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Hungarian election winner Magyar vows to rebuild EU relationship after stunning defeat of Viktor Orbán – Europe live | World news

Published

4 months ago

April 13, 2026

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Magyar pledges to lead constructive EU policy and seek compromises on tricky issues

After some 20 minutes, Magyar is turning towards foreign policy now.

He says the Hungarians are proud to be a part of the EU and Nato, even as he acknowledges some of the EU’s flaws with its networks of lobbies and interests.

“It’s a complicated bureaucratic, compromise-seeking … organisation,” he says.

But he insists “you can find compromises” that will work for Hungary.

“I am sure we will have debates … but we are not going there to fight for the sake of fighting so we can write on billboards that Brussels is evil and needs to be stopped,” he says in another swipe at Orbán.

Again: expect him to get asked about what these compromises on key issues – such as the rule of law, migration and Ukraine – could look like when we eventually get to Q&A.

Key events

Magyar then gets asked about Poland as he hails his special relationship with the Polish government and plans to make Warsaw his first foreign trip, hopefully in early May.

He jokes that he will want to meet with the country’s conversative president, Karol Nawrocki, too – even though he didn’t congratulate him on the win and appeared to support Orbán’s relection.

He also gets asked about two former Polish government ministers evading the Polish justice system in Budapest. He jokingly advises them not to buy too much furniture from Ikea and don’t get too comfortable in the capital.

He then also makes similar points about the importance of regional cooperation with Austria and other countries in CEE.

Jakub Krupa

For all the enthusiasm among Europe’s liberals and progressives in response to Tisza’s win last night, his comments on Russia will serve as a handy reminder that there still will be some fairly big issues in which Hungary will have a distinctively different view to the EU mainsteam.

That list is likely to include Russia, Ukraine, energy, and migration policies, among others.

Magyar says Hungary ‘cannot change geography’ on energy as he hints at removing sanctions against Russia if Ukraine war ends

Magyar turns to energy for a bit, and he says that Hungary “cannot change geography” and will need to figure out a way forward on energy imports, also from Russia.

He says:

Russia will be there, Hungary will be here. But we will try to diversity.

He adds that “that does not mean that we want to detach ourselves; but we want to buy oil at low prices securely.”

“But with the Druzhba pipeline, the Friendship oil pipeline and what’s happened there, we can see that it threatens Hungary’s energy supply; what’s happening in Tehran in Iran threatens our energy supply,” so Hungary will need to “diversity.”

But here comes the tricky bit.

He then says he is hopeful that the Russian aggression of Ukraine would end soon and “then immediately, Europe will lift the sanctions, because we are neighbours to Russia and it is not in Europe’s interests to buy raw materials at higher prices because that destroys our competitiveness.”

“I understand the moral issues … or principles, and I will protect human rights as much as possible, … but let’s not shoot ourselves in the leg,” he says.

Expect these comments to get some scrutiny as there is limited appetite for removing the sanctions or returning to normal energy imports from Russia.

Magyar gets now a question about his earlier comments about Szijjártó and his allegations (14:39) that the foreign minister is trying to get rid of some confidential documents ahead of the government change.

He doesn’t give away too much and merely says it comes from “an insider” at the ministry, with many officials turning to Tisza to blow the whistle on the outgoing government’s actions.

Magyar gets asked about his phone call with Orbán last night, in which the outgoing PM congratulated him on the election win.

He tells a story of how the call came about, via an earlier call from one of Orban’s closest aides Gergely Gulyás, his former friend from his time at Fidesz and the godfather of his son.

In a classic Millenial moment, he says he asked for the last four digits of Orbán’s phone number in return, because he otherwise doesn’t take phone calls from unknown numbers.

Fair enough.

Turns out it was a very short conversation, though.

Magyar promises two-term limit for PM, effectively blocking potential Orbán return

Magyar is now talking about his future government and top jobs, but says he won’t reveal the key names just yet.

But he talks about the structure of government more broadly.

Earlier he said he would like to introduce a two-term limit for the prime minister, and commit to it in the constitution.

He now says that it would also apply retrospectively, effectively banning Orbán – who served in the top role for 20 years in total – from becoming a prime minister ever again.

