Prime Minister Péter Magyar said in an interview published on Thursday by Polish daily Rzeczpospolita that, once the war in Ukraine ends, the entire European Union will likely return to cheaper Russian gas.
“Geography has not changed”
Asked about Russian gas and oil supplies to Hungary, Magyar said that, even after the Tisza Party’s election victory, “geography has not changed”. The Hungarian nation, he added, had mandated the new government to diversify energy sources as much as possible, while also considering the price of raw materials. Liquefied gas transported via the Baltic Sea, then through Poland and Slovakia, he noted, was “significantly more expensive” than gas from Romania, Russia, or Austria.
“We will, of course, start negotiations and want to cooperate,” he said. Magyar revealed that during Wednesday’s talks in Poland, his counterpart Donald Tusk had promised to “do everything to reduce the price of gas and make the offer as competitive as possible.” The outcome, however, would also depend on the gas market.
The prime minister confirmed plans to build new interconnectors to further diversify supplies. Asked whether Hungary, in line with EU policy, would stop buying Russian gas and oil in three years, Magyar replied that he believed EU policy would “change significantly after the war ends”, which he hoped would happen “very soon”.
Hungary and Poland need to be competitive
Hungary and Poland, he said, needed to be competitive, and this required lower energy prices. In this regard, he described himself as “very pragmatic”, aiming not only for secure supplies but also for lower prices.
Pressed again on Russian supplies, Magyar said: “After the war ends, the entire EU will return to buying Russian gas, because it is cheaper, and competitiveness and geography demand it.”
On domestic plans, Magyar confirmed his intention to amend the constitution. “We will do this, perhaps in two weeks,” he said, adding that this would be the first step, after which the president of the republic and the heads of the Constitutional Court and Kuria (supreme court) would “have to be sent far away”.
Asked why Polish courts had not yet “held the previous government to account”, Magyar said this was because “the same people” had remained in the Polish prosecutor’s office and Constitutional Court. In Hungary, he insisted, this would be handled differently. “Of course, the independence of the judiciary must be preserved, but first the puppets must be removed, otherwise we will not get far, as is clear from Poland,” he said.
Hungary-Ukraine relations
On Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, Magyar underlined Ukraine’s right to preserve its territorial integrity and independence, while describing Hungary’s position as unique. “We have a Hungarian minority in Ukraine that do not have basic rights” in the areas of language, culture, and local autonomy, he noted.
He added that his government was ready to “open a new chapter” with Ukraine once the issue of basic rights was resolved. This, he said, was a sine qua non for Hungary to support the opening of Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations.
If you missed it: PM Péter Magyar in Vienna: Corruption to zero, becoming productive EU member again, fighting asbestos contamination
Foreign Minister Anita Orbán meets Ukrainian counterpart
Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán and her Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, met in person for the first time on Friday, agreeing to resume bilateral expert consultations on national minorities next week, Sybiha said on X.
The minister said that at their meeting on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Helsingborg, he and Orbán had both acknowledged the importance of progress on the issue and agreed on the need to “find constructive solutions and achieve tangible results”.
Sybiha said he had underscored the “critical importance of Ukraine’s EU accession and the timely opening of negotiation clusters”. He said he had also briefed his Hungarian counterpart on the situation on the battlefield, the peace process, and Europe’s potential new role.
“We agreed that the restoration of our dialogue is a positive development for both of our nations and all of Europe, as well as coordinated further bilateral contacts on all levels,” Sybiha wrote.
First personal meeting with @_OrbanAnita in Helsingborg.
We took stock of this week’s first round of bilateral expert-level consultations on national minorities and agreed to hold the second round next week.
We both recognise the importance of progress on this track; we seek to… pic.twitter.com/oEw6Hufhr9
— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) May 22, 2026
OMG, just start fracking and invest in modular nuclear reactors, FFS!!!
I have to completely disagree with the headline. The EU learned that Russia will use natural gas supply as a weapon as it did in 2021-2022 in the lead up and start of its’ invasion of Ukraine. Europe allowed itself to become dependent on Russian gas which was a massive vulnerability. Europe also has concerns that Putin has further aggressive intentions starting with the Baltic states. The relationship with Russia has irrevocably changed and the EU will never allow any dependency of supply to develop in future.