Viktor Orban said Saturday he will not take a seat in Hungary's new parliament, ending a streak that has stretched without break since 1990 and ceding the floor to the center-right government that ousted him two weeks ago. Orban announced the decision in a Facebook video, saying "Our task now is not in parliament" but in rebuilding the political movement he has led for nearly four decades.
The withdrawal hands incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar an unobstructed first session when the chamber convenes May 9, and clears the way for a Wednesday trip to Brussels where Magyar will press European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to release roughly 10 billion euros in pandemic recovery funds frozen under Orban over rule-of-law disputes.
The exit
Orban's Fidesz party fell from 135 seats to 52 in the April 12 election, while Magyar's Tisza party took 141 of 199 seats — the largest majority in Hungary's post-Communist history, according to the Associated Press. Orban told supporters his party's parliamentary caucus would undergo "radical transformation" and signaled he would seek to remain Fidesz president when the party congress meets in June.
"I have led our community for nearly four decades," Orban said in the video. "This camp has always been the most united and cohesive political community in Hungary."
Brussels track
Magyar said Sunday he would travel to Brussels on Wednesday for informal talks with von der Leyen aimed at unblocking the cohesion and recovery money the European Commission has withheld over corruption and judicial-independence concerns. An end-August deadline applies to about 10 billion euros of the frozen pandemic recovery funding, Reuters reported.
The incoming prime minister has outlined four priority areas his cabinet can move on quickly to satisfy Brussels, including anti-corruption measures and the restoration of media and academic freedoms. The Commission dispatched a high-level delegation led by von der Leyen's chief of staff, Bjorn Seibert, to Budapest for two days of informal talks that ended Saturday.
Markets
The forint has surged and Hungarian assets rallied since the April 12 vote on expectations the funds will flow, Reuters reported. Magyar has also pledged to restore democratic institutions and pursue accountability for corruption that the AP said deteriorated under Orban's tenure.
The counterpoint
Fidesz officials had not publicly contested Magyar's framing of the Brussels talks by press time, and today's wire and lean-left coverage carries no right-leaning Hungarian or European response on whether the incoming government's commitments will satisfy the Commission's rule-of-law conditions. Whether June's Fidesz congress reinstalls Orban as party president, as he suggested it would, will be the first test of his ability to rebuild from outside the chamber.
Magyar's plane lands in Brussels on Wednesday. Hungary's new parliament gavels in May 9.