Hungary's Magyar targets mid-May cabinet formation, outlines key reforms

Hungary's election winner Peter Magyar said on Wednesday his cabinet could be sworn in by mid-May and take quick steps to release billions of suspended European Union funding, while clashing with allies of his predecessor who remain in place.

Magyar's TISZA (Respect and Freedom) party won a landslide victory in Sunday's election, ending right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban's 16-year rule that became a prototype for "illiberal" conservative rulers across the western world.

Orban's international allies, including Moscow and Washington, have pledged to work with Magyar, whose strong mandate will allow him to change the constitution and roll back Orban's rule-of-law reforms that led the EU to block funding.

Magyar outlined four key areas where his cabinet could move swiftly to avoid the loss of some 10 billion euros of EU pandemic recovery funding by an end-August deadline.

These were anti-corruption measures, such as joining the European Public Prosecutor's Office, restoring and strengthening the independence of the judiciary and investigative authorities, as well as restoring media and academic freedoms.

MAGYAR DISCUSSES EU CONDITIONS AHEAD OF END-AUGUST DEADLINE

"As they say in Brussels, full stop," Magyar said, referring to a conversation he had with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday, adding that they had agreed to start informal consultations before the government was formed.

"I explained it clearly to her as well, and we have made it clear before, that we can only comply with conditions that are good for Hungarian people, good for Hungarian businesses and, in general, for our country."

It was not immediately clear whether Magyar aimed to narrow down the list of conditions ahead of a deadline he has described as "extremely tight". A European Commission spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Orban has denied eroding any democratic standards and said his government had aimed to protect Hungary's "Christian character" against liberal ideas fielded by the European Union.

Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok, who is backed by Orban's Fidesz party, told Magyar on Wednesday he would ask him to form Hungary's next government, while Magyar ramped up pressure on the president, who was elected in 2024, to quit.

"I told the President .... that Hungarian people have voted for a change of regime," Magyar said. He said Sulyok told him during a meeting Magyar described as otherwise amicable that he would "consider" the request.

Magyar said if Sulyok does not resign, he would use his party's big mandate to amend the constitution and other legislation and to force him from office, along with other "puppets" who had been appointed by the Orban government.

The exchange provided a first glimpse into what analysts and rating agencies say could be a complicated reform path despite Magyar's sweeping election victory -- with Orban loyalists in control of most key public posts for years to come.

NEW LEADER CLASHES WITH NEWS ANCHORS

Making a rare appearance on public media, Magyar clashed with news anchors he accused of serving Orban's agenda for years while giving his party hardly any unbiased coverage.

In a Facebook post, Magyar described his interview on public television, the first in a year and a half, as "the final throes of a factory of lies." Press officials for public media company MTVA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As part of wider moves to restore press freedoms after taking office next month, Magyar said he would suspend state media news broadcasts, which critics at home and abroad say became a government mouthpiece under Orban.

"Every Hungarian deserves a public service media that broadcasts the truth," Magyar said on Kossuth state radio, where Orban had been a weekly guest while opposition politicians rarely got invited.

"We will need a little time to pass a new media law, a new media authority and setting up the professional conditions for state media to actually do what it is meant to do."

'PRESS FREEDOM PREDATOR'

Reporters without Borders, a French-based international press freedom organisation, welcomed Magyar's election victory, saying it provided an "unprecedented opportunity" to liberate the media from "press freedom predator" Orban's deadlock.

The body nonetheless called on Magyar to tread carefully, saying any measures relating to press freedom and the independence of public media be taken in accordance with EU law.

Critics said Orban presided over a gradual disappearance of independent media with dozens of newspapers and broadcasters critical of Orban changing hands in recent years.

The Central European Press and Media Foundation conglomerate created by Orban loyalists in 2018 has more than 400 outlets, from Echo TV and Hir TV, to news sites and regional newspapers.

Undoing that legacy may not be easy. Poland's pro-European government led by Donald Tusk took public news channel TVP Info off air after coming to power in late 2023 and dismissed state media executives citing a need to restore impartiality.

Polish public media was put into liquidation, but continues to operate, after the former nationalist president, allied with Tusk's main political rivals, vetoed the government's spending proposals for public media financing.