Hungary’s new prime minister starts with Poland, signaling democratic reset

Péter Magyar used his first official foreign trip as Hungary’s prime minister to send a message that was as political as it was diplomatic: Budapest is looking to Warsaw, and to Europe, for a reset.

Magyar began the May 19 visit in Krakow, then went on to Warsaw and Gdansk, following a route that placed Poland at the center of his opening foreign-policy statement. Donald Tusk, who returned to power in December 2023, has spent the past two years mending ties with Brussels and helping unlock billions of euros in EU funds frozen over rule-of-law concerns. That makes Poland a useful template for Magyar, who won Hungary’s April 2026 parliamentary election in a landslide over Viktor Orbán and is trying to present himself as a democratic corrective to years of drift.

The symbolism mattered. Relations between Budapest and Warsaw had deteriorated after Orbán granted asylum to former Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro and his deputy, both wanted by Polish courts on misappropriation charges. Magyar’s decision to start in Poland signaled that he wants to rebuild that relationship, and to do it around shared European interests rather than Orbán’s more confrontational posture toward the European Union.

Magyar traveled by train on a high-speed line funded by the EU, a detail that sharpened his contrast with Orbán’s anti-EU rhetoric. He also raised the possibility of a future Warsaw-Budapest rail link, turning the trip into a pitch for practical cooperation as well as political alignment. His delegation included ministers for foreign affairs, economy and energy, defense, transport and investment, culture, and agriculture, underscoring how broad the agenda has become.

The two governments focused on energy security, infrastructure links, defense and security, and a common European position on Ukraine. On May 20, Hungarian and Ukrainian officials met separately to discuss the language rights of the Hungarian minority in western Ukraine and Ukraine’s EU ambitions, another sign that Magyar’s foreign policy will have to balance regional alliances with unresolved minority questions. Magyar said he may meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next month and planned to host a Visegrad Four meeting in Budapest next month, an attempt to revive a regional bloc that lost momentum as Warsaw and Budapest pulled apart.

For Magyar, the trip was also a test at home. Human Rights Watch has said Hungary’s incoming government should immediately restore judicial independence, end rule by decree, suspend the Sovereignty Protection Office and repeal laws used against critics. The European Commission has kept pressure on Hungary through budget conditionality, including a 2024 decision finding that Hungarian reforms did not sufficiently address conflicts-of-interest concerns. Against that backdrop, Magyar told reporters in Krakow that Hungary needs to “go back to normality,” framing Poland not as a detour, but as the beginning of a different political era.