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Tisza had set up its government cabinet and taken over the administration by early May, which represents record high speed historically. No extraordinary events or disruptions occurred, despite earlier widespread fears that Fidesz could hesitate to transfer power. However, Tisza’s takeover has...

The new government has effectively started fiscal adjustment

HUNGARY · In Brief · 17 May 2026

This year's fiscal deficit (by Eurostat definition) is officially expected to reach 6.8% of GDP, against the original 3.7% target, which was amended later to 4.5% and then even later to 5%. This is not an estimate from the new Finance Ministry; it is the estimate with which the outgoing economy m...

Dr. Carter is going home tonight (and some other timely updates)

HUNGARY · In Brief · 13 May 2026

Dr. Carter (see picture below) is a fictional character from the once world famous television series ER (Emergency Room), of course, arguably the favourite of that show among the Hungarian audience. What makes mentioning him timely today is that Hungary has also had its own ER series over the pas...

Domestic political risk has fallen markedly: Péter Magyar elected for prime minister today

HUNGARY · In Brief · 09 May 2026

The newly elected National Assembly held its first session today. Péter Magyar was elected for prime minister, the institutional structure of the new government, meaning the list of ministries, is now approved, and the new government cabinet is expected to be up and running by May 12, Tuesday. Th...

The Orbán regime shows early signs of disintegration

HUNGARY · In Brief · 06 May 2026

It is still three days to go until the first session of the newly elected parliament, at which Mr. Magyar is supposed to be elected as prime minister. Yet it is spectacular that outgoing PM Orbán's power machine does not seem to work exactly as a precise Swiss-made clockwork any more. Initially, ...

Magyar in Brussels, Varga on HUF speculation, and politically driven capital flight

HUNGARY · In Brief · 03 May 2026

Incoming PM Magyar visited the EU headquarters in the middle of last week, seeing the heads of the Commission and the Council separately. With Mme von den Leyen, they agreed that Mr. Magyar will return to Brussels, already as PM, on May 25, to strike a political deal on what exactly Hungary will ...

Tisza won with an extraordinarily strong mandate

HUNGARY · Forecast · 29 Apr 2026

The opposition Tisza party, founded only two years ago, achieved a sweeping victory at the regular parliamentary election held early this month. Actually, it won the strongest mandate seen since the fall of communism in 1990. Tisza now has a comfortable two-thirds supermajority, meaning it can am...

Governor Varga did not appear to be pushing for a stronger forint at today's press conference

HUNGARY · In Brief · 28 Apr 2026

The Monetary Council held the base rate unchanged at 6.25% today. The Council discussed only the 'hold' proposal, and the vote was unanimous. This was not at all surprising; the more interesting part of the day was Governor Varga's press conference. There will likely be different interpretations ...

No change in the MNB base rate is expected from tomorrow's monthly rate-setting meeting

HUNGARY · In Brief · 27 Apr 2026

Portfolio.hu, the economic news site that regularly surveys analyst views, is saying that analysts typically do not expect a change in the MNB's 6.25% base rate at the monetary Council's monthly meeting tomorrow. They also added that the majority of the analysts they asked think that a further fo...

Orbán resigned from parliament but wants to remain president of Fidesz

HUNGARY · In Brief · 26 Apr 2026

Outgoing PM Orbán gave back his parliamentary mandate, which he obtained as No. 1 on Fidesz's party list, yesterday. This means that for the first time since 1990, Mr. Orbán will not be present as a representative in the National Assembly. Fidesz will have the right to nominate another representa...

Oil flows again through Druzhba towards Hungary; outgoing PM Orbán revoked his effective veto on the EU's €90bn loan to Ukraine

HUNGARY · In Brief · 23 Apr 2026

President Zelenskyy personally announced the other day that Ukraine had completed fixing the now infamous pumping station on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which had been inactive since January 27, due to a missile or drone hit coming from the Russian army. This announcement was followed by technical ...

Tisza is moving forward on all fronts

HUNGARY · In Brief · 21 Apr 2026

The war-hit pumping station of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which has been inactive since January 27, miraculously recovered just a few days after the election in Hungary. There is no connection between the two events, of course. Technical tests have reportedly started today and oil may start to flo...

All votes are counted: Tisza gained further seats over the last two days

HUNGARY · In Brief · 18 Apr 2026

Vote-counting is now over. In the end, Tisza won 141 seats in parliament (70.9%), on 53.2% of the popular vote, whereas Fidesz has 52 seats (26.1%) on 38.6% of the popular vote. Mi Hazánk kept the remaining 6 seats in the National Assembly. This means that Tisza has a comfortable two-thirds major...

Eurozone entry criteria to be met by 2030

HUNGARY · In Brief · 17 Apr 2026

Tisza's candidate for finance minister, Mr. Kármán said yesterday that the new government will aim at meeting euro introduction criteria by 2030. In short term, the new government is going to review the fiscal situation, and then propose the amendment of the 2026 budget. As part of that proposal,...

Power transfer proceeding in an orderly way so far

HUNGARY · In Brief · 16 Apr 2026

President of the Republic Tamás Sulyok received the heads of the three parties elected to the new parliament separately yesterday. Following the meetings, he announced that the new parliament may be convened first in early May, and at that meeting, he will nominate Péter Magyar for prime minister...