New Year's Eve Addresses by Hungarian Politicians

Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok and opposition leader Péter Magyar both addressed the Hungarian people in the first hours of the new year.

In his New Year's address broadcast on public media just after midnight, President Tamás Sulyok called for understanding and love to prevail in the year ahead, urging Hungarians to 'rediscover the joy of togetherness'.

The president wished the nation strength and courage to seek out the good in one another and to pursue personal goals with the resolve that comes from knowing "failure itself often paves the way to success".

Invoking ancient traditions, Sulyok said "greatness is achieved only when we stand united". To the young, he wished the discovery of happiness and the mastery of success; to the elderly, the wisdom to uncover life's hidden lessons.

"Let us explore every path to nature's beauty and preserve our world for generations to come," he said, adding that he trusted 2026 would bring global recognition to Hungary's achievements in science, culture, and sport, and that Hungarian communities, both in the Carpathian Basin and across the world, would "embrace freedom and joy."

In his message, streamed on Facebook and YouTube early on Thursday, Péter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza Party, said 2026 would be "the year of our collective decision" and "a collective verdict in which the key question isn't who should be the one to govern, but rather how we want to live".

Magyar said this year's general election would not just be a race among Hungary's parties, but also a "a serene, peaceful, but decisive referendum on whether we want a dysfunctional homeland or a functioning country."

He said the election would be "a referendum on the future of an abandoned rural Hungary, about whether Hungary should remain Europe's poorest and most corrupt country, or once again become a strong bastion of the Old Continent". It would also be a referendum on European Union funds and on "whether we want to live in [Prime Minister Viktor] Orban's Hungary or in a humane country", he added.

Magyar called for change, saying the country should not have a leader who "doesn't put the well-being of Hungarian children first, who does nothing for years despite knowing that thousands of children are being abused, who is unable to take responsibility, who only represents a smaller half of the nation…" "And above all, the country cannot have a leader who does not abide by the laws," he added.