.png)
6 hours ago
4
'New man is going to do good job,' Trump says as he unexpectedly distances himself from Orbán
US president Donald Trump told ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl he was not concerned about Viktor Orbán’s loss in Hungary, and that he actually likes incoming prime minister Péter Magyar.
“I think the new man’s going to do a good job – he’s a good man,” Trump told the reporter, Reuters reported.
Trump told the reporter he did not know if it would have made a difference if he had gone to Hungary instead of vice-president JD Vance to campaign for Orban.
“He was behind substantially,” Trump said. “I wasn’t that involved in this one. Viktor’s a good man, though.”
Trump’s claim he “wasn’t involved in this one” will obviously come as, erm, a bit of a surprise given his actual heavy involvement in the election campaign, including several endorsements of Orbán on social media and his decision to send JD Vance to Budapest in the last days before the vote.
Many commentators wondered how quickly the US president would move on from Orbán given his electoral defeat to avoid being seen as supporting – in his language – “losers,” but I don’t think anyone would have predicted it happening just so quickly.
But Magyar clearly enjoyed the praise, posting Trump’s comments on his social media.
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Hungary’s voters shunned Orbán – but it may be too early to celebrate end of Europe’s far right
Jon Henley
Europe correspondent
Analysts warn that while the result of Hungary’s parliamentary ballot may have dealt Europe’s far-right populists a temporary blow, it was far from marking a turn of the national-populist tide – and opponents would be foolish to see it as such.
“Of course there is a symbolic element,” said Sarah de Lange, an expert on the far right at the Netherlands’ Leiden University. “Europe’s longest-serving far-right leader, the inspiration for them all, was defeated – even when the system was rigged in his favour.”
But, de Lange said, Orbán’s defeat – after his fellow nationalists had rallied publicly around him in Budapest – was “not the defeat of his illiberal ideological model for how to organise a democracy when a far-right party is in power. That was not what motivated Hungary’s voters.”
Instead, the drivers were practical and above all domestic: anger at corruption benefiting Orbán’s cronies; frustration with high prices, low wages and deteriorating public services including education and health; and a natural desire for change after four consecutive Orbán governments.
So the result “may dampen the far right’s mood for a bit,” said Gabriela Greilinger, a doctoral researcher specialising in Europe’s far right at the University of Georgia, particularly since Orbán “was such a central figure in bringing the global far right together” at events such as CPAC Hungary.
There may, analysts suggest, be more concrete – but still limited – consequences if Magyar, as he has promised, can restrict the funding of conservative thinktanks such as the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) and Danube Institute, which Orbán endowed with hundreds of millions of euros in state and corporate funding.
“The MCC is the best-funded thinktank in Europe,” Greilinger said. “It actively seeks to influence European policy in Brussels, it has outposts in several other countries and it funds high-profile conservative researchers, including from the UK.”
The investigative outlet Democracy for Sale has detailed multiple links between Hungarian conservative thinktanks and prominent figures on the British right, such as the GB News presenter and unsuccessful Reform UK parliamentary candidate Matt Goodwin, who is listed as a “visiting fellow” of the MCC.
Beyond that, noted de Lange, the election result is also likely to lead to tensions within Europe’s far-right over who, if anyone, should emerge as their next figurehead: a “mainstreamer” such as Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, or an EU-bashing “conflictualiser” in the Orbán mould.
“But overall, we really shouldn’t overestimate the impact,” Greilinger said. “The far right succeeds electorally because of domestic issues: this wasn’t the defeat of the far right, it was the defeat of Orbán’s kleptocratic, clientelistic, corrupt government.”
EU 'ready to implement' €80bn loan to Ukraine as soon as Hungary drops veto, EU commissioner says
Meanwhile, on the EU’s side, there is a growing expectation that the new Hungarian administration will drop Viktor Orbán’s veto blocking the €90bn loan for Ukraine.
The EU’s defence commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, remarked today that “a new wind is blowing” in Hungary, as he stressed the EU is “ready to implement the loan as soon as we get the green light.”
For what it’s worth, Magyar appeared to suggest he would indeed drop the veto – as long as Hungary is allowed to keep its opt-out and will not have to contribute to the loan, as agreed with the previous administration in December.
Hungary 'can only comply with conditions that are good for Hungarian people' to get EU funds flowing, Magyar says
The one issue that is likely to dominate the early discussions between Hungary and the EU is how the new government will want to engage with the European Commission to unfreeze €17bn of frozen EU funds for Hungary.
Speaking to reporters this morning, Magyar pointed to the urgency of the this discussion, but also assertively stressed:
“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’s remarks signalled an effort to narrow down the list of conditions ahead of a deadline he has described as “extremely tight“.
