Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat in a parliamentary election on April 12, concludeing his 16 years in power, after his Fidesz party lost its majority in parliament. The center-right Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, won and is projected to have a two-thirds supermajority. Orbán has been a prominent right-wing populist, with close ties to the Trump administration in Washington and warm relations with Moscow. Magyar campaigned on promises to address corruption, improve the economy, and align more closely with Europe.We questioned five experts to assess how the election results will shape Hungary’s role in Europe and its relationships with the European Union, NATO, Russia, the United States, and China.Read more below.Zsuzsa CsergőSir Edward Peacock Professor of Nationalism and Democracy Studies, Queen’s UniversityThis election marks a critical juncture in Hungary’s relationship with Europe. Firm opposition to Orbán’s framing of Brussels as an external enemy and Russia as Hungary’s friconclude contributed greatly to Magyar’s landslide victory. The new government will bring normalcy back to Hungary’s relationship with the European Union. Orbán’s ambition has been to lead Europe’s right-wing “illiberal” challengers to “take over Brussels” and redefine the European Union as a loose alliance of Christian conservative national governments. Magyar, by contrast, is a mainstream conservative. His Tisza party joined the center-right European People’s Party. He is both a Europeanist and a Hungarian nationalist whose government will face the challenges of center-right governments across Europe: How to balance specific national interests with common European goals? His supporters want Hungary to be firmly anchored in the European Union. He will work to recover frozen E.U. funds and is likely to cooperate constructively with E.U. institutions.Ian BondDeputy Director of the Center for European ReformMagyar will enjoy a honeymoon in relations with the European Union, as almost all of his new E.U. colleagues are
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat in a parliamentary election on April 12, concludeing his 16 years in power, after his Fidesz party lost its majority in parliament. The center-right Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, won and is projected to have a two-thirds supermajority. Orbán has been a prominent right-wing populist, with close ties to the Trump administration in Washington and warm relations with Moscow. Magyar campaigned on promises to address corruption, improve the economy, and align more closely with Europe.We questioned five experts to assess how the election results will shape Hungary’s role in Europe and its relationships
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