in any matter where I can be of assistance, I am at your service.”
Another report, by a group of investigative news outfits, claimed that Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó colluded with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to weaken EU sanctions against Russia, offering to send Lavrov EU documents through Hungary’s embassy in Moscow.
In a sharp rhetorical break with Orbán, Magyar described Moscow as a “security risk” for Europe and said he would tell Putin, if they spoke, that “it would be nice to end the killing after four years” of war in Ukraine.
Still, Magyar suggested that Hungary would remain dependent on Russia for some time, particularly for its energy needs. “We cannot change geography,” he said multiple times. Although he said Tisza “will do everything in our power to diversify our energy mix,” he left the door open to continued purchases of Russian oil, saying Hungary would persist in seeking the cheapest energy sources.
The Kremlin said Monday that it respects the outcome of Hungary’s election and is open to dialog with the new leadership. Magyar told reporters: “If Vladimir Putin calls me, I will pick up the phone. But I will not call him myself.”
Unlike Washington and Moscow, Europe is pleased to see Orbán’s defeat. Although some of its leaders are wary of Magyar’s status as a former Fidesz insider, and his more conservative leaning, “the mood in Brussels looks closer to relief,” said Grégoire Roos, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia programs at Chatham House, a think tank.
“He is clearly more pro-EU and less Russia-friendly than Orbán,” Roos told CNN. The hope, he suggested, is that Magyar’s Hungary will no longer be “a fault line inside the EU.”
Magyar had signaled that he would break with Orbán’s antagonism toward Ukraine. “Everyone in Hungary knows that Ukraine is the victim of this war,” he said on Monday. “No one should tell them under what conditions they should… sign a peace treaty.”
Magyar, however, does share some positions held by Orbán, like opposing fast-track EU accession for Kyiv. That view, however, is quietly shared even by some of Kyiv’s more full-throated backers.
“For the EU, the UK, and Ukraine, (the election result is) a good one: fewer blockages ahead, and friendlier cooperation,” said Roos. “For Washington and Moscow, it is clearly a blow. It removes a useful outlier for both of them – and clearly anchors Hungary in the EU.”
