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

Published

2 months ago

April 13, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

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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Arrest over push of woman into bus's path in 2017

Published

59 minutes ago

June 15, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

A 44-year-old man is in custody over the incident where a woman appeared to be shoved into the path of a bus.

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UK News

World Cup 2026: Fifa urged to remove official over hand gesture; teams hit back at Ceferin; Iran arrive in US – live | World Cup 2026

Published

2 hours ago

June 15, 2026

info@oxinfo.co.uk

Key events

More now on the hand gesture story mentioned earlier. Fifa’s discrimination monitor at the World Cup has called for a video assistant referee to be removed for appearing to make a hand gesture resembling a white supremacist sign.

“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the Fare network, a longtime partner of Fifa and Uefa, the European football governing body, to monitor racist and discriminatory chants, flags and symbols at international games, said in a statement. “Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup,” Fare said in a statement, describing the gesture as “neo-Nazi.”

Kick-off times are more friendly for the UK viewer today. Spain v Cape Verdi at 5pm and Belgium v Egypt at 8pm. But we need to think globally so that’s 3pm for Cape Verdi viewers cheering on their team while in Egypt it’ll be 10pm for those tuning in to see if Mo Salah can inspire his team to victory over the Belgians.

The biggest test for the UK viewer today is Iran v New Zealand at 2am BST. In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch that’ll be 1pm while in Tehran, Mashhad and Karaj it’s a less palatable 4.30am.

Thanks Sarah. As for World Cup songs, this one from the German 1990 squad always sticks in my mind. While England took the genre to a new level with New Order and John Barnes’ rap, the Germans very much went down the traditional route. A singer that looks like a cross between Chris de Burgh and Thomas Muller, Karl-Heinz Riedle on maracas, one or two playing air saxophone. Pleasingly dreadful.

The Germans’ response to New Order

I am off to grab some food and so I leave you in the hands of Dave Tindall who will take you through the next few hours of news. I’ll be back later on.

From requests of your favourite football songs to another on if you live in a World Cup host city. We want to hear from you if you have football teams in town from the atmosphere to how it is affecting business. Use the form on this page to get in touch:

We have another shout for the best/worst football song and I can’t decide which side of the forward slash this one belongs on. Graeme Neill said:

Timely given yesterday evening’s match. Japan’s Cornelius and his utterly bonkers Ball in Kick Off is worth a listen:

France will kick-off their tournament against Senegal on Tuesday and to say they have attacking quality is an understatement. The team boasts players like the captain, Kylian Mbappé, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and Cherki but they all have a role to play, according to Adrien Rabiot. Read more:

Jacob Steinberg

The cat is well truly out of the bag. Nobody expected the conversation to be quite so revealing when Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers sat on the Lions’ Den sofa last week. Content controlled by the Football Association was an unlikely place for Bellingham to drop a few truth bombs, but the England midfielder was not minded to hold back when it was time to discuss his experience at Euro 2024.

“It didn’t feel like there was any kind of hierarchy,” the 22-year-old said. “I think at the Euros we got some things a little bit wrong off the pitch. I don’t feel like the group connected as well as it could have – for a number of reasons.”

Fifa urged to remove official over hand gesture

Fifa have been urged to remove a video review official who appeared to make a white supremacy hand gesture during Germany’s 7-1 win over Curaçao.

The governing body’s discrimination monitor at the World Cup called for Shaun Evans from Australia to be removed from the tournament.

The gesture was also spotted by several fans who posted about it on social media.

“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the Fare network said.

Fifa are yet to comment on the situation.

There have been some sights at the World Cup but Scotland fans taking over Fenway Park is one that has been one of the most surreal. The Boston Red Sox lost 6-4 to the Texas Rangers but Scotland fans stayed long after the game was over singing “super John McGinn” and during the match there was a rendition of “yes sir, I can boogie”.

Photograph: Mark Stockwell/AP

Anil Patel has emailed:

This absolute banger wasn’t attached to any particular team but is one of the best themes out there.

This is a great shout and a fun fact for you about it, it was initially written to be a baseball anthem. Some baseball news coming your way soon…

If anyone is unsure of the song I referenced, here it is:

Football songs can be iconic or occasionally cringey, that one with Dizzee Rascal and James Cordon comes to mind for the latter for me. What are your best/worst anthems for a major tournament? Get in touch and let me know.

England may have banished some penalty shootout demons in the last few major tournaments but the question of who would step up to take one is one that will always be asked. One such player who said he would take on is Eberechi Eze, despite missing one in the Champions League final. Have a read of what he said:

There will be many questions raised at this World Cup. Who will win the trophy? Who will claim the Golden Boot? What will the next standout moment be? But there is another question that has been answered in the following piece: Where have the WAGs gone?

Matt Hughes

Fox will not face any punishment from Fifa for breaking the governing body’s advertising rules during the opening game of the World Cup between Mexico and South Africa last week.

