1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
PoliticsHungary

New Hungarian Prime Minister Magyar takes on Orban's legacy

18:50

This browser does not support the video element.

Hannah Hummel
June 2, 2026

Only weeks after Viktor Orban's 16-year grip on power ended in a bitter election defeat, Hungary is heading into a fresh constitutional standoff. New Prime Minister Peter Magyar wants to remove the president.

Peter Magyar wants to use his supermajority to make a clean break with the past, and sweep away what he calls the legacy of Viktor Orban's authoritarian rule.

Magyar has vowed to dismantle what he calls the entrenched, illiberal system Orban built, going as far as changing the constitution to do so.

The president may yet find support from the Supreme Court, but does this run the risk of opening the door to governments rewriting the rules when it suits them? Analyst Kim Lane Scheppele joins to ask: is this the break with the past Hungarian voters hoped for - or a threat to the rule of law?

Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW