The Tisza government holds a firm stance on migration: at the upcoming seven-year budget negotiations, it will work to secure separate EU funding for Hungary for the reinforcement of the border fence and border protection — Prime Minister Péter Magyar declared in Brussels on Wednesday.
Speaking to Hungarian journalists ahead of the European Council summit — a two-day meeting of the heads of state and government of European Union member states, scheduled to begin on Thursday — Péter Magyar stressed that the Tisza government will continue to strengthen the protection of Europe’s external borders and, simultaneously, Hungary’s own borders, and that what happened under the Orbán government — where thousands of people-smugglers with final convictions were released from Hungarian prisons — will not happen again.
He said his government is conducting negotiations with the European Commission and EU member states with the aim of closing, as soon as possible, the proceedings initiated under the Orbán government, which carry a daily fine of one million euros related to migration.
“Hungary has lost approximately one billion euros so far because of the Orbán government’s failure to establish regulations that comply with EU law and, at the same time, to protect Europe’s external borders and the Hungarian border,” he said.
Regarding the summit’s debate on Ukraine, Péter Magyar first stated that Monday’s adoption of the Ukrainian law on education in minority languages represents a historic breakthrough and potentially offers an opportunity to “place Ukrainian-Hungarian relations on new foundations.”
He said that, on the sidelines of the Brussels summit, he would be holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and then announced that “after long, long years of inaction and frozen relations,” a breakthrough had been achieved as a result of the Tisza government’s negotiations, and the Hungarian minority living in Transcarpathia could finally have its educational rights restored — and, in the future, its language rights, rights before authorities, and political rights as well. He also announced that, as a result of the Brussels talks, a further meeting with the Ukrainian president could take place in Berehove later this autumn.
On the meeting planned with Zelenskyy for Friday, he said the aim would be to review the current state of Hungarian-Ukrainian relations and discuss possibilities for further cooperation. He added that they would likely hold a brief, one-on-one meeting with the Ukrainian head of state.
He recalled that at the expert and lower political levels, the ten-point political agreement had already been successfully concluded, and that he wished to have it confirmed at the highest political level as well.
He stated that he expects the Ukrainian president to confirm that the commitments undertaken in the agreement will be met on time, with particular regard to the rights of national minorities concerning language use, education, and administrative proceedings.
He stressed that should any political, cultural, or ecclesiastical organisations of Transcarpathian Hungarians signal problems, he expects the Ukrainian authorities to be prepared to resolve them.
According to the prime minister, this is especially important in the case of a country seeking to become a member of the European Union, as the rights of national minorities must be guaranteed to European standards.
Péter Magyar highlighted that the agreement is beneficial not only for Hungarians but also for other national minorities living in Ukraine, including Romanians and Poles, as it contributes to the restoration of their rights.
The prime minister stressed that the agreement was supported by all Hungarian political organisations, churches, cultural organisations, and the university in Transcarpathia. He said that representatives of the community had long been urging an improvement in Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, as this primarily serves the safety and peaceful lives of Hungarians living in Transcarpathia. “Viktor Orbán did not hear this — he did not want to hear it,” he added.
He recalled that in 2024 he visited the bombed children’s hospital in Kyiv and also travelled to Transcarpathia, where he met with a number of local Hungarians. He added that they have maintained ongoing contact since then with the Transcarpathian Hungarian organisations, which took part in the preparation of the current agreement.
Regarding the EU’s next seven-year budget after 2027, Péter Magyar described it as good news that in the proposal drawn up by the rotating — Irish — presidency of the Council of the European Union, the amount recommended for Hungary had not decreased and the member states’ contribution obligation would not increase. He explained that the overall total of the EU budget could nevertheless decrease, but not from areas of particular importance to Hungary, such as cohesion policy and the common agricultural policy, but from other areas.
On the subject of the planned Council debate on the EU’s competitiveness, the Prime Minister said that Europe’s competitiveness had “decreased in direct proportion” up to now. He expressed hope, however, that this trend would reverse, saying that in view of the energy crisis and soaring energy prices across Europe, member states wanted to see concrete steps from the European Commission to “rein in price increases” and provide assistance to businesses and the population.
Referring to the countries of the Western Balkans in connection with EU enlargement, he said that negotiations with Montenegro are expected to conclude, but that “light can be seen at the end of the tunnel” for other candidate states as well, including North Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia. As he noted, this does not mean that Serbia, for example, is very close to accession, but that progress can be expected — which, in his words, is a priority Hungarian interest due to the Hungarian minority living in Serbia.
Péter Magyar welcomed the EU Council decision closing the conditionality procedure launched against Hungary in 2022, saying the document in question “is worth 4.2 billion euros to the Hungarian people and Hungarian businesses.” He stated that a further portion of the funds frozen due to rule-of-law problems and corruption under the Orbán government could now reach Hungary and the Hungarian people.
“Both the amounts previously released, and this sum, and the amounts yet to be released in the future, will provide enormous assistance in the coming years in restarting the Hungarian economy, increasing Hungary’s competitiveness, and ultimately bringing about a significant rise in the standard of living of the Hungarian people,” he added.
Péter Magyar also spoke about Hungary having lost two separate tranches of one billion euros each in EU funds due to the failures of the previous government. He said that the Hungarian people and businesses cannot be held responsible for the Orbán government’s failure to meet the necessary conditions — instead, it had “flipped the table” and spent public money on hate posters. The prime minister stated that he continues to maintain that Hungary must be compensated for the lost funding.
He stressed that during the negotiations on the seven-year EU budget, efforts must be made — and there is an opportunity — for Hungary to secure additional funds equal to or close in value to the amount previously lost. This could be achieved through the financing of various projects or by increasing the EU funding allocated to Hungary.
The prime minister recalled that previously, many had considered it impossible to unlock approximately 6,000 billion forints in EU funding, yet through a series of negotiations and preparations lasting an entire summer, it was ultimately possible to make those funds accessible.
He added that he expects similar efforts from the Hungarian government, state representatives, and diplomats in order to compensate for the two billion euros previously lost.
According to his briefing, progress has already been made in the negotiations, as the amount of funds allocated to Hungary has increased by approximately one billion euros compared to the proposal put forward by the previous rotating EU presidency — held by Cyprus. He described this as a significant result at the current, initial stage of the negotiations, while stressing that further efforts are needed.
Regarding the Hungarian budget, Péter Magyar said the government had previously made its economic policy objectives clear. Among these, he mentioned a stable and sustainable budget, reducing the budget deficit, lowering public debt where possible, and kickstarting economic growth. “In the last four years of the Orbán government, there was no economic growth — but there was a soaring budget deficit, a poorly planned budget, and rising public debt. We are going to do the exact opposite,” he stated.
Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original Hungarian text.