Star Metro - Hungary's Orban urges party 'renewal' after vote loss

Orban lost on Sunday to political newcomer, conservative pro-EU Peter Magyar, whose party won a two-thirds parliamentary majority in a vote marked by record turnout in the central European country.

"We cannot continue the way we have been operating until now," Orban said in his first interview since the defeat, broadcast live on the YouTube channel Patriota.

"A complete renewal is needed, and this applies not only to Fidesz (Orban's party), but to the entire national side," he said.

After a "significant" loss, Orban said he was "trying to somehow come out of this shock" and that, as party leader, he took "full responsibility".

"The first and most important task is to manage the handover of government," he said, adding the process was already under way.

"The second task is to convene the necessary bodies for renewal, such as the national assembly of delegates and the party congress. This work is already ongoing," he added.

The outgoing prime minister has also decided to skip a final EU summit next week in Cyprus before formally handing over to Magyar in early May.

"Prime Minister Viktor Orban will not attend the informal meeting of EU heads of state and government on April 23–24 due to his duties related to the handover of government," Hungary's EU minister Janos Boka wrote on Facebook earlier Thursday.

His absence will spare him a potential showdown over his continued veto of a 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) EU loan for Ukraine.

That move was the latest in a raft of decisions by Orban, an ally of US President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin, that have infuriated Brussels.

The EU previously froze aid to Hungary due to concerns over Orban's perceived democratic backsliding.

Magyar has vowed to dismantle the nationalist administration and repair relations with the EU so it will unfreeze billions of dollars of EU funds.

- EU talks -

Following Magyar's victory, EU officials will visit Hungary Friday for talks with the incoming government.

"These are preliminary talks that are taking place in order to make sure that once the government is in place, really, action can be taken if appropriate, and that we do not waste any time," said EU spokeswoman Paula Pinho.

Magyar's "regime change" also gathered pace on Thursday when the Tisza party leader said he will not use the office in a monastery towering over Budapest that was Orban's seat of power.

"Under the TISZA government, the prime minister's office will not be located in the Carmelite Palace, but in a ministry building near the parliament," Magyar said in a Facebook post.

Orban moved his office from near parliament to the Carmelite Monastery in Budapest's historic Castle Quarter in 2019.

Critics had condemned the cost of the renovation and the heavy security around the former cultural centre overlooking the Danube that the government appropriated in 2014.

Magyar has also vowed to suspend news coverage by state-run outlets that opponents said had become an Orban mouthpiece.

Staff of the MTI national news agency demanded the restoration of "editorial autonomy," in a letter seen by AFP on Thursday, with one editor saying they had "had enough of unlawful, external political interference".

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A.Harris--SMC