EU begins talks with Hungary's incoming government
The EU is moving quickly to test whether Hungary?s post-Orban transition can produce a genuine political reset.
EU officials arrived in Budapest on Friday for what were described as high-stakes talks with Hungary\'s incoming government, opening a potentially important new chapter in the bloc\'s relationship with a member state that has spent years in conflict with Brussels.
The timing is significant. Peter Magyar\'s Tisza party won a landslide election victory, ending Viktor Orban\'s 16-year hold on power and giving the new leadership a parliamentary supermajority. That strength could allow Magyar\'s government to amend the constitution and dismantle key features of the political system Orban built during his long rule.
For the EU, the stakes go well beyond symbolism. Brussels has repeatedly clashed with Hungary over democratic standards, media concentration, judicial independence and the handling of EU funds. With Orban now acknowledging that a political era has ended, European officials appear eager to see whether practical progress can be made on disputes that had become deeply entrenched.
Yet uncertainty remains. Orban has indicated that he intends to stay on as leader of his party, suggesting he could continue shaping opposition politics and complicating the transfer of power. The talks therefore serve two purposes at once: they are both an attempt at diplomatic reset and an early test of how durable Hungary\'s political transition will really be.