Magyar to relocate Hungarian prime minister’s office in shot at Orbán

Hungary’s premier-elect Péter Magyar said he would relocate the prime minister’s office in Budapest once he is sworn in.

“Under the Tisza government, the Prime Minister’s Office will not be based in the Carmelite Palace in the Castle District, which Viktor Orbán had set up for himself, but in one of the ministry buildings near parliament,” Magyar wrote on X on Thursday.

The baroque Carmelite Monastery in Buda, on the western side of the Danube, historically served as a Catholic monastery and later as a theater before being converted into Prime Minister Orbán’s office in 2019 at a cost reported to be more than €50 million. Hungary’s parliament building, one of Budapest’s most iconic landmarks, is located on the eastern bank of the river.

The move marks another effort by Magyar to distance himself from his predecessor, after he appeared on Orbán-affiliated state television to announce that he would suspend their operations. In an interview Wednesday, Magyar described the broadcaster as a “factory of lies” and said he would “immediately suspend the false news service.”

Magyar’s Tisza party won a landslide victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election, drawing congratulations from most European leaders. He is expected to be installed as prime minister by parliament in early May.