The US broadcaster broke Fifa’s strict guidelines for showing commercials during hydration breaks on the first occasion they were in operation by returning to the live action 10 seconds after play had resumed during the second half at Mexico City Stadium.

Fifa’s tournament regulations, which were given to all rights holders two months ago, state that while broadcasters can show ads during hydration breaks they must return to the match 30 seconds before play resumes.

Sometimes a team needs a player to have some standout performances to jump start a tournament and Jordan Henderson believes that player for England will be Jude Bellingham. Henderson said:

I’m sure he will have a big impact for us in this tournament. I can remember five years ago I gave him his first cap, it was away at Middlesbrough. How much he’s grown, as a player and as a person since then, is incredible really. I had a good idea when I first saw him playing and training, and the way he was.

I think everybody forgets how young he is. We do rondos and it’s the youngest in, and there’s people that I think should be going in before him, but he’s always one of the first in the middle to go in. It just reminds us how young he is. I honestly couldn’t speak highly enough of him.

Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

The travel at this tournament has grabbed more than a few headlines so far and there is another one pertaining to Australia. The Socceroos beat Turkey 2-0 in their opening game with their second against one of the co-hosts, the US, on Friday. Their focus will be on that game but recovery is also high on their list. Read more here:

There have already been so many historic moments at this tournament, including Scotland’s first World Cup win in 36 years. Mo Salah is hoping to replicate the moment and end Egypt’s long wait of 92 years for a victory at the tournament. The team have their first game against Belgium today to try and make history:

Spain, who start their campaign today against Cabo Verde, are among the favourites to win the World Cup after their European Championship success in 2024. Here’s a piece on how the team are embracing the tag and how they are using one trophy-winning tournament to potentially lift another:

Uruguay will take on Saudia Arabia later today but their travel was delayed amid challenges across the tournament.

The team’s initial flight from Mexico was cancelled with their replacment delayed. The Uruguay captain, José María Giménez, described the situation as “difficult”.

There are more games to be played today with another four in store. The details for those kick-off times and match-ups are below but do get in touch to let me know what your World Cup routine is. Are you having to get up early to watch the games? Or are you in a time zone where you can get home from work and watch back-to-back football until it’s time for bed? Email me and let me know, here are today’s fixtures:

Spain v Cabo Verde (5pm BST, 12pm ET, 9am PT)
Belgium v Egypt (8pm BST, 3pm ET, 12pm PT)
Saudi Arabia v Uruguay (11pm BST, 6pm ET, 3pm PT)
Iran v New Zealand (2am BST, 9pm ET, 6pm PT)

So what happened in the matches yesterday? Four took place with the biggest win coming in Germany’s 7-1 dismantling of Curaçao. The island nation will be disappointed with the result but they also made history as they scored their first-ever World Cup goal. That came from Livano Comenencia, who plays his club football for Zürich. Have a read of that report and others for all the latest action on pitch:

Čeferin criticised for ‘uninteresting’ comment

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin was criticised by multiple nations from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean after reportedly saying the expanded World Cup creates “uninteresting” matches.

According to Zurnal 24, the boss said at a conference last Monday: “We have a huge number of matches that are completely uninteresting.”

The associations of Cape Verde, Congo, Curaçao, Haiti, Jordan and Uzbekistan released a joint statement, which was in solidarity with the federations of Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

It said: “Football does not belong to a select group of nations. Its strength comes from its universality,” the statement said. “For many countries, participation in the FIFA World Cup is not only a sporting achievement. It is a moment that inspires a generation, accelerates football development and creates memories that last a lifetime.”

Photograph: Toya Sarno Jordan/FIFA/Getty Images

Ben Fisher

The Iran striker Mehdi Taremi has said the controversy and disruption surrounding their involvement at the World Cup undermines Fifa’s message of peace and conceded he felt the tension before arriving in Los Angeles on the eve of their opener, hours before a peace deal was announced. For the first time since the competition’s inception, a host nation has received a country with which it is at war.

On Sunday Iran flew to LA from Tijuana, Mexico, where they were relocated amid an ongoing row over visas, but are expected to face opposition from Iranians, many of whom believe the national team do not represent the country. Iran has been beset by problems in the buildup to the tournament, with several officials denied entry to the US.

Preamble

Hello and welcome to today’s World Cup news blog where we bring you the latest updates from the global event being hosted across the US, Canada and Mexico.

Any breaking news, team updates or reflections on what has happened so far will be all here for you to feast on, no matter what you are doing with your Monday.

Please do get in touch too, we always like to hear from readers. Potentially on the best underdog story at the World Cup or any quirky predictions you may have for the tournament.

Amongst several stories surrounding the competition today is Iran’s arrival in the US. The team landed on Sunday before they take on New Zealand.

More details on that story will be with you shortly, as well as the reports from the games that took place yesterday to catch up on all the latest action.

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