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05-06-2026
BUDAPEST: Hungary’s new prime minister has said the government will amend the constitution to remove President Tamas Sulyok after he refused to stand down.
Peter Magyar pledged to remove Sulyok and other key figures appointed by his predecessor Viktor Orban after his landslide election win in April.
Magyar has accused the president of serving Orban’s interests and has repeatedly called on him to quit, most recently setting a deadline of 31 May.
Sulyok, who was installed in February 2024 by Orban’s party without a direct election, has refused to resign, saying he intends to serve out his five-year term.
The stand-off leaves the new government facing a constitutional clash with a remnant of the previous regime.
Orban’s Fidesz party has called Magyar’s demand an “unlawful ultimatum”.
In a post on social media on Sunday, Magyar said: “Tamas Sulyok has never stood up for the vulnerable, for those under attack, or for the rule of law.”
He previously said Sulyok was “unworthy of representing the unity of the Hungarian nation” following the seismic political shift which April’s election produced and promised to remove him immediately after his victory. Magyar’s Tisza party won a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, which gives it the power to amend the constitution, a crucial mechanism the new government will need to unpick Orban-era reforms. Magyar told reporters the process to remove Sulyok would take around a month. The president again refused to step down on Monday after meeting Magyar, saying “the constitutional crisis situation emerging as a result deepens the social divisions and damages the international judgement of Hungarian democracy”.
He claimed the stand-off could threaten the unlocking of EU funds bound for Hungary, the bulk of which were held back due to democratic backsliding under Orban.
Last week, the EU said reforms spearheaded by the new government could soon see €16.4bn (£14.2bn) in funding handed to Budapest while the presidential role is largely ceremonial under Hungary’s system of government, it has some practical functions including confirming public appointments. On Monday, Sulyok announced several military appointments via Facebook. The president can refer laws back to parliament for reconsideration or forward legislation to the constitutional court which could potentially slow down or block any reform agenda.
Sulyok was installed as president in February 2024, following the resignation of Katalin Novak over the government’s response to a child sex abuse scandal.
Following the end of his 16-year rule, Orbán stepped down as a member of parliament in April. Magyar’s party has moved to cut off any route back to power by proposing a constitutional amendment limiting any prime minister to eight years in power.
3 days ago, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has told Hungary’s new PM that billions of euros in EU funding are to be unlocked subject to his government pushing through a raft of “long-overdue reforms”.
The decision is a significant boost for Peter Magyar, who has been in office for less than three weeks after a landslide election victory over Viktor Orban.
He described his EU deal as a “historic breakthrough”, while von der Leyen said “we can already feel a strong wind of change across Hungary”.
The Commission president said a total of €16.4bn (£14.2bn) would be released to Budapest. Magyar hopes the cash will help kickstart Hungary’s flagging economy.
The funding was frozen by the EU because of democratic backsliding and corruption allegations under Orban’s Fidesz-led government. Magyar had made unlocking the billions a key platform for his two-year-old Tisza party in the run-up to last month’s elections. (Int’l News Desk)
