Hungary’s new prime minister, Peter Magyar, said he is ready to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy next week as he resets his country’s relationship with Europe after ousting his populist predecessor, Viktor Orban.
Visiting Berlin on June 2, Magyar said he was prepared to sit down with Zelenskyy if negotiations on the rights of the Hungarian minority in neighboring Ukraine are completed this week.
Improved relations between Budapest and Kyiv are crucial for the European Union’s continued support for Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, which has included billions of euros in funding for weapons and aid.
Orban, a nationalist, maintained cordial relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and opposed the flow of billions of euros to Ukraine for aid and Ukraine’s EU membership ambitions.
Appearing in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Magyar said: “I can repeat that I am ready to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy sometime early next week, provided we do indeed reach an agreement on these fundamental human rights.
“So far, the negotiations are progressing very encouragingly, and we hope that they may even be concluded at the technical level this week.”
Tour of EU States
Magyar is on his first foreign trip since winning the April election, visiting several heads of EU member states. His tour began last month in Poland and will take him to Paris on June 3 as his government looks to strengthen ties with other EU states after years of rocky relations under Orban.
Since taking office, Magyar has begun adhering to EU policies on several matters, including LGBT issues and immigration. Orban opposed gender ideology and LGBT advocacy and took a firm stance against mass immigration into Hungary, frequently placing him at odds with Brussels.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who openly campaigned for Orban to win, accused the EU of “disgraceful” interference in the Hungarian election, which Brussels denies.
Throughout his premiership, Orban maintained that Ukraine should never be allowed to join the EU and declined to send weapons to aid the country in its war with Russia. He also blocked a loan package worth 90 billion euros from the 27-nation bloc to Kyiv, and he used Hungary’s veto to block EU sanctions against Moscow.
Orban accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt Hungary’s energy supply, which Kyiv denies. His foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, accused Ukraine in February of carrying out an “anti-Hungarian political approach for the last 10 years.”
Funding Flow Unlocked
Magyar’s election win cleared the way for the EU’s 90-billion-euro cash flow to Ukraine.
The new prime minister secured an agreement to unlock 16.4 billion euros of EU recovery and cohesion funds that were frozen under Orban, after he vowed to push ahead with anti-corruption reforms.
Magyar was a staunch loyalist of Orban’s Fidesz party for two decades before a 2024 corruption scandal involving his then-wife, former Justice Minister Judit Varga, prompted him to resign and found his pro-EU Tisza party. He accused the Orban administration of being corrupt and fought the election partly on an anti-graft pledge.
Magyar insists that progress on the rights of 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine to use their native tongue is essential before Budapest will agree to let Ukraine join the EU.
In May, Merz wrote to senior Brussels officials calling for Ukraine to be granted “associate” EU membership as a first step to joining, a proposal Zelenskyy did not welcome because it would not grant Kyiv a voice in the bloc.
“We understand that Budapest wants to clarify bilateral issues first, such as the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine,” Merz said.
“However, this must not be at the expense of European support, nor should it deter us from our goal of formally opening the accession negotiations with Ukraine now with the first chapter.”
‘The Heart of Europe’
Merz welcomed the reset in relations with Budapest following Orban’s 16 consecutive years in power, saying: “Democracy and the rule of law in Hungary are strong again. We trust him to lead Hungary back to the heart of Europe.
“Peter Magyar has proven that the pendulum doesn’t just swing in one direction—towards the illiberal or even authoritarian. It can also swing back, impressively, to the center.”
After visiting Poland, Magyar moved on to Austria, then Germany. After meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, he will host Ireland’s prime minister in Budapest later this week.
Magyar faces an obstacle in his quest to remove Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok, whom he has labeled “Orban’s puppet.”
The prime minister has vowed to amend the constitution to remove Sulyok, whom he has accused of failing in his duties while Orban was in power. The presidential office in Hungary is largely ceremonial, although the president has a role in making sure legislation is signed into law.
Reuters contributed to this report
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