Europe’s Earthquake

In addition to plunder, Orban flouted EU principles, breaking rules that forced Brussels to freeze billions in funds intended for the Hungarian public. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Peter Magyar, election winner and leader of the pro-European conservative TISZA party, delivers a press conference at the HUNGEXPO Congress and Exhibition Center in Budapest, Hungary, on April 13, 2026, one day after Hungarian general elections. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP) Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google In an otherwise dismal news cycle, Hungarians delivered a truly transformational gift to Europe, Ukraine, and Western values with the landslide election of polished, photogenic, anti-corruption lawyer Peter Magyar. The victory terminates the 16-year dictatorship of Viktor Orban and ends his efforts to sabotage the European Union, NATO, and Ukraine on behalf of Russia and his pocketbook. Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . Orban may also be headed for jail. Newly elected Magyar pulled no punches in his victory speech on April 12 and said Orban led an “organized crime group,” not a government, and will be investigated for making “secret deals, hidden international agreements, and unknown obligations to foreign entities.” Even as he spoke that night, an aide passed him a note that Orban insiders had just been caught shredding corporate documents in government offices. “It’s not going to be enough. We will get hold of all the documents that have not been destroyed to ensure the functionality of our country, its security, energy, fuel, and gas storage.” He’s Europe’s second young leader, like Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, who greatly admires Europe and wants it to be an independent and influential geopolitical player. Magyar is also fearless and immediately issued a warning to the president of Hungary, an Orbán crony, to appoint him as prime minister. When asked by a reporter what he would do if the president didn’t do this, he shot back, “The President needs to leave. We don’t need such a puppet in office. We won’t let Russians wander around government offices on the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution [against the Soviet Union] in 1956.” On Oct. 15, Magyar demanded the President’s resignation. Other Topics of Interest Moscow Falling Back on Soviet-Style Escalation Tactics as Battlefield Gains Stall – Veteran US Diplomat Veteran US diplomat Daniel Fried says Hungary may stop acting as Putin’s agent in Europe and that Ukraine should move quickly to restore damaged ties with Budapest. Hungary’s 1956 uprising was the first major challenge to the Soviet Union’s post-war oppression, but Soviet tanks crushed it. Now, another Hungarian earthquake challenges Russia’s corrosive influence in the country and Europe. Magyar, like Zelensky, is a champion of the European Union and NATO, and both want Europe to be independent, strong, principled, free from bullying, and rooted in European values. “Hungary has been a European country for 1,000 years. Peace in Hungary is thanks to the European Union and NATO,” he said. Magyar will undertake sweeping reforms in Hungary and, as its former diplomatic representative in Brussels at the EU, will navigate its bureaucracy. “The EU has its faults – a huge organization, complicated, over-bureaucratized,” he said, but added that these can be addressed. On April 14, European admirer Zelensky repeated in Germany that Ukraine is eager to join the European Union immediately. “As for membership in the European Union, I am very pleased that Germany and Friedrich Merz support us. Everyone in Europe knows our position: we do not need an ‘EU light.’ Nor do we need a ‘NATO light,’” he said. “Frankly, I believe both Europe and NATO countries need Ukraine as a fully capable and strong partner. They need our army – a strong army. No one needs a ‘light’ version of the Ukrainian army. What kind of defense would that be? So, I believe this is a mutual interest.” But that day, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte dampened hopes somewhat by saying that membership for Ukraine is not on the table at the moment because four countries are holding back Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance – Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, and the United States. But Germany, under Chancellor Friedrich Merz and alongside European allies, supports Ukraine and is also backing a contingency plan to ensure NATO remains a potent defense force, even if the United States reduces its commitment or withdraws from the alliance. Hungary’s Magyar supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; affirms it is the victim and that it should not give up territory; said he will ask Putin to end the killing; and is expected to reverse Hungary’s veto against European military support for Ukraine and against the €90 billion loan ($106 billion) to support Ukraine’s finances and war effort. “Hungary will once again be a strong ally within the EU and NATO,” he said. This Hungarian election also removed Putin’s principal  agent provocateur  from office and access to European institutions. Orban will no longer be able to undermine, sabotage, and spy on the European Union and NATO. He will no longer plunder the country or continent, and, in his victory speech, Magyar mentioned that Hungary will join the Euro Transnational Prosecutor’s Office to root out Orban’s corruption and crimes committed over 16 years. “There were secret governmental decrees, hidden international agreements, documents signed we know nothing about, even if they require unknown obligations to foreign entities,” said Magyar. The Washington Post noted: “As Orban’s son-in-law and childhood friend grew wealthy, Hungary’s economy grew by only 0.4 percent last year. Hungary  ranked last in the E.U.  for household wealth. It has  a doctor shortage  and the  E.U.’s worst cancer mortality rate – predictable outcomes when public money flows to cronies instead of hospitals.” In addition to plunder, Orban flouted EU principles, breaking rules that forced Brussels to freeze billions in funds intended for the Hungarian public. These penalties were imposed due to concerns regarding judicial independence, public procurement corruption, conflict of interest, academic freedom, and minority rights. Magyar pledges to repair these shortfalls in order to restore the financing that Hungarians are entitled to. Not surprisingly, Putin’s mouthpiece said “the regime will not congratulate Peter Magyar” and called the country “an unfriendly state”. Trump has said nothing but was embarrassed because his Vice President, JD Vance, campaigned on behalf of Orban. But Magyar graciously said he would not call Trump after his win, but that the US remains a key ally and the first move must come from Washington. European leaders lauded Magyar’s win as a victory for Europe and for democracy. “Hungary has chosen Europe,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen  wrote  on X. “Europe has always chosen Hungary. Together, we are stronger.” The election is also a stinging rebuke to Russia, delivered on the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution in 1956. It was also a rebuke of MAGA, Trump, and Vance, who held up Orban as a model, even describing him as “one of the great moral leaders in this world.” The facts are that he was corrupt, anti-democratic, a kleptocrat, greedy, an abuser of civil rights, and unacceptable to two-thirds of Hungarian voters. He was also delusional and spewed Putin-inspired propaganda against Ukraine as it struggled with the same rotten regime in Moscow that Hungarians rebelled against in 1956. Magyar linked the two histories when asked about Russian demands on Ukraine to cede territory: “If someone says this – no matter how long Fidesz [Orban] politicians have said similar things – you should ask them what would happen if Russia attacked Hungary: Which Hungarian county would they give up?” Europe’s next generation of leaders, Magyar and Zelensky, are impressive. Both are young lawyers with charisma and guts who won landslide mandates to remove Russian influence and corruption from their countries. They aim to make the European Union and NATO stronger to help defend civilization against the barbarians at the gate. And that is good news. Reprinted from  [email protected]  – Diane Francis on America and the World. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.  Diane Francis is an award-winning columnist, bestselling author, investigative journalist, and television commentator. She writes twice weekly at  https://dianefrancis.substack.com/  and is Editor at Large with the National Post and Postmedia newspapers writing twice weekly. She is Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Eurasia section, in Washington DC. She has written pieces for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Daily Beast, Politico, Miami Herald and the New York Post. In addition she is a Distinguished Professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management and has been a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. In 1991, she became Editor of Canada's Financial Post, the first woman editor of a national daily newspaper in Canada, a position she held until the paper was sold in 1998.