Hungary 4/21 — Magyar Péter rewrites the country: New parliament on May 9, Fidesz in disarray, scandals in full swing

Day 9 after the election in Hungary has the character of a state interregnum: still-serving President Tamás Sulyok has called the inaugural session of the new parliament for May 9, incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar is simultaneously assembling the government mosaic and building contacts with the region — and the outgoing Fidesz establishment alternates between petitions, cursing at journalists, and the search for a new leader. An overview of what dominated the Hungarian media today (aside from topics also being covered in parallel by the Slovak and Czech news markets — Iran, Druzhba, the EU loan to Ukraine).

1. New parliament to convene on May 9 — the very day Orbán's mandate officially expires

"New parliament to convene on May 9" — Telex

President Tamás Sulyok announced the date today via Facebook: the Országgyűlés will convene on May 9 at 10:00. That is precisely the day Viktor Orbán's mandate as prime minister formally expires. Magyar's Tisza is simultaneously planning a nationwide rally on Kossuth Square — the transfer of power is meant to have a symbolic public dimension as well. Telex ↗ 444 ↗ Index ↗ Who is Péter Magyar →

2. Magyar meets 17 grammar-school principals — and HVG shows what a government of 16 ministries would look like

"Péter Magyar met with 17 grammar-school principals — everything will be fine" — 444

The incoming prime minister spent the day with principals of selected grammar schools. He announced that the Tisza government considers education a strategic sector and wants to involve every teacher in the reform. The 444 headline is sarcastic — "everything will be fine" is a phrase for something that has yet to be proven. In parallel, HVG360 analyzes the planned government structure: Magyar wants to move to a system of 16 independent ministries with a strong chancellery as coordinator — the model of the first Orbán government (1998). HVG's question: will this actually be cheaper and more efficient than the current "command-and-control" system? 444 ↗ HVG ↗ HVG 360 analysis ↗ Index ↗ The new government's first days →

3. Vučić invited Magyar to Serbia — the regional bloc reshuffles ahead of the inauguration

"Vučić and Magyar spoke by phone — Serbian president invites incoming Hungarian prime minister" — Telex

The Serbian president spoke by phone with the incoming Hungarian prime minister. According to Telex, they discussed energy and minority issues (around 250,000 ethnic Hungarians live in Serbia). That same day, Magyar also spoke by phone with Robert Fico — asking him to repeal the Slovak law invoking the Beneš decrees. The regional bloc is reshuffling even before Magyar's inauguration. Telex ↗ 444 ↗ 444 on Fico ↗ Magyar speaks with Fico for the first time →

4. Takács Péter, outgoing health minister: "F*** you, mother!"

"'[Curse word]!' — Takács responded when asked where the 8 billion forints went" — Index

When a man on an escalator asked him, as he was leaving the building, where the 8 billion forints for Chinese ventilators from the COVID era had disappeared to, the outgoing state secretary for health responded with a vulgar curse and threatened to file a criminal complaint. He claims the whole affair is "just as much a scam as the battery factory in Göd" (a reference to another Fidesz scandal) and says he has never been involved in any corruption case. A symbolic image of an ending era — an official leaving with a curse and a lawsuit threat against a citizen who dares to ask. Index ↗ Telex ↗ HVG ↗

5. MNB case in Kecskemét: not a single witness questioned in a year, prosecution takes over the investigation

"Police questioned no one in the MNB case in Kecskemét for a year, the Prosecutor General's Office takes over the investigation" — Telex

Police in the Kecskemét branch of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) case failed to question a single witness in an entire year. The Prosecutor General is now taking over the investigation. The case revolves around the Kecskemét University foundation, which — apparently in a conflict of interest — lent HUF 127.5 billion interest-free to the asset manager PADME, and the money "disappeared." This is a legacy of the Matolcsy era at the MNB, which Tisza has openly announced it intends to open up. Telex ↗

6. Szombathely: panic over asbestos-contaminated aggregate from Austrian mines

"Panic in Szombathely over asbestos contamination: public spaces closed, masks handed out, property prices falling" — 444

Western Hungary is dealing with an environmental crisis: cheap aggregate from Austrian mines, which may have contained asbestos, ended up in public spaces across the entire region. Authorities in Szombathely are closing parks and footpaths, distributing masks, and local activists are calling on the government to declare a public health emergency. Property prices are falling. The first major regional crisis the new government will have to deal with. 444 ↗

