Visegrad Group in July 2026: the most important developments in politics
In the Visegrad countries in July 2026, politics was dominated by the change of government in Hungary. Prime Minister Peter Magyar's government moved to take back control of foundations set up under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and began reforming public media; on July 7 Magyar announced the shutdown of pro-Orbán state radio, and Orbán accused him of "autocracy". Parliament voted on July 13 and 14 to remove President Tamás Sulyok, who had rejected the constitutional amendment on July 9. On July 18 he agreed to sign the change ending his term. On July 21 authorities raided a data center linked to Orbán's Fidesz party, and on July 22 Orbán called for "national resistance" and called the new government a "tyranny" after a police raid on Fidesz headquarters. The same day a top prosecutor from the Orbán era resigned. Hungary's bid to join the European Public Prosecutor's Office was accepted on July 10. Hungary also blocked Ukraine's EU accession talks on several clusters, on July 18 and again on July 22, delaying a decision until September 1.
The second theme was the dispute between Poland and Ukraine over the history of World War II. Polish officials called Ukraine's national pantheon of heroes an escalation. Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Ukraine to acknowledge wartime atrocities and pledged a memorial to victims. He also warned against blocking Ukraine's EU path over bilateral disputes, and Warsaw said it would review its aid volumes. At home, President Karol Nawrocki used vetoes against Tusk's government on July 18, and a rift in the opposition was reported to boost Tusk ahead of elections.
In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš criticized President Petr Pavel over his conduct at the NATO summit, and the EU opened a new investigation into Babiš on July 21. Prague sent 140 million crowns for Ukrainian equipment but said it would not join the NATO plan for Ukraine. In Slovakia, a referendum on lifelong payments for Prime Minister Robert Fico failed on July 4 because of low turnout,.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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