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To many in Europe, the outcome of the 12 April general election goes well beyond Hungary. Over the past decade, Viktor Orbán’s 16-year system has become one of the most problematic member states of the European Union, not only due to conflicts regarding the rule of law, but also because Budapest has repeatedly slowed down or delayed decisions relating to Ukraine, sanctions against Russia, and joint EU action.
This is precisely why there was such a sense of relief in the initial European reactions to Péter Magyar’s landslide victory. The international press and EU leaders see not just an electoral defeat, but also the possibility that Hungary may once again become a predictable and cooperative EU member.
It's no surprise that the biggest sigh of relief came from the EU headquarters, where Ursula von der Leyen linked Sunday's events directly to the historic moments of 1956 and 1989. She also signalled that work with the new government would begin immediately. Reuters reports that the EU Commission President did not simply offer a polite congratulation, but placed the Hungarian turn in the context of fundamental freedoms and history.
This tone is important because nobody in Brussels is expecting merely symbolic gestures. The value of the political shift will depend on how swiftly the incoming Tisza government can implement concrete measures to resolve rule-of-law disputes, reinstate anti-corruption safeguards, and dismantle the veto politics employed thus far in EU decision-making. Meanwhile, in Berlin, there is hope that the new situation may allow the swift approval of the EU’s €90 billion loan package for Ukraine, which Orbán’s government had previously obstructed. Above all, however, Germany is expecting the restoration of the EU’s capacity to act.
In France, the reactions were particularly telling. According to Le Monde, with the election Hungary “returned to Europe,” and the Hungarian result also means that the French far right has lost an important ally in its ideological battle with the European Commission. In Belgium, a similarly strong symbolic reading emerged. In Brussels, Le Soir commentator Véronique Lamquin, believes Péter Magyar’s success “is also a hopeful victory.” The head of the daily “Ideas” section says it is so “first and foremost for the Hungarians, who on Sunday clearly chose the path of change promised by the Tisza candidate. In doing so, they are opening a new chapter in their country’s turbulent history.”
It is also a victory for the European Union, “whose leading figures, having kept a low profile in the face of Viktor Orbán’s excesses in recent weeks, were quick to offer congratulations on Sunday evening. And with good reason”, Lamquin adds: “one of the project's most vocal opponents is out of the picture, having been replaced by Péter Magyar, who has promised to restore normal and constructive relations with 'Brussels', a body that Viktor Orbán had made one of his favourite enemies.”
Tisza’s victory also brings hope, “at last, for democracy. By turning out en masse to vote on Sunday, the Hungarians proved that, however badly battered it may be, a democratic regime can hold its ground.” Incidentally, she adds, “the results send a clear signal to Russian and American leaders: interference, whether covert or overt, is not enough to crush the will of the people.”
The Flemish newspaper De Standaard has already explicitly written about Orbán’s downfall, marking the end of an era in which Budapest deliberately created conflict with Brussels and visibly moved closer to Moscow. The Belgian interpretation essentially argues that Hungarian voters did not merely change government; they demonstrated that, even under heavily distorted conditions, a democratic system can remove entrenched power.
While both Spain's Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the conservative People’s Party welcomed Hungary's vote for a pro-European force that could bolster the continent's stability, Vox openly mourned Orbán’s defeat, interpreting it as a loss for the “national sovereignty” camp.
This matter is given added weight by the fact that the far-right party had previously admitted that its 2023 campaign had been financed with a €9.2 million loan from the MBH banking group, which is linked to the Hungarian state. According to El Confidencial, Orbán’s fall in Madrid is therefore not only an ideological defeat, but also partly a defeat for his political network.
‘Orbán’s system has infiltrated the state, the media, the economy and the political culture itself. Removing Orbán from office is one thing. Dismantling Orbánism is quite another’ – Zsuzsanna Szelényi
While the Czech populist prime minister, Andrej Babiš, congratulated Péter Magyar in a deliberately ambiguous tone — respecting the result, yet also praising Orbán as a strong opponent — the president of the government-leading Czech Motorists' Party, Petr Macinka, reacted by saying that the Czech Republic had lost an important ally with Orbán's fall. However, he added that, in his view, there is ideological continuity between Tisza and Fidesz.
The Guardian has asked five experts to react to Viktor Orbán’s defeat. Among them, Zsuzsanna Szelényi, programme director of the Central European University Democracy Institute, believes that “Magyar may have won power, but he has not inherited a normal state. He faces severe economic pressures, immense public expectations and an opposition in Fidesz that, even in defeat, retains extensive informal power and influence. Orbán’s system has infiltrated the state, the media, the economy and the political culture itself. Removing Orbán from office is one thing. Dismantling Orbánism is quite another.”
This said, “yet, a decisive threshold has been crossed. In the end, the Orbán regime’s strategy of devoting every available resource to its own perpetuation produced not durability but exhaustion. I cannot be more proud that we Hungarians have shown that even entrenched illiberal regimes are not invincible.”
“Hungary’s election is a reminder that much of the public discourse wildly overstates the strength of authoritarianism (the “f-word”) and the weakness of democracy”, agrees political scientist Cas Mudde, according to whom “Orbán is gone, for now. And while there are many other far-right politicians (Giorgia Meloni, for example) and European disrupters (such as the Slovak premier, Robert Fico), none have the intent, power or resources to step into the void that Orbán’s defeat creates. And”, he adds, “that is what we should celebrate today.”
This clearly shows that Europe is not expecting a romantic “return” from Hungary now, but rather quick proof. The mood is favourable and the openness is genuine, but the expectations are ruthlessly concrete. From its very first days, the new Hungarian government must demonstrate that it is ready to end the era of perpetual conflict with Brussels, establish a new approach to Ukraine, and address the institutional issues that have made Hungary one of the EU’s most isolated member states in recent years.
Orbán’s departure is being viewed in Europe as a historic moment, but the coming weeks will determine whether this will truly mark Hungary’s return to the European mainstream or whether it will merely be an extraordinary election night not followed by a sufficiently rapid and deep U-turn.
🤝 This article was produced within the the PULSE project’s cross-border European journalistic cooperation. The compilation presenting the European reaction to the Hungarian parliamentary elections was supported with background material and local reactions by El Confidencial (Spain), Deník Referendum (Czech Republic) with the contribution of Petr Jedlička.
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