By Nitya Chakraborty
The big defeat of the Prime Minister Victor Orban in the national elections in Hungary held on Sunday is a big boost to the European Union in its protracted battle with the U.S. President Donald Trump over the future course of Europe. Orban who ruled Hungary for 16 years with iron hand is known as a Trump man in Europe. He was a supporter of Trump’s policy on Ukraine and opposed every move of EU which differed with Trump.
Hungary’s opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar won the elections in an intensely contested polls closely monitored by both the European nations and Washington. U.S. vice-president J D Vance was in Budapest only a day before the polling openly supporting Orban and lambasting the opposition leader Magyar as a weak person, not fit to rule on the lines Trump takes on his adversaries in Europe.
With 98.74% of the vote counted, Magyar’s Tisza party was projected to have won 138 of the 199 seats in the country’s parliament, giving them a super-majority capable of amending the constitution and key laws, suggesting they would be able to reverse some of the changes made by Orbán, the PM leading his party Fidesz which won only 55 seats. The extreme right MI Hazank party got five seats.
Magyar 45 was ecstatic on Sunday night after the polling results came out. Though the opinion polls projected defeat of Orban, Magyar did not expect the nature of his sweeping victory..“ Tonight truth prevailed over lies” said the incumbent PM to thousands of his jubilant supporters along the bank of Danube. He was congratulated by the Ukrainian President Zelensky as also other European leaders. As against this, there was pessimism in the White House with the Trump advisers expressing the view that Orban’s defeat weakened Trump’s bargaining power with Europe and NATO.
Significantly, even Giorgia Meloni PM of Italy, known to be soft to Trump congratulated Magyar and hoped to work with him closely. British PM Keir Starmer was more forthright. Starmer hailed the Hungary result as a historic moment, not only for Hungary, but also for European Democracy as a whole. President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen expressed Europe’s sentiments more appropriately when she said “Europe’s heart is beating stronger in Hungary tonight. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger”.
Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, said he had spoken with Magyar to congratulate him, while the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he was “looking forward” to working with Magyar.
From Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country was ready to advance our cooperation with Hungary, even as Magyar has said he would continue Orbán’s opposition to sending arms to the country and fast-tracking EU entry for Kyiv. “We are ready for meetings and joint constructive work for the benefit of both nations, as well as peace, security, and stability in Europe.”
One immediate upshot of Orban’s big defeat is the slowing down of the efforts of Global far right in their march in Europe in 2026. Orban was the only PM of an European nation who was aligned formally with Trump inspired Global Right who held a conference last year in Europe to mobilise the far right opposition parties to gain power in the coming elections. Britain’s Reform Party, France’s RN of Marine Le Pen and Germany and Spain’s far right parties were the participants. Now the only far right pro Trump party of Europe has lost power. In other countries also, the far right parties are stagnating. Recently in Denmark elections, the far right was denied power by the Danish people. Trump supporters had a hasty retreat.
Sunday’s election saw a record turnout of nearly 80%, according to the National Election Office. The result was likely due, in part, to the massive number of youths who mobilised against Victor Orban. According to a report in The Guardian, one poll suggested that as many as 65% of voters under the age of 30 – many of whom had come of age as the country plunged in press freedom rankings, was accused of being an “electoral autocracy”, and became the most corrupt country in the EU – were planning to cast their vote against Orbán.. That way, the big margin of defeat by PM Orban was due to the youth anger against his authoritarian policies.
Along with loss of Hungary, President Trump made a big mess on Sunday itself by President by delivering an extraordinary broadside against Pope Leo XIV saying he didn’t think the US-born leader of the Catholic church is “doing a very good job” and that “he’s a very liberal person,” while also suggesting the pontiff should “stop catering to the Radical Left.”
Flying back to Washington from Florida, Trump used a lengthy social media post to sharply criticise Leo, then kept it up in comments on the tarmac to reporters. The severity of Trump’s direct confrontation with the head of the Vatican rattled the conservative Christians who are the backbone of Trump’s Republican Party. Generally, the U.S. Presidents avoid mentioning any harsh words against the Vatican chief even if they disagree. But Trump is maverick and uncontrollable.
Trump’s comments came after Leo suggested over the weekend that a “delusion of omnipotence” was fuelling the US-Israel war in Iran. While it’s not unusual for popes and presidents to be at cross purposes, it’s exceedingly rare for the pope to criticise a US leader – and Trump’s stinging response is equally uncommon.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” the president wrote in his post, adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
He repeated that sentiment in comments to reporters, saying, “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.”
Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan during a fragile ceasefire. The pope didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name, but his tone and message appeared directed at Trump and US officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.
The pope – who is scheduled to leave Monday for an 11-day trip to Africa – has previously said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” He’s also referenced an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, saying that “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen – your hands are full of blood.”
Before the ceasefire, when Trump warned of mass strikes against Iranian power plants and other infrastructure and that “an entire civilization will die tonight,” Leo described such sentiments as “truly unacceptable.” Trump is now engaged in a war on many fronts including the head of the Vatican. (IPA Service)
