MCC Brussels received lavish funding from Budapest, but Hungary’s new PM is launching an investigation

Under glittering chandeliers in a neoclassical ballroom, guests took their seats. It was 10am and scores of people had gathered at a private members’ club in Brussels for a conference to mark 250 years of American independence, organised by Viktor Orbán’s favourite thinktank in the EU capital, MCC Brussels.

Opening the one-day event, the MCC director, Frank Furedi, said the 250th anniversary had “really escaped the attention of a European audience” in a speech that lauded the founding fathers before launching a sweeping attack on Europe’s “incompetent political class”.

Das liberale Budapest wurde lange von Orbán drangsaliert. Besonders stark war der ultrakonservative Druck auf die LGBTQ-Community. Jetzt schöpfen viele Hoffnung. Doch auch mit der neuen Regierung könnte es Konflikte geben.

Das Parlament in Budapest beschließt: Wer mehr als acht Jahre regiert hat, darf kein Ministerpräsident mehr werden. Das gilt für den Langzeit-Premier Orbán, aber auch für seinen Nachfolger Magyar.

Ungarns Regierungschef Magyar will Staatspräsident Sulyok aus dem Amt jagen, weil dieser den antidemokratischen Kurs seines Vorgängers geduldet habe. Der Machtkampf ist eröffnet.

New PM Péter Magyar calls policy a sign of ‘social justice’ after years of political loyalty being rewarded with economic opportunity

In a dimly lit television studio, one of Hungary’s richest men is on the verge of tears. It is early May, weeks after the general election that ended Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power, and the advertising mogul Gyula Balásy has an announcement to make.

Balásy tells the interviewer that he has just surrendered his businesses to the state, along with a chunk of his private savings. He has even brought along a notarised deed – a legal document setting out the change of ownership.

Ein Comeback der FDP ist möglich, sagt der Politikberater Josef Lentsch. Die Partei braucht dafür Disziplin und Leidensfähigkeit – und kann sich einiges von anderen Parteien abschauen.

Decision comes as police announce policy U-turn to allow Pride parade to take place in Budapest

The EU is to release more than €16bn to Hungary that had been frozen under the rule of Viktor Orbán, with Ursula von der Leyen hailing the “winds of change” in the country since the election of Péter Magyar last month.

The decision, described as a “historic breakthrough” by the new prime minister, comes as police in Hungary have said they will allow next month’s Pride parade in Budapest to take place. Last year they sought to block the event on the orders of the government of the rightwing Orbán.

Ungarns neuer Premier muss rasch Reformen durchsetzen, um gesperrte EU-Milliarden zu erhalten. Kommissionschefin von der Leyen kommt ihm entgegen.

Rauschhaft hat Ungarn im April den Sturz Viktor Orbáns gefeiert. Doch lässt sich das alte System so schnell abschütteln? Reise durch ein Land, das gerade versucht, sich die Demokratie zurückzuholen.

Since Péter Magyar’s election victory he has vowed to reverse withdrawal from court before it took effect

Lawmakers in Hungary have voted overwhelmingly for the country to remain a member of the international criminal court, reversing a decision made by the previous government of Viktor Orbán.

Wednesday’s vote came days before the country was poised to become the only EU member state not to recognise the jurisdiction of the global tribunal, which aims to prosecute those accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Péter Magyar’s draft amendment would prevent his predecessor from returning to the role

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Hungary’s new government, led by Péter Magyar, has put forward a constitutional amendment that would limit prime ministers to a maximum of eight years in office, in effect barring Viktor Orbán from returning to the role.

The draft amendment was submitted on Wednesday, just over a week after the new government took office. It marked Magyar and his Tisza party’s first step in dismantling a constitution that was unilaterally rewritten and amended more than a dozen times as Orbán and his Fidesz party worked to turn Hungary into what they called a “petri dish for illiberalism”.

Campaigners say symbolism of Magyar inauguration must translate into real change for Roma rights after years of Orbán discrimination

The clutch of young Roma boys in black bow ties were lined up beneath the ornate arches and royal frescoes of Hungary’s dazzling parliament. Moments after Péter Magyar was sworn in, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, the young musicians launched into the unofficial anthem of Roma in Hungary, leaving many MPs wiping away tears.

It was an extraordinary moment – one that fused the nationwide hope for change with the longstanding aspirations of the country’s most marginalised community. Roma rights campaigners have seized the moment, calling on the new government to ensure that the symbolism of last weekendtranslates into real change.

Zsolt Hegedűs ging viral mit seiner Einlage nach dem Wahlsieg über Viktor Orbán. Nun wird’s ungleich komplizierter: Der Mediziner soll das lebensgefährlich ineffiziente Gesundheitssystem flottmachen.

Young, mostly Roma, members of the Sugo Tambura band realised their dream on Saturday by performing the Roma hymn at Hungary's parliament. The new prime minister, Péter Magyar, kept the promise he made to the children when he visited their village on the campaign trail. Roma rights campaigners have seized the moment, calling on the new government to ensure that the symbolism translates into real change

The new government in Budapest has already made an impact in Brussels. At home, the new prime minister is so far doing and saying the right things

The transformative impact of Péter Magyar’s historic election victory over Viktor Orbán is already being felt in Brussels. On Monday, two days after Mr Magyar was sworn in as Hungary’s new prime minister, his new pro-EU government lifted the veto which for over a year has prevented the EU imposing sanctions on violent Israeli settlers. This followed a similar breakthrough on a long-delayed £78bn loan to Ukraine, which Mr Orbán had also blocked. At a critical geopolitical moment, the end of an era in Budapest is freeing the EU to act in defence of its interests and values.

Mr Magyar, who inherits a struggling economy stifled by years of cronyism and corruption, will hope and expect that the benefits of rapprochement cut both ways. In total, around £17bn of EU development funds to Hungary remain off-limits, following Mr Orbán’s refusal to address multiple transgressions of EU law. Agreement on the disbursement of around £10bn needs to be reached by the end of August.

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