Viktor Orbán

Rule Changes

Facing strongest electoral challenge since taking power in 2010

Viktor Orbán has governed Hungary with a parliamentary supermajority since 2010, reshaping courts, media, and election rules to entrench his power. On April 12, 2026, roughly 7.5 million eligible Hungarians voted in a parliamentary election where independent polls showed his Fidesz party trailing the opposition Tisza party by 7 to 9 percentage points — the first time in 16 years an opposition force has held a sustained polling lead.

Updated 2 days ago

Force in Play

Threatening to follow Slovakia in cutting electricity to Ukraine

For decades, Russian oil flowed west through the Druzhba pipeline and European electricity flowed east into Ukraine's war-battered grid. That exchange is now collapsing. After a Russian drone strike knocked out the pipeline's main Ukrainian pumping station on January 27, Slovakia and Hungary—the last European Union members still importing Russian crude through the line—have escalated from halting diesel exports to threatening Ukraine's electricity supply.

Updated Feb 21

Rule Changes

Facing April 2026 election with opposition leading in polls

For decades, Hungary has relied almost entirely on Russia for nuclear fuel, natural gas, and oil—a dependency that persisted even as the rest of Europe scrambled to cut ties after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. On February 16, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó signed an agreement that begins to change that: Hungary can now purchase up to 10 American-built small modular reactors worth as much as $20 billion, and will start receiving Westinghouse fuel for its Russian-built Paks I plant by 2028.

Updated Feb 16

Rule Changes

Secured one-year U.S. exemption for Russian energy in November 2025; continues resisting EU sanctions but EU overcame objections with energy assurances in January 2026

Sanctions are supposed to close doors. On December 17, the U.S. quietly propped two doors back open—again—even as it slammed others shut. One narrow lane keeps Sakhalin-2 crude flowing to Japan. The other preserves financial channels for civil nuclear projects, even when payments touch sanctioned Russian banks. Both carve-outs now run through June 18, 2026.

Updated Jan 30

Rule Changes

Opposing indefinite immobilisation and warning of legal damage to the EU

Russia's central bank sued Euroclear in Moscow on December 12, seeking €193.7 billion in damages. Six days later the plan that triggered the lawsuit—using frozen reserves to back Ukraine loans—collapsed at the European Council. Belgium refused the legal risk; the EU pivoted to a €90 billion conventional loan backed by its own budget instead.

Updated Dec 27, 2025

Rule Changes

Leads the EU’s most Russia‑friendly government; welcomes Babiš’s return

Andrej Babiš just pulled off the comeback everyone said was over. Four years after losing power and then a presidential race to pro‑Western ex‑general Petr Pavel, the billionaire populist is back as Czech prime minister, sworn in on December 9, 2025, atop a majority coalition with the far‑right SPD and the anti‑green Motorists for Themselves party.

Updated Dec 11, 2025