Hungary-EU relations to see a thaw - political analyst

RIGA - The head of Hungary's conservative Tisza party, Peter Magyar, will not put obstacles in the way of the European Union (EU) assistance loan to Ukraine, will improve relations with the bloc and move away from relations with Russia, political analyst Andris Kudors told LETA.

He said that Magyar is a center-right politician, not a leftist or liberal, so the most striking policies of the outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban will be changed in domestic politics, but not everything will be completely overhauled. Kudors stressed that the biggest changes are expected in foreign policy - relations with Russia are set to worsen, even if not to collapse altogether, while relations with Ukraine and the EU will improve.

On Hungary's future relations with Russia, the political analyst argued that despite cooperation on energy with Russia, Hungary has opportunities to buy energy elsewhere. In his view, although this will cost more, the expected thaw in relations with the EU means that Hungary will not lose out overall. The political analyst stressed that Hungary is a recipient of EU funding, not a donor, so Magyar will try to restore the flow of funding from Brussels to Budapest.

The election results show that 37.9 percent of Hungarians still voted for the Orban-led Fidesz party. The political analyst noted that Magyar will have to reckon with Orban's supporters, but it is only a matter of time before he replaces officials loyal to the outgoing prime minister in public administration and possibly changes laws at constitutional level as well.

Kudors noted that socially conservative policies, including support for families, would not be changed because Magyar's election campaign was based on foreign policy and economic themes rather than liberalism. The situation for the media will also improve, according to the political analyst.

He concluded that it would be difficult for Orban to return to power in the next elections, as he has not been able to achieve significant growth in the country during his rule. Moreover, if socially conservative issues are not liberalized too much, Orban will have nothing to offer the population.

Asked about Russia's possible influence in the elections, Kudors said that it was sometimes overestimated and sometimes underestimated. He noted that social platforms and online media are the main instruments of influence, but the language barrier limits effectiveness. While Russia has been active in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, the narrative it has offered has not been sufficient. Furthermore, the Hungarian population values prosperity and has felt negatively affected by the economic situation.

As reported, the opposition conservative Dignity and Freedom Party (Tisza) has won last Sunday's Hungarian parliamentary elections, according to results obtained after almost all the votes were counted.

Tisza, led by Magyar, won 138 out of 199 parliamentary seats, according to the results obtained after counting 98.15 percent of votes.