Reuters said that a European Commission spokesperson was not immediately available for comment to give more details on the talks.
'New man is going to do good job,' Trump says as he unexpectedly distances himself from Orbán
US president Donald Trump told ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl he was not concerned about Viktor Orbán’s loss in Hungary, and that he actually likes incoming prime minister Péter Magyar.
“I think the new man’s going to do a good job – he’s a good man,” Trump told the reporter, Reuters reported.
Trump told the reporter he did not know if it would have made a difference if he had gone to Hungary instead of vice-president JD Vance to campaign for Orban.
“He was behind substantially,” Trump said. “I wasn’t that involved in this one. Viktor’s a good man, though.”
Trump’s claim he “wasn’t involved in this one” will obviously come as, erm, a bit of a surprise given his actual heavy involvement in the election campaign, including several endorsements of Orbán on social media and his decision to send JD Vance to Budapest in the last days before the vote.
Many commentators wondered how quickly the US president would move on from Orbán given his electoral defeat to avoid being seen as supporting – in his language – “losers,” but I don’t think anyone would have predicted it happening just so quickly.
But Magyar clearly enjoyed the praise, posting Trump’s comments on his social media.
Jakub Krupa
So let’s bring you Trump’s (somewhat unexpected) comments on Hungary then…
Hungarian president meets with party leaders as Magyar mocks Orbán in bizarre social clip
For what it’s worth, president Sulyok also met with the outgoing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and the leader of the far-right Our Homeland party, László Toroczkai.
In a very brief statement, he said on Facebook that they spoke about the first tasks in the post-election period, including setting the date for the inaugural sitting of the new parliament.
Amusingly, it also emerged that as Sulyok was speaking with Magyar earlier in the morning, they spotted Orbán reading something on the terrace of the PM’s office nearby.
In a bizarre social media clip, Magyar is seen sort-of waving to the outgoing PM, reproducing a well-known meme, but he got no reaction.
In a mocking post accompanying the video, he wondered if Orbán was so busy reading his farewell speech, a sports daily, or Trump’s comments overnight which appeared to unexpectedly praise Magyar…
Magyar says he will suspend state media news broadcasts
Reuters has more details on Péter Magyar’s appearance on Hungarian state media this morning.
The Tisza leader has said he will suspend state media news broadcasts, which critics at home and abroad say became a government mouthpiece under Viktor Orbán, and restore media freedoms after his cabinet takes power.
“Every Hungarian deserves a public service media that broadcasts the truth,” Magyar said on Kossuth state radio, where Orbán 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,” Magyar added.
“We have just witnessed the last days of a propaganda machine. After the formation of the Tisza government, we will suspend the news services of the ‘public’ media until its public service character is restored,” he wrote on X after he was interviewed on state television.
Morning opening: Magyar meets president and goes on state media as he plans break with Orbán era
Jakub Krupa
Election winner Péter Magyar has confirmed work is under way to form the new Hungarian government by mid-May after holding talks with the country’s president, Tamás Sulyok, a loyalist of the outgoing prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
The two leaders discussed the timetable for new parliament, which can be formed not before 4 May when the results of the Sunday’s vote need to be certified by, with Magyar saying he expected the new government to be in place by mid-May.
He added that he expected to hold further informal talks with the European Commission on the new administration’s plans to restore the rule of law in the coming weeks in a bid to accelerate the process of accessing billions of euros in funds frozen after Orbán’s repeated clashes with Brussels.
Magyar also doubled down on his suggestions that Sulyok should resign from the office as part of a broader overhaul of state institutions.
In a sign of domestic tensions to come as part of the transition, the Tisza leader suggested that the president, who is elected by parliament and plays a largely ceremonial role, should step down or face the prospect of being removed from the office by the new majority.
In a post on X after the meeting, he said:
“[Sulyok] is unworthy of representing the unity of the Hungarian nation. He is unfit to serve as the guardian of legality. He is not fit to serve as a moral authority or a role model.”
Earlier today, Magyar also appeared on the state broadcaster, broadly seen as a propaganda mouthpiece for the outgoing regime, confirming plans to suspend its news operations as one of the first tasks of the new government.
He repeated his plans to put a structure in place that would ensure unbiased coverage after years of what he said was pro-government propaganda.
In a highly symbolic moment, it was his first visit to the studios of Kossuth Rádió and M1 TV in 18 months, with Magyar saying it was ironic that he needed to win a election to be invited by the public broadcaster.
It’s Wednesday, 15 April 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
