Hungary's new PM Magyar mends ties with Ukraine, suspends work visas, sparks Slovak row
Articles refer to Péter Magyar as Hungary's prime minister, signaling a major political shift from the long Orbán era, and the day's news reflects his government recalibrating foreign and labor policy. Budapest suspended issuing work visas to nationals of Georgia, Armenia and the Philippines from June 5, a first step toward tightening non-EU labor inflows amid concerns about wage suppression. Magyar's government also touted a reset with Kyiv—reportedly lifting Hungary's veto on Ukraine's EU accession and reaching an agreement on national-minority rights in Transcarpathia. Meanwhile, his remark that Hungary is 'perhaps the only country that borders itself' triggered a diplomatic spat with Slovakia, whose FM Juraj Blanár rebuked it as irredentist Trianon-era rhetoric. Authorities also dropped charges against organizers of last year's Budapest Pride march, and several thousand right-wing demonstrators rallied against the EU migration pact.
Why it matters
A Magyar-led government replacing Viktor Orbán would mark a watershed for Hungary's role in the EU and NATO, potentially ending Budapest's persistent obstruction of Ukraine's EU path and aligning it more with Brussels. The Slovak dispute shows how Trianon-related sensitivities and minority politics still inflame Central European relations a century later, while the visa restrictions and anti-migration street protests reveal continuity in domestic anxieties over labor and migration.
🔎 Ground signal
With Fidesz now apparently in opposition, its MPs and right-wing influencers are taking to the streets against the EU migration pact—signaling the nationalist base is mobilizing around migration and 'national identity' as their rallying issue against the new government.