From sovereign dependence to dependent upgrading: Hungary’s post-Orbán economy

In the April 2026 elections, Hungary experienced a landmark change of government as Viktor Orbán lost power. Incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar has pledged to reform the Orbánist economic model, but what did this model actually look like, and what are the realistic prospects and motivations for change?

Expert Gergő Medve-Bálint will examine the economic model Orbán left behind: one built on "sovereign dependence," combining structural reliance on external capital with increasing government leverage over domestically owned firms. This talk will explore how that model shaped Hungary's growth trajectory, and how the suspension of EU funds and the slowdown of foreign investment exposed its vulnerabilities, contributing to economic stagnation in the 2020s. With a new government now in place, how will foreign influence be reconfigured under new political management?

Speaker:

Gergő Medve-Bálint is an Associate Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Political Science, ELTE Centre for Social Sciences. His research lies at the intersection of comparative and international political economy as he focuses on the institutional stability and change in (semi)peripheral growth regimes in Europe, exploring the role of industrial policy and regional policy in economic upgrading and stagnation in those economies. Medve-Bálint's work has appeared in journals including the Journal of Common Market Studies and the Review of International Political Economy.