Hungary to limit prime ministers to maximum eight-year terms

Launched during Orbán’s last years in power, the office was widely accused of seeking to quell critics of his government by allowing Hungary’s intelligence services to access information on individuals and organisations without judicial oversight.

As the new government races to unlock billions in frozen EU funds, the draft amendment also addresses a longstanding point of friction with the bloc by reclaiming the foundations that, during Orbán’s time, were used to maintain nearly two dozen universities and thinktanks such as the Mathias Corvinus Collegium.

Under the previous government, the foundations’ board of trustees, many of them stacked with Orbán loyalists, were handed complete control over these assets. This “eliminated democratic control” over these public assets and resulted in an “abuse of legislative power”, the draft amendment states.

The proposal sets out that the state could dissolve these foundations. “The amendment makes it clear that although the foundations … are private entities, their assets are national assets,” it says.

The draft amendment is expected to be discussed next week when the national assembly convenes.

In the weeks since his election victory, Magyar has sought to emphasise his government’s break from the past, vowing to suspend broadcasts from state media that functioned as Orbán mouthpieces, calling on Orbán-era appointees to resign, and apologising to the teachers, journalists and public figures who were maligned by the state during Orbán’s time in power.

His government has also made clear that this stark shift also applies to foreign relations. In mid-May the new foreign minister, Anita Orbán, said she had summoned Russia’s ambassador to Hungary over a massive drone attack in Ukraine, marking a reversal of her predecessor’s seemingly servile relations with Moscow.

She said on social media: “I told the Russian ambassador that it was completely unacceptable for Hungary that they were now attacking Transcarpathia, home of the Hungarian minority. I stressed that Russia should do everything for an immediate ceasefire and a peaceful and lasting end to the war as soon as possible.”