By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief reporting from Budapest, Hungary
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar is accelerating efforts to dismantle the political and economic system built during Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power, targeting alleged corruption and cronyism while facing warnings that restoring the rule of law should not lead to another concentration of power.
About 100 days after taking office following his center-right Tisza Party’s landslide election victory, Magyar has removed several Orbán-era officials, pursued previously blocked European Union funding, launched efforts to recover allegedly misappropriated state assets and ordered reviews of controversial government contracts.
The latest target is 4iG, the Hungarian telecommunications, information technology and defense conglomerate that expanded rapidly under Orbán and became closely associated with his government’s efforts to create Hungarian-owned national champions in strategic industries.
Magyar said his government ordered a review of all state contracts involving 4iG, including a framework agreement worth more than 1.3 trillion forints ($4.2 billion) signed with the Defense Ministry shortly before April’s parliamentary elections.
The announcement sent 4iG shares sharply lower. The company has maintained that its dealings with the state were lawful and benefited taxpayers, while Magyar said the government would publish its findings and refer suspected irregularities to the relevant authorities.
ORBÁN-ERA CONTRACTS REVIEWED
The investigation underscores the speed with which Magyar is attempting to fulfill his campaign promise to rebuild Hungary’s rule of law “brick by brick” after years of disputes between Budapest and the European Union over corruption, judicial independence and democratic standards.
Companies and business figures who expanded through close ties with Orbán’s governments have already begun adjusting to Hungary’s dramatically changed political environment as Tisza seeks to stamp out alleged cronyism.
Magyar’s government has also established a National Asset Recovery Agency to recover state property and funds it believes were improperly transferred or awarded during the previous administration.
The authority is expected to scrutinize state concessions and agreements ranging from highways to casinos as part of what Magyar portrays as an unprecedented effort to uncover how public wealth was distributed during the Orbán era.
Yet the scale and speed of the transformation have also raised questions about whether a government elected partly to restore democratic checks and balances risks using its two-thirds parliamentary majority too aggressively.
NEW PRESIDENT TAKES OFFICE
Those tensions were highlighted by the arrival of 73-year-old András Baka as Hungary’s new president, a former Supreme Court chief justice whose earlier removal became an international symbol of concerns about Orbán’s judicial reforms.
Parliament elected Baka with 140 votes in favor and six against after Orbán’s Fidesz party and its Christian Democratic People’s Party, or KDNP, ally boycotted the vote.
His election followed the controversial early removal of President Tamás Sulyok through a constitutional amendment pushed through by Tisza. Although Hungary’s presidency is largely ceremonial, the head of state can return legislation to Parliament or refer it to the Constitutional Court.
Sulyok’s removal prompted protests and accusations by Fidesz that Magyar was using methods similar to those he had condemned under Orbán. Tisza rejected those allegations, saying removing Orbán-era appointees was necessary to restore institutional independence.
Bence Rétvári, parliamentary leader of the Christian Democrats and a senior official under the previous government, told Worthy News Radio that Sulyok’s removal had no precedent in the European Union. “With one sentence they threw out the president of the republic,” he said.
HUNGARIANS REACT TO CHANGES
Hungarians interviewed in Budapest offered contrasting but often hopeful assessments. Tibor Szabo, 59, who runs a coffee and chocolate bar in the capital, said Baka appeared significantly better than previous presidents, though he remained uncertain whether he was the best possible choice.
Kristina, a 29-year-old private security expert, said she hoped Baka would prove more independent than his predecessors, noting that Hungary’s political system was now “under reconstruction.”
Yet thousands of Hungarians also recently protested outside Budapest’s presidential Sándor Palace against Sulyok’s removal, with demonstrators accusing the new government of undermining constitutional safeguards while claiming to restore them.
Baka’s return carries particular symbolism. He served as Hungary’s judge at the European Court of Human Rights before becoming president of the Supreme Court, but his mandate was prematurely terminated following judicial restructuring under Orbán.
More than a decade later, the judge whose Supreme Court mandate was prematurely terminated during the Orbán era has returned as Hungary’s head of state at a moment when the political system built under the former prime minister is itself being dismantled.
WARNING AGAINST REVENGE
Yet Baka used his inaugural address to warn Magyar’s government that correcting past abuses must not become political retaliation.
He said Hungary could not build a new country on revenge and stressed that people disappointed by the political transformation should not be expected to abandon their beliefs or political convictions.
Baka also argued that an election victory alone cannot restore the rule of law, saying Hungary must rebuild institutions while creating a society in which a child’s future is not determined by birthplace or family background.
His message reflected broader unease among some rights advocates over the pace of constitutional and institutional change. Amnesty International Hungary and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union have criticized the constitutional amendment used to remove Sulyok.
Critics have particularly questioned Tisza’s decision to end Sulyok’s presidential mandate and other measures enabling Orbán-era officials to be replaced rapidly. Supporters counter that Magyar inherited institutions deliberately designed to preserve Fidesz influence even after an election defeat.
STATE MEDIA TRANSFORMED
The transformation is also reaching Hungary’s public media, which Orbán’s domestic and international critics had long accused of functioning as a government propaganda network.
Hungary’s 24-hour state television news channel is returning to the airwaves Thursday after a six-week suspension and restructuring, promising more balanced political coverage from a revamped team of journalists.
Its return coincides with Hungary’s August 20 national holiday commemorating the foundation of the Hungarian state and its first Christian king, Saint Stephen I.
The symbolism is striking: Magyar is expected to attend official celebrations alongside Baka, the former chief justice whose removal under Orbán became one of Hungary’s best-known rule-of-law disputes.
Yet Magyar faces the challenge of demonstrating that replacing Orbán’s system will mean restoring independent institutions rather than simply replacing one political establishment with another.
As Hungary celebrates the legacy of Saint Stephen and more than a millennium of statehood, Baka’s warning has therefore become particularly relevant to the country’s latest political transformation: accountability for alleged wrongdoing, he suggested, must be pursued without turning justice into revenge.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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