Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at planned pro-Europe reforms in Hungary, the prospects of an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire in Lebanon, and Poland bolstering ties with Japan and South Korea.
Removing Orban’s ‘Puppets’
Just days after Hungary’s opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, Tisza leader and now Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar called on Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok to immediately resign upon the formation of a new government. Sulyok “is unworthy of representing the unity of the Hungarian nation,” Magyar wrote on X on Wednesday above a photo of them meeting at Budapest’s Sandor Palace. “He is unfit to serve as the guardian of legality. He is not fit to serve as a moral authority or a role model.”
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at planned pro-Europe reforms in Hungary, the prospects of an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire in Lebanon, and Poland bolstering ties with Japan and South Korea.
Removing Orban’s ‘Puppets’
Just days after Hungary’s opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, Tisza leader and now Prime Minister-elect Peter Magyar called on Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok to immediately resign upon the formation of a new government. Sulyok “is unworthy of representing the unity of the Hungarian nation,” Magyar wrote on X on Wednesday above a photo of them meeting at Budapest’s Sandor Palace. “He is unfit to serve as the guardian of legality. He is not fit to serve as a moral authority or a role model.”
Hungary’s Tisza party won more than two-thirds of parliamentary seats over the weekend, ending far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16-year rule as head of government with the populist Fidesz party. Although Magyar is not expected to take office until after Hungary’s parliament resumes its first post-election session, which must occur before May 12, the center-right, pro-Europe politician has already used his sweeping popularity to outline what he wants the first few months of his rule to look like.
One of Magyar’s biggest priorities is removing what he called the “puppets and pillars” of Orban’s regime. “They should leave of their own volition rather than wait for us to fire them because we will fire them,” Magyar said during his victory speech late Sunday. Specifically, Magyar has threatened to amend the country’s constitution to force Sulyok and other Orban-appointed officials out of office. Sulyok was elected in 2024 and is backed by Orban’s Fidesz party.
Magyar also hopes to use his party’s strong mandate to roll back Orban’s so-called rule-of-law reforms. By doing so, Magyar aims to secure the release of almost 10 billion euros ($11.8 billion) in suspended European Union pandemic recovery funds before they expire in August.
Of the many anti-corruption measures on Magyar’s to-do list, the Tisza leader seeks to rejoin the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, a branch of the EU that is responsible for investigating financial crimes. Rejoining would give European officials the authority to examine fraud cases involving Orban’s administration. It would also aid Magyar’s wider efforts to strengthen the independence of Hungary’s judiciary.
Magyar has also announced plans to restore press independence. “Every Hungarian deserves a public service media that broadcasts the truth,” Magyar told a state radio station. He said he will suspend state media networks, which he has called a “propaganda machine” for Orban’s government, until his government can pass a media law and establish a new media authority to create “the professional conditions for state media to actually do what it is meant to do.”
Magyar has also vowed to wean Hungary off Russian energy as part of Tisza’s larger pledge to shift the country closer to Western allies. Hungary receives much of its crude via Russia’s Druzhba pipeline and gets most of its natural gas through contracts with Moscow’s state-owned Gazprom. Its nuclear power plants also rely on Russia’s state-owned Rosatom.
The EU has pledged to eliminate Russian natural gas imports by late 2027. Although Magyar admits that this timeline is likely not feasible for Hungary, he has said that he aims for a complete cutoff by 2035.
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What We’re Following
Potential cease-fire. Under pressure from the United States, Israel’s security cabinet convened on Wednesday to discuss a possible one-week cease-fire in Lebanon. This comes a day after the United States convened a rare meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese governments to discuss how to end the Israel-Hezbollah war. According to a U.S. statement released after the meeting on Tuesday, the three countries have agreed to “launch direct negotiations” to end the conflict.
However, Beirut has no direct control over Hezbollah, and none of the Iran-backed proxy group’s representatives attended Tuesday’s talks. Hezbollah leader Qassem Naim initially condemned the negotiations, calling them a ploy to force the proxy group to disarm. However, senior Hezbollah official Ibrahim al-Moussawi told Reuters on Wednesday that diplomatic efforts by Iran and other regional actors could produce a truce deal soon, though he did not say whether Hezbollah would abide by it.
Iran previously threatened to withdraw from its two-week cease-fire with the United States if Israel did not cease its attacks on Hezbollah; however, Israel and the United States have argued that Lebanon is not part of the U.S.-Iran truce deal.
Meanwhile, fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces continued on Wednesday, with Israel striking two vehicles on a coastal highway south of Beirut and Hezbollah launching rockets at 10 locations in northern Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement on Wednesday that he’d instructed the Israel Defense Forces the day before “to continue reinforcing the security zone and to extend it eastward,” referring to the swath of territory in southern Lebanon that Israel has said it intends to occupy and control even after the war with Hezbollah ends.
Warsaw’s defense agenda. Poland and Japan agreed on Wednesday to elevate their bilateral relations to a “comprehensive and strategic partnership,” citing the need for closer collaboration to help bring peace to the Russia-Ukraine and Middle East conflicts.
“The security of the Euro-Atlantic and that of the Indo-Pacific are closely linked,” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk during their meeting in Tokyo.
Wednesday’s summit was part of Tusk’s larger tour of East Asia this week, during which he also upgraded Poland’s ties with South Korea. During that stop, Tusk described Seoul as Warsaw’s “most important ally after the United States, especially in the defense industry.” Tusk and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung agreed on Monday to expand defense cooperation under a $44.2 billion framework signed in 2022; South Korea has become one of Poland’s biggest arms suppliers in recent years.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has sought to modernize its military out of fear that it could become Moscow’s next target; Poland shares a 144-mile border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In 2024, Warsaw became the single-largest defense spender in relation to GDP in NATO (at 4.12 percent), and it tied with Kyiv to become the 15th biggest defense spender in U.S. dollars in the world (spending $28.4 billion).
An “abandoned crisis.” Sudan’s civil war—often described as the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe—entered its fourth year on Wednesday at a time when global attention remains fixed on the Middle East. “This grim and chastening anniversary marks another year when the world has failed to meet the test of Sudan,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said.
Fighting between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed nearly 60,000 people, driven around 800,000 individuals to severe acute malnutrition, and displaced roughly 13 million others. Almost two-thirds of the country’s residents need some form of humanitarian assistance, yet just 63 percent of the nation’s health care facilities remain operational. And with the Iran war driving up fuel costs, food prices in Sudan are becoming even more unaffordable—threatening to make an already dire situation worse.
The United States and regional powers have tried (and failed) to broker a cease-fire between the Sudanese military and RSF. But growing evidence suggests that outside governments, such as the United Arab Emirates, are funding the paramilitary group behind the scenes, exacerbating the fighting. The RSF has been accused of committing atrocities against civilians, including ethnic cleansing, mass killings, torture, and sexual assaults; the group denies these allegations. The Sudanese military has also been accused of carrying out attacks against civilians.
Earlier this week, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan described the conflict as an “abandoned crisis”—a sentiment echoed by Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard. “The Sudan conflict is not forgotten; it is being deliberately ignored and neglected,” Callamard said on Tuesday.
Odds and Ends
Foreign Policy would like to wish a happy belated birthday to Fatou, the world’s oldest gorilla living in captivity! Instead of brownies and ice cream (the favorite dessert of FP’s World Brief writer), Fatou—at least 65 years old—celebrated her long life on Monday with a feast of tomatoes, leeks, beets, and lettuce. Fatou is the oldest resident at Germany’s Berlin Zoo, and these days, she prefers to spend her time enjoying a little peace and quiet. Auf viele weitere Jahre!
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