Europe Without Orbán – No More Veto Excuses

Péter Magyar’s Tisza party has won a constitutional majority, promising change not only for Hungary but for the V4 group and the whole of Europe. Is the European Union ready for this transformation?

Why did Hungarians choose change?

On 12 April 2026, Hungarians said ‘enough’ to Viktor Orban — enough of rising prices, corruption, rule of law violations, the collapse of healthcare system and his  government’s European policy. In exactly this order, according to AtlasIntel research published two days before the elections, as these were the issues Hungarians considered most important in this vote.

Questions of war and peace, global politics and relations with Russia, long used by Orbán to capture the nation’s  attention, turned out to be secondary in the election. This is good news for the entire European Union (EU), though it also raises a key question: will Europe make good use of the change in Hungary?

Péter Magyar and his Tisza party dominated the public debate by focusing on the quality of governance and public services — issues that affect people’s everyday lives. Notably absent from their campaign, however, were foreign policy topics extending beyond Hungary’s domestic horizon, including the crucial renewal of ties with Poland and the rebuilding of the Visegrad Group’s (V4) potential.