{"id":450086,"date":"2026-04-13T11:31:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/04\/13\/ben-tornata-ungheria-leuropa-e-ancor-piu-il-ppe-celebrano-magyar\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:44:54","slug":"welcome-back-hungary-europe-especially-the-epp-celebrates-magyar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/04\/13\/welcome-back-hungary-europe-especially-the-epp-celebrates-magyar\/","title":{"rendered":"“Welcome back, Hungary”: Europe, especially the EPP, celebrates Magyar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 “Hungary has chosen Europe<\/strong>“. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, sums up the vote that has brought an era to a close: Viktor Orb\u00e1n at the helm of the Hungarian government. Her comment on social media signals hopes for a completely new direction in relations between Brussels and Budapest. “Europe has always chosen Hungary,” von der Leyen added. These are no idle words, given the scandal surrounding espionage by the Hungarian authorities against EU institutions<\/a> and the Orb\u00e1n government\u2019s collaboration with Russia<\/a> at a time when the EU has severed all ties with Moscow.<\/p>\n

 It is therefore no surprise that von der Leyen states that \u201ca country is resuming its European path,\u201d and that as a result \u201cthe Union is growing stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is therefore no surprise that in Brussels, the day after the elections that brought the Orb\u00e1n era to a halt (it is too early to speak of its “end”), the mood is one of celebration. “I look forward to working closely with Peter Magyar to make Europe stronger<\/strong> and more prosperous,” the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa<\/strong>, said, buoyed by the prospect of a Hungary characterized by fewer vetoes and more cooperation. Roberta Metsola<\/strong> shares these hopes, and her comment is anything but perfunctory: “Hungary\u2019s place is at the heart of Europe,<\/span><\/strong>” said the President of the European Parliament as she congratulated the election winner. Metsola\u2019s words reiterate that, under Orb\u00e1n, Hungary\u2019s stance was less Eurocentric. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“The Hungarians confirm that our people-centered center-right policy wins elections<\/strong>“, states Manfred Weber,<\/strong> president of the <\/span><\/span><\/span>European People\u2019s Party (EPP) and of the EPP parliamentary group.  At the European level, it is above all the EPP that is celebrating, and it could not be otherwise. Tisza, Magyar\u2019s party, is affiliated with the EPP, and its success gives the People\u2019s Party another leader within the European Council<\/a>,<\/strong> now 11 out of 27<\/strong> (Austria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and Hungary), further consolidating the EPP\u2019s influence and role in the 12-star legislature. “With their vote, Hungarian citizens are signaling their desire for a stronger Europe<\/strong>,” emphasizes Marco Falcone<\/strong>, deputy head of the Forza Italia delegation in the EPP Group at the European Parliament. <\/p>\n

For the European Liberals (RE), yesterday\u2019s vote (12 April) \u201cmarks the end of a political cycle that for years has called into question the fundamental principles of European democracy,\u201d and the election result is therefore \u201ca turning point for the EU,<\/strong>\u201d said MEP Sandro Gozi<\/strong>. In light of the end of the Orb\u00e1n era, RE President Valerie Hayer<\/strong> emphasizes that from the new Hungary “we have clear expectations<\/strong>: a new leadership must rebuild democratic institutions, implement genuine reforms of the rule of law, establish robust anti-corruption mechanisms, and support Ukraine.<\/strong>“<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

The European Greens are also celebrating: “Hungary is back,” said the group’s co-chair, Terry Reintke<\/strong>. “After sixteen long years, the Hungarian people have chosen democracy and Europe over autocracy and Russia.<\/strong>” From the Socialist benches, it was the PD delegation leader in the European Parliament, Nicola Zingaretti,<\/strong> who rejoiced, interpreting the Hungarian vote in national terms: “<\/span><\/span><\/span>The anti-European stance of Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini is increasingly isolated and defeated<\/strong>, this time thanks to the Hungarian vote.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Congratulations to Peter Magyar on his clear election victory; the Italian government wishes him every success in his work. I would like to thank my friend Viktor Orb\u00e1n for his close cooperation over the years, and I know that he will continue to serve his country even from the opposition. Italy and\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) 12 April 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Prime Minister has thanked the defeated Fidesz leader “for his close cooperation over the past few years.<\/span>” Giorgia Meloni, in a message posted on X, notes that Orb\u00e1n remains “my friend,” and says she is ready to work with the new head of government. “Italy and Hungary are nations bound by a deep bond of friendship, and I am certain that we will continue to cooperate in a constructive spirit in the interests of our peoples and in the face of common challenges at the European and international level.”<\/span><\/p>\n

While the EU is breathing a sigh of relief, there are those who are already hinting that they wish to take up Orb\u00e1n\u2019s mantle: Robert Fico, the Slovak Prime Minister, said that \u201cthe Slovak government\u2019s objectives remain unchanged,\u201d<\/strong> starting with the \u201cprotection of energy interests,\u201d which involves \u201cthe restoration of the Druzba gas pipeline.\u201d Kyiv and Europe have been warned: even with Orb\u00e1n leaving the scene, the old problems will not be entirely resolved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU institutional leaders greet Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s exit from the stage, with some veiled criticism: “Europe has been chosen, and the Union is strengthened.” Meloni thanks him, while Fico issues a warning: “Our objectives do not change.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":450023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[25833,27175,26023,28324,26990,33394,30669,25921],"class_list":["post-450086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-orban-en","tag-popular-europeans-en","tag-ppe-and","tag-ue","tag-viktor-orban-en-2","tag-von-der-leyen-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450087,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450086\/revisions\/450087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}