Orban

• Hungary's Parliament voted 139 to 6 on Monday to pass a constitutional amendment removing President Tamas Sulyok from office. • The move is led by Prime Minister Peter Magyar and his pro-European Tisza party, who secured a two-thirds majority in April's landslide election. • This legislative action aims to dismantle the political system established by former Prime Minister Viktor Orban during his 16-year tenure and restore "rule-of-law democracy."

• Hungary’s Parliament voted to remove a loyalist of former right-wing leader Viktor Orban from the presidential post as part of Prime Minister Peter Magyar's "Operation Cleansing Fire." • Prime Minister Magyar pushed through rapid constitutional amendments to dismantle the former governing party's control over the judiciary, state-run media, and government agencies. • The move has drawn criticism from human rights groups and Fidesz allies, with the latter organizing street protests in defense of the ousted official, Mr. Sulyok.

• Hungary's main state TV channel and Kossuth radio have halted news broadcasts following the landslide election victory of Péter Magyar. • Magyar, who broke away from Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party in March 2024, aims to dismantle what he describes as Orban-era propaganda and a media landscape controlled by political allies. • The move is part of a broader "regime change" strategy to ensure press freedom, with the state TV channel issuing a public apology for previously broadcasting lies.

• Hungarian state television has temporarily suspended its news broadcasts to undergo a comprehensive revamp of public service media. • The move follows a decree by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who aims to transform the network into a "balanced, objective," and "credible" news service. • This overhaul includes an immediate review of the media's operational structure and its current financing methods.

• Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s government has filed a constitutional amendment to remove President Tamas Sulyok from office. • The move aims to oust the president, who is allied with former nationalist leader Viktor Orban, to diminish Orban's remaining political influence. • The amendment is expected to pass easily due to the parliamentary supermajority secured by Magyar’s Tisza party during the April elections.

• European Union leaders are convening for a summit in Brussels on Thursday, notably excluding Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for the first time in 16 years. • Orban's absence follows a bruising election loss, which many EU leaders viewed as a rebuke of his combative relationship with the bloc and his close ties to Russia. • Despite the defeat, Orban met with far-right allies in Brussels on Wednesday, asserting that his loss does not halt the "historical process" of rising patriotic and anti-migration movements across Europe.

• The Hungarian Parliament voted 133-37 to repeal a previous decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), reversing a move initiated by former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. • The withdrawal had been announced by Orban as a gesture of support for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an ICC arrest warrant, with Orban claiming the court had become "political." • The reversal was driven by a bill introduced by the new Prime Minister, Peter Magyar, signaling a shift in Hungary's international legal alignment.