Visegrad Group in April 2026: the most important developments in politics
In the Visegrad countries in April 2026, politics turned on Hungary's election on April 12. Viktor Orbán conceded defeat after 16 years in power, and Péter Magyar's Tisza party won a two-thirds majority. Magyar said, "We have liberated Hungary" and promised cooperation with the EU. In the final week US Vice President JD Vance had campaigned in Budapest for Orbán and accused the EU of election interference, and a leaked call showed Orbán telling Putin he was "ready to help in any way I can". After the result, European leaders welcomed the change. The Kremlin said it would not congratulate Magyar but hoped for pragmatic relations, and Trump and Putin both expressed support for him. Vance defended Orbán as a "great guy".
The following weeks brought a shift in Hungary's positions. Magyar said he would ask Putin to end the war in Ukraine, and Hungary lifted its veto on the EU's €90 billion loan for Ukraine on April 22. He halted Hungary's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court and said Netanyahu would be arrested if he visited. EU officials went to Budapest for talks on frozen funds, and on April 29 Magyar met Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels and proposed a June meeting with Zelensky. On April 21 the EU's Court of Justice ruled that Hungary had violated core EU values with an anti-LGBT law and ordered it repealed. Orbán gave up his parliamentary seat, announced a renewal of his party and offered to resign as head of Fidesz.
Elsewhere, Slovakia's Robert Fico said he was ready to block new EU sanctions on Russia. Lithuania and Latvia closed their airspace to his plane, preventing a direct flight to Moscow for the Victory Day parade, and Fico said he still intended to go. Slovakia's Supreme Court upheld a 21-year sentence for the man who attacked him, and the European Parliament urged freezing EU funds for Slovakia over rule-of-law concerns. In Poland, Donald Tusk met Emmanuel Macron on European defence and nuclear deterrence, questioned whether the US is loyal to Europe's defence, and Poland opposed a faster EU path for Ukraine.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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