Hungary’s new prime minister, Péter Magyar, is showing in his first days in office that the change of power in Budapest will not be merely a formal rotation of government. The leader of the Tisza party has once again demanded the resignation of President Tamás Sulyok, whom he describes as a political appointee and a “puppet” of Viktor Orbán’s camp. One symbolic gesture of protest will be the behaviour of the new ministers: members of the Tisza government will not accept congratulations from the head of state and will not pose with him for official photographs after receiving their appointments.
Magyar wrote on social media that the ministers in his cabinet would neither “expect congratulations” from the president nor ask for the opportunity to take an official photograph with him. This is a strong political signal, because under Hungarian procedure ministers are appointed by the president at the request of the prime minister. The act of appointment therefore remains a constitutional formality, but Magyar is trying to give it the meaning of a political reckoning with the previous era.
The dispute with Sulyok has been ongoing since Tisza’s victory in the parliamentary elections. Magyar already called on the president to resign on election night, and later repeated several times that people associated with Orbán’s system should leave the most important positions in the state. On Monday, the prime minister published a post on Facebook asking users to like it if they believed that Sulyok and “Viktor Orbán’s puppets” should step down immediately. The post quickly gathered hundreds of thousands of reactions, which Tisza’s camp presents as proof of public support for a deep reconstruction of the state.
The president’s office has responded that the position of head of state and the conditions for holding that office are clearly defined in the constitution. Tamás Sulyok’s term, secured with the votes of the former Fidesz majority, is due to last until March 2029. This means that the new prime minister and the new parliament could enter into a prolonged institutional conflict with the president if Sulyok does not decide to resign voluntarily.
For Magyar, the issue of the presidency is part of a broader strategy to dismantle the system built by Viktor Orbán. After 16 years of Fidesz rule, the new authorities are promising to restore the standards of the rule of law, fight corruption and rebuild relations with the European Union. Magyar’s government also wants to establish an office for recovering public assets, join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and unlock billions of euros in EU funds frozen over concerns about the rule of law.
The shift in economic policy is also intended to be clear. The new cabinet is announcing a move away from a model based on cheap labour, low added value and opaque ties between the state and business. The Tisza government says it will focus on productivity, innovation and a credible fiscal path, with one of its goals being to prepare the country for adopting the euro around 2030.
The coming weeks will show, however, whether Magyar’s political offensive leads to a serious constitutional confrontation. The prime minister has a strong electoral mandate and a parliamentary majority, but the president formally remains one of the most important state officials. If Sulyok does not resign, Hungary may enter a period of tension between the new governing majority and institutions still staffed by people from Orbán’s camp.
The refusal to accept congratulations from the president therefore means more than a breach of diplomatic protocol. It is the symbolic beginning of a new stage in Hungarian politics: not only a change of government, but also a struggle over who will have the right to define the state after the Orbán era.
