Péter Magyar's EU summit debut signals Hungarian reset after change of guard

Brussels welcomed the new Hungarian Prime Minister looking to a no-drama summit.Péter Magyar made his debut promising a change in tone and substance, returning to the conservative European mainstream space and seeing a return to unanimity."We will represent Hungary in a different way. We will certainly not agree on everything. I can promise one thing: I will represent only the interests of Hungary and the Hungarian people. We will not oppose or veto proposals for domestic political or party-political reasons," Magyar told reporters on his arrival at the summit in Brussels Thursday.He also participated at a gathering of the European People's Party's, where he met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, EPP President Manfred Weber and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola."I had a great meeting with the new Hungarian prime minister, whom I know very well, and I am happy to work with him," Metsola told reporters.A Hungarian diplomat present at the EPP gathering, speaking on condition of anonymity, said most leaders had expressed relief at Hungary's return to the European mainstream."Several leaders said the EU must take account of the rapid changes taking place in Hungary in its ongoing proceedings," the diplomat told Euronews.On the sidelines of the summit, Magyar also met his Visegrád Group counterparts and took part in talks among the "Friends of Cohesion" — a coalition of member states seeking to preserve EU agricultural and cohesion funding in the next European budget as money talks begin in Brussels.Magyar flags reservations on Ukraine's accessionRepairing Hungary's relationship with the EU and unlocking frozen funds were central to Magyar's election campaign. Since taking office in early May, he has moved swiftly to resolve most of the outstanding disputes with Brussels.In late May, he reached a political agreement with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to unfreeze €16.4 billion in previously blocked funds. Shortly afterwards, Hungary lifted its veto on opening the first cluster of Ukraine's EU accession talks — reversing Orbán's longstanding opposition to Kyiv's membership bid, which he had argued would harm European security and economic interests.However, arriving at the summit, Magyar made clear that Budapest retains reservations about the pace of the accession negotiations now formally under way."We have reservations about opening all the other negotiating chapters after the first cluster has been opened. And we are not alone in this — there are other member states who say the same thing. We stand for a merit-based, performance-based accession process."A diplomat told Euronews that Magyar and Zelenskyy had a brief conversation one-on-one. A second expressed optimism that Hungary will facilitate the opening of the remaining clusters for Eu accession negotiations "sooner than you think".Orbán is also in Brussels — meeting far-right alliesFormer Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was also in Brussels during the summit, convening fellow leaders of the far-right Patriots for Europe grouping on Thursday afternoon — his first foreign trip since his election defeat in April ended 16 years in power."The defeat of Fidesz does not change what I believe to be a historically deterministic fact — that the advance of patriots in Europe will continue. No electoral defeat will overwrite this," Orbán told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.And yet, the damage was palpable.His defeat cost the Patriots group one seat at the European Council, where the group is now represented solely by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.The grouping also lost its traditional Brussels venue — the House of Hungary, a city-centre building acquired and renovated by the Orbán government during Hungary's EU Council presidency in 2024.From now on, Patriots will convene at the Brussels headquarters of their Belgian affiliate, the far-right Vlaams Belang party, a much smaller venue.Orbán used his press conference to send a public message to his successor, urging Magyar to veto the EU's next seven-year budget in order to recover approximately €2 billion that Hungary forfeited after missing deadlines for the EU Recovery Fund."If we veto the seven-year budget at the end of the year and make it clear that they will not release that two billion, then there will be no new seven-year budget in sight. That is how they will hand it over. We expect the current Hungarian government not to leave a single penny on the table," Orbán said.Following his election defeat, Orbán relinquished his parliamentary seat but was re-elected as president of the Fidesz party for a further year.