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

HUNGARY - In Brief 03 May 2026 by Istvan Racz
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 have to do to get the currently blocked EU funds released. The mood between them was very friendly, with Mme von der Leyen stating that the Commission will provide all the help it can to the new government for their efforts to get the funds to be successful.The meeting with Mr. Costa ended similarly, although the mood there was rumoured to have been less amicable. The head of the Council has allegedly tried to get Mr. Magyar to give his unconditional support to the opening of EU accession talks with Ukraine. However, Mr. Magyar insisted that Hungary's consent will depend on Ukraine restoring their Hungarian minority's rights, which essentially refers to the latter's right for the free use of their native language in various fields (education, public administration).Some progressive-liberal commentators have appeared disappointed about this condition set by the Hungarian side. We would say they probably had not paid attention to what Mr. Magyar said regarding this subject previously. Even though the Hungarian minority in Ukraine is not very numerous (maybe some 60-80 thousand people left in practice), Mr. Magyar does not have a free hand politically. Should he not insist on the restoration of minority rights at the level which used to exist earlier, Fidesz would get a major gift immediately, a kind of moral capital on the basis of which they could start a noisy comeback in domes...

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