{"id":100026,"date":"2026-06-04T17:12:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/100026\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T17:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:12:06","slug":"trianon-speech-shows-magyars-tightrope-defending-hungarians-abroad-while-courting-brussels-53-days-post-election-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/100026\/","title":{"rendered":"Trianon speech shows Magyar\u2019s tightrope: defending Hungarians abroad while courting Brussels (53 days post-election) \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our weekly digest of Hungarian politics continues, as we report on developments after April\u2019s historic election and on the formation of the Tisza government. This week we cover the following topics:<\/p>\n

According to P\u00e9ter Magyar, Hungary \u2018borders itself\u2018<\/p>\n

What does his breakthrough with Ukraine mean?<\/p>\n

Warm reception for Magyar in Berlin and Paris<\/p>\n

Sovereignty Protection Office to be abolished<\/p>\n

Follow Hungary\u2019s road after the 2026 election \u2014\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0to The Hungary Briefing on Substack and get every edition, and other Hungary-related articles straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

According to Magyar, Hungary \u2018borders itself\u2018<\/p>\n

Hungary\u2019s prime minister, P\u00e9ter Magyar, revived an old nationalist slogan during a speech marking the anniversary of the Treaty of Trianon<\/a> on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may be the only country in the world that borders itself,\u201d Magyar said, arguing that this is precisely why Hungary has a responsibility to contribute to the strengthening of central Europe.<\/p>\n

The phrase has frequently been used by politicians from Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Fidesz party in the past, although Orb\u00e1n himself described it as an \u201cold joke\u201d in 2016. Its use once sparked diplomatic tensions: in 2010, then Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Laj\u010d\u00e1k publicly criticised the statement.<\/p>\n

In his speech, Magyar recalled the reaction in Hungary to the signing of the Treaty of Trianon on 4 June 1920, noting that Hungarians received the news with grief. He went on to refer to other tragedies of the 20th century, from the Second World War to the communist dictatorship.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the democratic transition of 1989, Magyar said that the country\u2019s leaders had failed to seize the opportunity to heal the wounds of the nation and had instead abused their power.<\/p>\n

He then turned to contemporary politics. Hungarians had recently passed judgment on division, hatred and fear-mongering, he said, referring to April\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey declared that love and peace are stronger than power games,\u201d the prime minister stated, adding that voters had defended their freedom, dignity, humanity and homeland in the election.<\/p>\n

Magyar also sent another message to president Tam\u00e1s Sulyok \u2014 although he did not mention him by name. According to the prime minister, voters had given a mandate for Hungary to be represented by constitutional officeholders who genuinely embody national unity.<\/p>\n

Message to Slovakia<\/p>\n

Magyar stressed that ethnic Hungarians living beyond Hungary\u2019s borders are part of the same nation and used the occasion to address two related issues.<\/p>\n

The first concerned the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must stand up for our compatriots in Slovakia, whose private property is still being confiscated today on the basis of the Bene\u0161 decrees<\/a>. Hundreds of such cases occur every year, trampling on European values and the rule of law. And those who dare to criticise this practice are threatened with imprisonment,\u201d the prime minister said.<\/p>\n

He then turned to the situation of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine\u2019s Zakarpattia region and to recent developments in relations with Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Magyar also highlighted the importance of the Visegrad Group (V4) as a framework for central European cooperation. He said Hungary would support expanding the format to include countries such as Austria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia or even Germany.<\/p>\n

What does the breakthrough with Ukraine mean?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our weekly digest of Hungarian politics continues, as we report on developments after April\u2019s historic election and on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[104],"tags":[5754,211,210,51419,28986,28984,51417,28985,51418],"class_list":["post-100026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-typedefinedterm","tag-belgium","tag-brussels","tag-identifier4139","tag-identifier4278","tag-namehungary","tag-namehungaryu2019s-road-to-the-2026-election","tag-termcodehungary","tag-termcodehungary-newsletter"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}