Hungary's Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar has vowed to strengthen his country's borders, suggesting his defeat of EU‑sceptic Viktor Orbán will not lead to a policy shift toward Brussels on migration.
European leaders welcomed Magyar's achievement in ending the 16-year rule of Orbán. While Magyar has pledged to reengage with the EU, he said his government's plans do not include implementing the EU's new migration and asylum pact.
The pact, which comes into effect in June, overhauls the EU's asylum and border rules, introducing faster screening, tougher returns and aims to redistribute responsibility for the cost and efforts of hosting migrants among member states.
Mentioning the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, Magyar said in a speech Wednesday that Hungary had a strict immigration policy and "it will not accept any pact". It would keep its southern border fence and "patch up the holes that are there now," he added.
"We really want to protect our country and Europe from illegal immigration," Magyar said, adding that the conservative Tisza party he leads "will pursue a strict illegal immigration policy."
Magyar's victory in Hungary was greeted with relief across Europe but experts at the International Crisis Group say he had a low bar to clear regarding better coordination with the EU than his predecessor, given Orbán's track record of blocking Brussels.
"A more EU-minded Budapest will certainly make things easier, but it is worth remembering that Magyar remains a skeptic of Ukrainian integration into the EU," Olga Oliker, the ICG's European Security director, told Newsweek.
"He also has yet to define his vision for Hungary's role in the evolving coalitions taking shape to solve problems."
Marta Mucznik, an ICG senior EU analyst, added that Magyar offered hope that decision-making on critical issues facing the EU and Europe's security could resume without persistent obstruction.
"Yet the EU would still need to guard against similar dynamics emerging in other member states or candidate countries, or persisting in Hungary itself despite a change in government," added Mucznik.
During the election campaign, which culminated in his party winning a parliamentary super majority, Magyar presented himself as a candidate opposing corruption and the crackdown on media freedoms that took place under Orbán.
A clip of a state television appearance has been widely shared in which he took aim at the outlet for not giving him air time, vowing to end what he called a "North Korean"-style Orbán media monopoly, and end "this factory of lies."
Magyar said Wednesday he expected Hungary's President Tamas Sulyok to ask him at the inaugural session of parliament to form the next government, which could be sworn in by the middle of May or earlier.
However, he has also taken aim at Sulyok in a viral X post in which he denounced the head of state as "unworthy of representing the unity of the Hungarian nation."
Following the formation of a new government, Sulyok "must leave office immediately," he added.