(CN) – The blue flag of the European Union waves again in front of the Hungarian parliament. Public confidence is growing. And Péter Magyar, the new 45-year-old prime minister of Hungary, is enjoying his role as the assassin of Viktor Orban’s regime.
Five days have passed since Magyar sworn as the new boss in Budapest and since then Hungary has witnessed political drama unfold as Magyar’s Tisza party takes the reins of power and, in their view, sweeps away the corruption of the Orbán regime.
On April 12, Magyar, a former Orbán ally turned whistleblower, shook European politics when his new Tisza party defeated Orban’s Fidesz party in national elections, ending the strongman’s 16-year reign as champion of Europe’s far right.
With a supermajority in parliament, Tisza has the power to carry out sweeping constitutional changes and undo years of controversial policies and laws passed by Orbán. Meanwhile, opinion polls show the mood is buoyant in Hungary with a key survey consumer confidence rose 16 points since Magyar’s victory, the largest increase ever recorded.
Thursday marked a symbolic day as the Magyar cabinet took possession of their respective ministry buildings and the Magyar entered his future prime minister’s office, a building that served as the transport ministry under Orbán.
As a sign of Tiza’s pro-EU stance, the EU flags have returned to the National Assembly. Orbán, an ultranationalist who hated the Brussels bureaucracy, removed the EU flag in 2012.
Orbán and his team, meanwhile, have largely stayed out of sight. Hungarian media reported seeing Orban’s ministers enter ministry buildings through back doors shortly before the government handover on Thursday.
On Monday, Magyar posted a video where he took camera crews on a tour of Orbán’s official Buda Castle residence and through a newly built government building next door to depict Orbán’s government living lavishly on public money.
IN videoMagyar said Orbán had decorated his opulent residence with almost 100 valuable paintings from the Hungarian National Gallery. He compared what he saw to the decadence and corruption of Romania’s communist-era dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu – although the comparison seemed a bit far-fetched given that Ceaușescu himself built a palace of some 1,100 rooms.
“Let’s check the cigar room,” Magyar said sarcastically to the cameras, entering a room furnished with armchairs next to an upscale restaurant inside the new government building. “Everybody needs a good cigar room, especially if it’s (paid for) with public money.”
Sitting in an armchair, Magyar told the audience to imagine he was one of Orbán’s best friends, drinking whiskey or rum. His video captured around eight million views in a single day.
To differentiate himself from Orbán and appear modest, Magyar said he would not move into a government residence but would stay in his family’s home in Buda. He also said he would ditch the armored BMW limousine used by Orbán and instead use a more modest Škoda Superb, a large executive car.
Magyar’s takeover and his tough statements about going after Orbán-era corruption, shutting down Fidesz-run government media and removing Orbán allies from official positions are sending shockwaves through the Fidesz camp.
In late April, Magyar accused Orbán’s allies of moving large amounts of illegal money out of the EU to protect him from prosecution.
“Oligarchs linked to Orban are transferring tens of billions of forints to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Uruguay and other faraway countries,” Magyar said.
He later said that tax authorities had stopped the transfer of millions of dollars out of Hungary linked to Antal Rogán, a parliamentary deputy speaker of Fidesz before Magyar’s election victory.
Magyar also warned that Orbán regime insiders may try to flee the country to avoid prosecution.
There has been a lot of speculation about this, but so far no major figures have left Hungary. The Guardian newspaper, citing anonymous sources, reported Orbán is considering a move to the United States. His eldest daughter moved to New York last year.
At least one influential person, however, has escaped Magyar’s reach: Zbigniew Ziobro, a former Polish justice minister who was sheltered in Hungary by Orbán after his far-right party lost power in Poland.
Ziobro recently left Hungary to the United States after US President Donald Trump reportedly granted him a visa. Magyar had threatened to extradite Ziobro to Poland, where he faces charges of misusing public funds and planting spyware against political opponents. Ziobro accuses Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk of being behind the charges, which he says are political.
Magyar’s anti-corruption campaign is heating up.
Since April 12, individuals associated with Fidesz have come under increased police surveillance, Hungarian media reports. In one case, prosecutors arrested two individuals linked to Orbán’s younger brother, Áron Orbán.
Separately, police arrested the Fidesz-affiliated mayor of Halásztelek, a town outside Budapest, on suspicion of taking a fake parliamentary job for his 70-year-old mother. The policeaccused the mayor, Barnabás Nagy, and a former Fidesz MP, Zoltán Bóna, for receiving part of her salary.
Also, a regional Fidesz politician, Rádi Feríz, was recently arrested on charges of budget fraud, Hungarian media reported. reported.
Concern is also growing among Orban’s closest and most powerful allies.
In one tearful interview with the independent news site Kontroll, media mogul Gyula Balásy stated that he had signed a notarized document giving the state his media empire. Balásy won lucrative contracts under Orbán.
Following his announcement, Hungarian police launched criminal investigations into his companies for suspected misuse of funds and money laundering.
In his interview, Balásy claimed that he had “nothing to hide” and that he wanted to secure the future of his companies and their approximately 500 employees under the new government.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
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