The Workers’ Party does not mourn Viktor Orbán’s recent election loss in Hungary. His reactionary politics — curbing freedom of speech and other civil liberties — warrant no mourning from communists or workers alike, yet his defeat is not our victory.

Péter Magyar’s Tisza party has secured a two-thirds supermajority in parliament; enough to rewrite the constitution and reshape Hungary’s institutions. Magyar has declared that his mandate is to dismantle Orbán’s system and bring Hungary “back into the European fold.” In practice, this means subordinating Hungarian foreign policy and interests to the EU consensus.

Whatever one makes of Orbán personally, he and Slovakia’s Fico represented the only European governments actively opposing the EU’s role in the war in Ukraine. Magyar defines himself as strongly pro-European and has criticised Orbán’s confrontational stance toward EU institutions and his close relations with Russia.

Magyar himself dismissed Orbán’s posture of national sovereignty as, in his own words, “sugar-coating” used to “conceal the workings of the machinery of power and to acquire immense fortunes.” However, sovereignty is sovereignty, even in cynical hands. Hungary may well return to full alignment, allowing the EU to further squander untold resources on its ongoing war with Russia.

This has direct consequences for Ireland. As we have consistently warned, the erosion of our neutrality and opposition to the Triple Lock are part of the same drive toward EU militarisation. By early 2025, Ireland had already committed approximately €350 million to the “European Peace Facility,” largely in support of Ukraine. Hungary can no longer be relied upon to impede EU war spending. As a result, pressure on neutral member states to deepen their financial and political commitments will only intensify. Working people in Ireland will be asked to pay for a war that serves neither their interests nor the cause of peace.

The Workers’ Party will watch closely whether Fico can maintain a lonely opposition, and whether he can survive, politically and physically.