New Hungarian PM Magyar Signals Fresh Start with Ukraine
Magyar delivered the remarks during his inaugural visit to Berlin, appearing alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at a joint press conference that signaled a potential reset in Hungary's previously fractured relationships with both Ukraine and its European partners.
Merz used the occasion to press for deeper cooperation on European competitiveness and defense, while calling on the new Budapest government to back the opening of the first chapter of EU accession talks with Kyiv — a move that had been repeatedly obstructed under previous leadership.
Restoring economic confidence featured prominently on the agenda. Magyar underscored that his administration's foremost priorities are rooting out corruption and safeguarding judicial independence, pledging a "level playing field" to draw greater German investment into Hungary.
The visit marks a sharp departure from the era of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose tenure was defined by close alignment with Moscow and persistent friction with Kyiv. Disputes over oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline and Budapest's resistance to EU sanctions on Russia had long poisoned bilateral relations. In February, Orban blocked the EU's 20th sanctions package against Russia and a proposed 90-billion-euro (106-billion-U.S. dollar) military loan to Ukraine, citing Kyiv's suspension of crude oil deliveries as justification.
The diplomatic thaw, however, appears already underway. Just over a week after Magyar's Tisza Party swept the parliamentary elections on April 12, Zelensky announced that repairs to the Druzhba pipeline had been completed — and oil transit through the critical artery has since resumed.
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