7. Medical Chamber names the "orvosbárók" (doctor barons) — a direct invitation to Magyar to open up healthcare corruption

"The problem can't be solved with one blow — the Hungarian Medical Chamber has proposed how to break the power of the doctor barons" — HVG

The Chamber has issued a discussion paper that openly names the phenomenon of "orvosbárók" and "orvosoligarchák" — narrow groups of doctors with disproportionate financial and political influence in the sector. A survey included in the document suggests the vast majority of doctors share this diagnosis. Magyar's cabinet is receiving a direct invitation to structural healthcare reform — while at the same time the professional body, after years of passivity, is protecting its own position ahead of upcoming negotiations. HVG ↗ 444 ↗

8. Budget test: Magyar wants to spend an extra HUF 600 billion this year alone

"New government wants to spend at least HUF 600 billion extra this year alone" — Telex G7

The economics site G7 (under Telex) calculated the cost of the measures Tisza has promised for the near term — raising pensions, doubling family allowances, and HUF 100,000 for children in need at the start of the school year. The total for 2026 alone: HUF 600 billion (approx. EUR 1.5 billion). The first concrete fiscal calculation raising doubts about whether Magyar can fulfill his pre-election promises within existing budget reserves. Telex G7 ↗ Magyar faces a budget challenge →

9. Fidesz has not pulled itself together — Székesfehérvár defies, a search for a new leader is underway inside

"Cser-Palkovics announces he will not resign" — Telex

The mayor of Székesfehérvár, Cser-Palkovics — a longtime Fidesz cadre politician — has publicly announced he will not step down despite Magyar's call for him to "draw the consequences from the defeat." In parallel, Fidesz-aligned influencer Zsolt Jeszenszky tells Index and HVG that the right needs "a new leader who hears the signs of the times" — in the reading of the Hungarian media, the first open criticism of Orbán from within his own ranks. Internal disintegration on the right is becoming the narrative of the day. Telex ↗ HVG ↗ Index ↗

10. Fidesz launches petition to keep President Sulyok in office — Orbán has already signed

"Petition launched for President Sulyok to stay in office — Viktor Orbán has already signed it" — Index

Magyar had previously publicly called on Sulyok (elected by Fidesz) to resign before the end of his term. The Fidesz faction immediately launched a petition, "Tartson ki, Elnök Úr!" (Hold on, Mr. President!), via the CitizenGO platform, and Orbán has already signed it. Fidesz's argument: without a presidential veto, Tisza's two-thirds majority becomes unchecked. This is Fidesz's first visible power-struggle plan from an opposition position — and it shows which institutional brake the right intends to build its strategy on ahead of the next election. Index ↗ 444 ↗ Telex ↗ Magyar Nemzet ↗

11. Counter-narrative from Magyar Nemzet: "A global left-wing network is being built behind the EU's back"

"A global left-wing network is being built behind the EU's back — what will Brussels say?" — Magyar Nemzet

The pro-government Magyar Nemzet continues, even after the lost election, to frame events within a right-wing interpretation: a summit between Spanish PM Sánchez and Lula, with Alex Soros allegedly as a third "host," is presented as evidence of a "coordinated left-wing network." This is the image Fidesz wants to preserve for its electorate even in opposition — it shows how the right's media ecosystem will operate in the coming months (Magyar Nemzet, Mandiner, public media for as long as Tisza has not taken them over). At the same time, Magyar Nemzet reports that Gergely Prőhle — a former Orbán-era diplomat from 2010 onward — could become the new state secretary for foreign affairs in Magyar's government. Magyar Nemzet ↗ Magyar Nemzet: Prőhle ↗ Von der Leyen pushes Hungary on reforms →

Overall picture: Hungary is going through two parallel processes. Tisza is building state competencies and gathering context from institutional actors (school principals, the Medical Chamber, regional invitations) — a step that was not standard practice in the Orbán era. Fidesz in opposition is simultaneously mobilizing its last levers of power (the petition for the president, refusal to resign at the regional level, the right-wing media narrative), and the internal rift between Orbán loyalists and critics is becoming public. Tisza's post-election honeymoon is colliding with the first fiscal reality faster than the government needs it to.