Péter Magyar was sworn in Saturday as Hungary's new prime minister, marking the end of Viktor Orbán's 16-year rule and promising to restore democratic institutions, repair ties with the European Union, and recover billions in public funds allegedly misused during the previous government's tenure.
Magyar's center-right Tisza party won a historic landslide victory in parliamentary elections last month, securing more votes and seats than any party in Hungary's post-Communist history. The win gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority and 141 seats in the 199-seat parliament, while Orbán's Fidesz-KDNP coalition was reduced to 52 seats, down from 135, and the far-right Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party holds six seats.
A Celebration of Democratic Renewal
Thousands of Hungarians gathered on Kossuth Square outside Parliament to celebrate what Magyar called a "regime-change" moment. Many waved Hungarian and EU flags and wore Tisza T-shirts as the 199 representatives took their oaths of office at around 11 a.m. local time. Orbán was not among them for the first time since Hungary's first post-Communist Parliament was formed in 1990.
Erzsébet Medve, 68, who traveled from Miskolc in north-eastern Hungary, said, "This is the first time I feel like it's good to be Hungarian," adding, "I feel like I could cry." As a school teacher, she had long watched in frustration as Orbán and his Fidesz government left the education system deprived of funds. Marianna Szűcs, 70, sitting next to her, said she hoped Hungary would become a more livable country and said, "Now we feel like our children and grandchildren have a future here."
Cheers erupted when the newly elected speaker of the house, Ágnes Forsthoffer, announced that the EU flag would be returned to the building after it was taken down by Fidesz in 2014. The EU flag was raised on the Parliament building's facade Saturday afternoon for the first time since Orbán's government removed it in 2014.
Promises of Justice and Reconciliation
In a speech to lawmakers after being sworn in, Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer who founded Tisza in 2024 after years as an insider in Orbán's party, said he would not use his office to "rule" Hungary, "but to serve my homeland." He said, "I'm not standing here because I'm different from anyone else in the country. I stand here because millions of Hungarians decided that they want change. And this trust that we have received is both a weight of honor and a moral obligation, but also a wonderful feeling."
Magyar told voters they had "given us a mandate to open a new chapter in Hungary's history." He added, "We must understand, however, that there can be no new beginning without reconciliation. There can be no reconciliation without justice. And there can be no justice without confronting the past."
Restoring Democratic Institutions and EU Relations
Magyar has vowed to restore democratic institutions and governmental checks and balances that were heavily eroded during Orbán's rule, and to clamp down on alleged corruption. He has promised to repair Hungary's ties with the EU, which Orbán had pushed to a breaking point, and to restore Hungary's place among Western democracies, whose standing had been called into question as Orbán drifted ever closer to Russia.
Unlocking about 17 billion euros, or $20 billion, of EU funds frozen during Orbán's time in office over rule-of-law and corruption concerns is among the incoming prime minister's top priorities, and the money is needed to help jump-start Hungary's struggling economy, which has stagnated for the past four years. Magyar also vowed to work with the EU to unlock billions in frozen EU funds.
Magyar's government is expected to transform political dynamics within the European Union, where Orbán had frequently vetoed key decisions, most recently concerning support for neighboring Ukraine. Magyar has also vowed to suspend the news services of Hungary's public broadcaster, widely seen as a mouthpiece of Orbán's party, until objectivity can be restored. He plans to form a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds misused during Orbán's tenure. Magyar had also met twice with EU officials and sent back the millions of Hungarian forints donated to him by an Orbán-linked supporter.
Historic Representation
Hints of the change were symbolically laced through the plans for the swearing-in, including several anthems to pay tribute to Hungary's EU membership, its sizeable Roma minority, and ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries. The lawyer Vilmos Kátai-Németh was to become the country's first visually impaired minister, taking on the portfolio of social and family affairs. More than a quarter of lawmakers will be women, a record high in the country's post-communist history.
Budapest's liberal mayor, Gergely Karácsony, wrote on social media: "Teachers fired, civilians and journalists humiliated, small churches torn apart. We can finally leave this era behind us – but first, let us remember the everyday heroes and express our gratitude with a farewell to the system."
Why This Matters:
Magyar's swearing-in represents a pivotal moment for millions of Hungarians who endured years of democratic erosion, underfunded public services, and alleged government corruption. Teachers like Erzsébet Medve watched their profession starved of resources while billions in EU funds remained frozen over rule-of-law concerns. The restoration of the EU flag to Parliament and the promise to unlock 17 billion euros in frozen funds signal a commitment to rejoining the community of democratic nations and investing in Hungary's struggling economy. For families like Marianna Szűcs's, who feared their children had no future in Hungary, the change offers hope that democratic accountability, transparent governance, and restored ties with Europe can create opportunities that were unavailable during 16 years of increasingly authoritarian rule. The new government's promise to investigate alleged corruption and restore institutional checks and balances addresses fundamental questions about who benefits from public resources and whether ordinary citizens have a voice in their government.