Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar takes a guided tour of the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest, Hungary, the former office of his predecessor, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, on May 16, 2026. Peter Magyar has sought to maintain Hungary’s strict immigration laws while regaining the European Union’s good graces, write Kristof Veres and Monika Palotai. (Shutterstock/Civic Lens)

Can Hungary’s Prime Minister Peter Magyar Work with the EU and Restrict Immigration?

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With roughly $20 billion in frozen funds at stake, Hungary is now testing whether it can beat the EU at its own game.

On April 12, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar won a landslide victory on a platform that promised to weed out systemic corruption, curb inflation, and fix the economy. One of his most important pledges was to unlock roughly $20 billion in EU funds that Brussels has held back from Hungary over “rule of law” concerns. After rushing through judicial, procurement, and anti-corruption reforms, the European Commission recently proposed releasing the first tranche of about €4.2 billion ($4.8 billion).

The question was never whether the Hungarian government could secure the funds. It was what Brussels would ask in return. This past August, a Heritage Foundation analysis by Paul McCarthy warned that the anti-corruption and rule-of-law reforms aimed at satisfying the European Union would dismantle former Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s legacy, leaving Hungary less able to resist pressure on core sovereignty issues, above all on migration.

The risk is very real. The Commission’s “rule of law” objections, which have justified withholding funds, explicitly included Hungary’s refusal to comply with EU asylum policy. On top of the frozen $20 billion, Budapest is still paying the $1.17 million-per-day fine, plus a $235 million lump-sum fine imposed by........

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