Magyar has vowed a reset with Brussels to try to secure around €10 billion in EU funds frozen as a result of backsliding over human rights and the rule of law in recent years.
The center-right Hungarian flew to Brussels for talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week as the new administration scrambles to meet an August deadline to show progress on reforms or risk losing access to the money altogether.
Tisza, formed by Magyar in 2020 after he left Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party, won 141 of the 200 available parliamentary seats in April’s nationwide vote, giving the party the two-thirds supermajority required to make constitutional changes.
Orbán, along with many of his top allies, has said he will not take his seat in the new parliament, but made an appearance Friday on a Hungarian-language YouTube channel to insist he would face any investigation into his conduct and is innocent of any wrongdoing.
However, the departure of Orbán — who had consistently used his veto in the European Council to block support for Ukraine and oppose sanctions on Russia — comes as his longtime ally, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, doubles down on support for the Kremlin.
Fico was the only EU leader to fly to Moscow on Saturday for a visit coinciding with Russia’s Victory Day events, which are taking place this year without the usual parade of tanks and rocket launchers as a result of dwindling supply of hardware and the risk of Ukrainian drones.