With two weeks to go until Hungary’s elections, the campaign is also heating up in Brussels.
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While the European Commission has kept a low profile to avoid any controversy, European representatives are speaking up.
Euronews estimates that most parliamentary groups—together holding more than three-quarters of MEPs—are against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and, to some extent, favor opposition leader Péter Magyar.
“This vote is an absolute game-changer,” according to Andrey Kovatchev, a prominent member of the European People’s Party. “The group is in full support of Tisza [Magyar’s party],” he told Euronews, despite recent frictions on issues such as the EU-Mercosur trade deal. “Overthrowing Orbán is very important for the future of the EU.”
According to calculations made by the think tank EU Matrix, Hungary has been the country that most often sided against other member states’ decisions in the 2020s, which could explain why many in Brussels would favor a more conciliatory government than Orban’s.
Several lawmakers agree that an Orbán defeat would spare Europe one of its most persistent internal challenges, particularly in light of recent revelations about the Hungarian foreign minister calling Russia’s counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, before and after key EU meetings.
“Orbán has long acted as Putin’s man within the EU,” German MEP Daniel Freund told Euronews. “His constant vetoes and political maneuvering are undermining European security.”
A Fidesz defeat would be a victory for a vast majority of MEPs who have taken a firm position against Hungary’s government in recent years, criticizing corruption, the erosion of the rule of law, and crackdowns on press freedom and political opponents.
During the previous terms, lawmakers for example launched the Article 7 procedure against Hungary—which could ultimately strip the country of its EU voting rights— declared the country an “electoral autocracy,” and asked Budapest to forgo its turn in the Union’s rotating presidency.
In this legislature, the Parliament approved a report that harshly criticized judicial interference, corruption, misuse of EU funds, and attacks on civil society in the country.
“[Orbán’s fall] would mean that the voters agree that the rule of law must be restored in Hungary,” Dutch MEP Tineke Strik, rapporteur for the file, told Euronews. “This can only be achieved with his defeat.”
Péter Magyar is everyone’s hope, including the left
The Parliament’s opposition to Orbán translates into broad support for his opponent, Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza party.
“The upcoming elections are decisive, a break-free momentum to return to a free, pluralistic democracy,” Renew Europe group President Valérie Hayer told Euronews, reflecting a widely shared view in the hemicycle, where Hungarian elections are seen as the most important vote of the year.
While Tisza belongs to the center-right European People’s Party, support for a change of government extends beyond right-wing political forces. Magyar has found backing among left-wing lawmakers, even though they oppose much of his stance on environment, migration, and LGBTQ+ issues.
Magyar’s rapid rise in the polls has led to a collapse in support for other opposition parties in Hungary, which had been the main political alternative to Orbán for years.
The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and Momentum have pulled out of the campaign, directing their supporters to vote for the strongest opposition candidate in each district, usually a Tisza member.
It is rather unusual for liberal and left-wing MEPs to be quietly rooting for a conservative, centre-right politician simply because he is considered more pro-European than the current prime minister.
“In an ideal world, I would like to see my Socialist colleague Klára Dobrev running Hungary,” said French Socialist MEP Chloé Ridel, referring to Dobrev, a member of Hungary’s socialist party, Democratikus Koalíció. “But now the priority is getting rid of a corrupt regime, and therefore kick Orbán out.”
She hopes that Orbán loses the elections to prevent him from “holding hostage the EU”, even though it is not guaranteed that his opponent would follow through on his campaign promises.
The Greens, who have been among the most vocal MEPs against the Budapest government in recent years, will use their social media “to call upon all Hungarians to go to the vote and bring this system down,” an MEP from the group said.
The Left in the European Parliament does not officially back any candidate, but “looks forward to the fall of Orbán,” a group representative told Euronews.
Who supports Orbán in the Parliament?
Despite a long line of detractors, Orbán still retains some supporters in the European Parliament and across the EU.
European nationalist leaders, including France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, showed their support for the current Prime Minister during an event called The “Patriots’ Grand Assembly” on March 23 in Budapest.
Fidesz belongs to the Patriots for Europe (PFE or Patriots), the third-largest in the European Parliament, and Orbán’s government enjoys support even beyond his political allies, with over a hundred MEPs hoping for his reappointment as prime minister.
The Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), the other far-right group in the Parliament, will officially support Our Homeland Movement, a minor nationalist force that is part of the group and polls around 6%.
However, ESN MEPs say they admire Orbán for his hard line on migration, his anti-EU and anti-woke narrative.
“I hope that Fidesz remains in government, ideally in a coalition with our partners, as a corrective force. It is no secret that we maintain good relations with Viktor Orbán,” Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Tomasz Froelich told Euronews, referring to a recent meeting between the Hungarian leader and AfD leader Alice Weidel.
The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) stopped short of endorsing Orbán, although some parties within the group, such as Poland’s Law and Justice and Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, do support him.
“Our group is not taking a united stand on the Hungarian elections,” co-chair Nicola Procaccini told Euronews, reflecting the different views among national delegations.