He then talks about his plans to deal with corruption and to end political interference in police and administrative procedures. He wants a new anti-corruption office, tasked with recovery of fraudulently spent money, to be up and running by June.

‘We will not take unlawful measures to restore rule of law,’ Magyar commits

Curiously, discussing the president’s future, Magyar makes it clear that despite the two-third majority in the new parliament, he will be careful about how he uses it and wouldn’t move

“We will not take unlawful measures to restore the rule of law that way,” he declares.

But he repeats that Sulyok should essentially be gone from office before the 70th anniversary of the 1956 revolution in October.

Magyar repeats call for president Sulyok to resign from office

Magyar repeats his call to get president Tamás Sulyok to step down from his office, as he calls him a “puppet” of Viktor Orbán.

“He was appointed to sign everything; every document that he is presented with – whether it’s the menu or the constitution or the laws – so we don’t need people like that. To me, he is not the president,” he says.

Magyar says the report about Szijjártó offers a hint at how difficult this transition from the Orbán era will be.

He says normally an incoming PM gets a national security briefing from the outgoing leader, but he does not expect to get one.

He alleges there are lots of legal documents that the Hungarian public or even he don’t know about, including on international obligations and loans overseas.

“We will have to get our hands on all of the documents that haven’t been shredded” to figure out the detail, he says.

He says his government will try to make them public whenever possible and not breaching confidentiality clauses to put more light on the dealings of the outgoing government.

And with that, we finally go into the Q&A.

In a nice touch, Magyar’s spokesperson gives the floor to independent Hungarian media first in recognition of their hard work under the previous government.

I will bring you slightly less detailed coverage of questions on domestic issues – he is currently discussing the value of holding open cabinet meetings – but fear not, I will bring you all the key lines on foreign affairs.

Hungarian foreign minister is destroying documents on EU sanctions, Magyar alleges

Oh, that’s explosive.

At one point during the press conference, Magyar got a piece of paper with a message on it which clearly disrupted his flow.

He pauses and tells reporters he has learned that the country’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó, who recently attracted scrutiny over his ties with Russia, is reportedly at the ministry of foreign affairs “destroying documents that have to do with sanctions” against Russia.

“They are shredding documents, and that’s not going to help them – but this is just to give you some context about the situation in Hungary,” he says.

He compares it to attempts to destroy public record “just like in the old communist age.”

Magyar pledges to lead constructive EU policy and seek compromises on tricky issues

After some 20 minutes, Magyar is turning towards foreign policy now.

He says the Hungarians are proud to be a part of the EU and Nato, even as he acknowledges some of the EU’s flaws with its networks of lobbies and interests.

“It’s a complicated bureaucratic, compromise-seeking … organisation,” he says.

But he insists “you can find compromises” that will work for Hungary.

Again: expect him to get asked about what these compromises on key issues – such as the rule of law, migration and Ukraine – could look like when we eventually get to Q&A.

Magyar defends ‘good kind of populism’ as he urges EU leaders to reconnect with electorate

Magyar also makes a point to talk about how much time he spent on the campaign trail, meeting with ordinary people.

He says he gets asked about why his campaign was so successful, and says “the secret lies in that politics is about people, and this is what many politicians forgot.”

“I can see that many places in Europe, there are crises in government, one after the other. Mainstream politicians are frightened that extreme forces are gaining more and more ground and the party system is overturned in many European countries.

I can send a message, as I was asked personally by Western European politicians about the secret: you have to stay with the people. You have to put the work into it, whether you like it or not. I visited 700 towns and villages in two years. There are towns and villages some I visited seven times.

I was on Hungarian streets and squares more than in my own bed in my own flat. This meant that I met my three sons far less than I would have liked to.

We went around Hungary. I was there in the smallest settlements. I met many million people. I looked into the eyes of hundreds of 1000s of people. We shook our hands and we asked, How can we help? How can we prove that politics can be beautiful, it can be frank, it can be honest, it can be fair, and it can be useful.

Many people can say this is populism. If it is, it’s a good kind of populism, because this is what politics should be about, not politically correct talk, talk, but honesty, humanity.”

He then goes on to say that Facebook posts and social media frenzies will never replace that person-to-person element of politics.

