The new Prime Minister of Hungary: Peter Magyar.Image: keystone
May 22, 2026, 10:36 p.mMay 22, 2026, 10:36 p.m
Hungary’s new government says it is withdrawing its intention to withdraw the country from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The new Prime Minister Peter Magyar explained this in a post on Platform X. He initially did not provide any further details.
The court, based in The Hague, has been prosecuting the most serious crimes such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity since 2002. The more than 100 contracting states to the ICC include all EU states. More than a year ago, under the old government of right-wing populist and long-term prime minister Viktor Orban, Hungary announced that it would withdraw from the World Criminal Court and submitted a corresponding declaration of intent in The Hague. Hungary’s parliament had previously approved the move. According to information at the time, the withdrawal should take effect after around a year.
This announcement came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Budapest at Orban’s invitation. There is an ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes committed by Israeli troops in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Orban had made it clear that Hungary would ignore this. He and other members of the government at the time justified their withdrawal from the World Criminal Court with the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and the Israeli former defense minister Joav Galant. (sda/dpa)