‘I will represent only the interests of Hungary and the Hungarian people at the European Council meeting and during bilateral talks as well,’ Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Thursday in Brussels.
Arriving at the meeting of the European Council, which brings together the heads of state and government of EU member states, the prime minister stated: ‘We will not agree on everything, but we will not fight simply for the sake of fighting. We will either agree or veto solely on the basis of Hungarian interests, not for domestic political or party-political reasons,’ he declared.
He explained that during a previous meeting with the President of the European Parliament, they agreed that the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, which has been ongoing for eight years, should be concluded, and that Hungary would receive all necessary support in this effort. He then attended a gathering of the heads of state and government belonging to the European People’s Party, followed by a meeting of the Friends of Cohesion group.
Magyar recalled that he also had a brief discussion with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, followed by talks with Hungary’s Visegrád Group (V4) partners. He noted that all had accepted his invitation, meaning the V4 prime ministers will meet in Budapest and Gödöllő on 23 June. He stressed that all parties agreed on the importance of restarting V4 coordination, describing it as a highly valuable consultation forum. The prime minister added that Hungary is being welcomed with great expectations everywhere and that many are looking forward to seeing the country represented through a different approach.
According to Magyar, for the first time since March 2025 there is a serious chance that the European Council will adopt a common conclusions text. He argued that this had not been possible since March of last year due to former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s vetoes. While some issues still need to be resolved, he expressed hope that an agreement can be reached.
He said the main topics on the agenda include EU enlargement, competitiveness, and China, while the most important issue will come on Friday: negotiations over the EU’s seven-year budget framework. This was also the focus of the Friends of Cohesion meeting involving 16 member states. The participants agreed on many issues and committed to maintaining a united position as long as possible, since member states aim to unanimously approve the next seven-year budget by December.
‘The most important issue will come on Friday: negotiations over the EU’s seven-year budget framework’
Responding to a question, Magyar welcomed the political agreement reached with the European Commission that could unlock 6,000 billion forints in EU funding for Hungary. He said the necessary legislative amendments are already underway and that the governing parties have enough parliamentary support to pass them. According to Magyar, the current opposition is trying to prevent the funds from returning to Hungary and being spent on healthcare, transport, business development, and agriculture, but he insisted those efforts would not succeed.
Magyar also described the agreement reached with Ukraine on the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia as a historic breakthrough. He said the deal covers language rights, cultural rights, political rights, and educational rights, making it possible to open the first cluster of Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations.
At the same time, he stressed that Hungary has reservations about opening all other negotiation clusters immediately after the first one. He noted that opinions among EU member states remain divided on the issue. ‘Hungary supports a merit-based, performance-based accession process. There cannot be two different accession procedures. The EU cannot treat Ukraine differently from the Western Balkan countries, which have spent many years working to meet accession requirements,’ he said.
Where results have been achieved, they should be acknowledged, he added, arguing that it is in the interest of both the EU and the Western Balkan states for those countries to join the Union as quickly as possible. Positive signals should therefore be sent to candidate countries that have already invested significant effort into the process.
Magyar joked that the European Council meeting would not be boring. He said veteran leaders such as Donald Tusk, Robert Fico, and Emmanuel Macron had advised him to stay alert because important developments can happen at any moment. ‘They told me it’s not worth going out for coffee because big things can happen. So no matter how long the night is, I won’t be leaving for coffee,’ he said.
Regarding the EU’s €1 million-per-day fine imposed on Hungary over border protection and asylum policies, the prime minister said discussions are underway with Poland, Finland, the European Commission, and the European Parliament to find a solution. He noted that the legal and political environment in Europe was very different when the court ruling was issued.
He said a meeting of member states advocating stronger action against illegal migration would take place on Friday morning, and that attitudes across Europe have changed significantly compared with previous years. ‘There is a court ruling, and there is a Hungarian law whose validity will expire soon. We must find a solution that achieves the same results as previous governments achieved, while avoiding the need to pay this one million euros per day,’ he said.
Magyar also stressed that Hungary will not allow illegal migrants to enter the country and intends to further tighten rules governing legal immigration and foreign workers, building on measures already introduced.
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