Magyar says Hungary ‘stands for peace,’ criticises Orbán’s focus on foreign affairs

Magyar also pushes back on what he calls “lies” of the previous government, saying that the new government will also be committed to peace in Europe, despite scaremongering posters plastered all over Hungary and “Goebbels-like, North Korea-like propaganda” about his intentions towards Ukraine.

“In Hungary, nobody wants war. Hungary stands for peace. The Tisza government will be the government of peace,” he says.

I am sure he will get questions on what is specifically means for Hungary’s relations with Ukraine later.

He then takes a swipe at Orbán for being too focused on foreign affairs – with Russia, Ukraine, the US and Iran – and not on resolving domestic issues facing the electorate.

“He spoke about everything except issues, problems that affected the Hungarian people and the Hungarian people said no to all this,” he says.

Our history is not written in Brussels or in Washington, but on Hungarian streets, and in Hungarian squares.

Hungarians voted ‘not just for change of government, but of regime,’ Magyar says, as he recommits Hungary to EU

Magyar makes a point to stress that the electorate voted “not just for a change of government, but for a change of the regime” to move away from what he says are compromised institutions and structures of the Orbán era.

He also makes a point that his administration will make inevitably make mistakes, but will own them – and “our country will no longer be a country of no consequences.”

He also stresses his pro-EU message and notes it was particularly symbolic that the vote was held on the 23th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to the EU.

He says the electorate clearly voted to anchor Hungary firmly in the EU, “no matter what the outgoing … government was planning or trying to lead us to.”

Magyar urges Hungarian president to convene new parliament as soon as possible in early May

Magyar urges the Hungarian president to convene the new parliament at the earliest possible day after the election result becomes final on 4 May, even potentially the very next day, on 5 May.

He says there is no time to waste and the new administration is keen to get going as quickly as possibly.

“Hungary is in trouble in more than one ways. It’s been robbed, it’s been betrayed, it’s been indebted, it’s been devastated. We became the most impoverished and the most corrupt country in the EU,” he says.

Magyar opens by saying he has phone calls planned with other European leaders this afternoon and doesn’t want to keep them waiting so we need to get on with it.

And so the briefing gets under way.

He repeats his main lines from yesterday, saying that the Hungarian electorate “wrote history yesterday,” remarking on how much the result resonated around the world.

He says the only reason that Viktor Orban’s party got so many votes anyway was down to the entire state apparatus helping them in the election campaign.

Watch Magyar’s press conference live

You can watch Magyar’s press conference along with us below, and I will bring you the key lines here too.

Magyar addresses reporters after defeating Orban in election

Waiting for Péter Magyar press conference

Jakub Krupa

in Budapest

We are now waiting for Péter Magyar’s press conference at which he is expected to take some questions from the international media. It should get under way in the next half hour.

The conference will be hosted at a massive theatre-style venue, reflecting the incredible level of truly global interest in Hungary’s next prime minister – and the life after Viktor Orbán. This is not just any other election in the region.

Tisza’s staff are taking it very seriously too: as I type, they are… ironing the flags so they look absolutely spotless on stage – and, to be fair, they do look great!

Tisza staff put final touches to Hungary and EU flags behind the podium at which the party leader and presumed next prime minister of Hungary, Peter Magyar, is about to address international media. Photograph: Jakub Krupa/The Guardian

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Driver killed in Bedford train crash named

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2 months ago

June 21, 2026

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The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.

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Spain v Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026

Published

2 months ago

June 21, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

Key events

In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.

Oyarzabal profile

Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.

“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “

News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.

“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.

“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”

Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.

Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.

The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.

The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.

An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.

In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.

For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:

“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.

“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”

Saturday’s match reports here.

The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same ⁠team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.

“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are ⁠missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against ‌Cape Verde.

“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you ‌should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.

“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.

“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.

“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”

The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”

Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.

The teams – Lamine Yamal starts

Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.

Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.

Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)

Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?

Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.

Al-Aqidi profile

Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat

The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.

The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.

Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.

“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.

Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.

Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.

A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.

Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP

Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?

Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.

Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.

“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”

A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.

“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”

We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.

The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.

Lamine Yamal profile

Preamble

Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.

Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.

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