In what might be the most dramatic 'I gave you a chance' moment in modern European politics, Hungary's new Prime Minister Peter Magyar is moving to amend the country's constitution to boot President Tamas Sulyok out of office, according to Al Jazeera.
Magyar, who swept into power in April riding a wave of anti-Orban sentiment, had reportedly given Sulyok a deadline of Sunday to voluntarily step down from the presidency. Sulyok, a Fidesz loyalist appointed under Viktor Orban's long reign, apparently did not get the memo - or more likely, got the memo and threw it in the bin.
Rewriting the rulebook, literally
Rather than shrug and move on, Magyar is now pursuing a constitutional amendment specifically designed to remove Sulyok from office. This is the political equivalent of not just flipping the table, but dismantling the entire table and replacing it with a new one that has a 'no Sulyok' clause built in.
The move underscores just how serious Magyar is about dismantling the institutional architecture that Orban spent years carefully assembling. Sulyok, who has served as president since 2024, has been seen by Magyar's supporters as a remnant of the old guard - someone whose continued presence in Sandor Palace represents unfinished business from the April elections.
Why this matters beyond Hungary
Constitutional amendments are not exactly weekend DIY projects. The fact that Magyar's government is willing to go this route signals a level of political will - and presumably parliamentary muscle - that few expected this early in his tenure. It also raises legitimate questions about democratic norms, specifically whether using constitutional tools to remove a sitting head of state, even a politically inconvenient one, sets a comfortable precedent.
Critics will argue that even if the goal is democratisation, bulldozing a president via constitutional rewrite is a move straight from the playbook Magyar is supposedly running against. Supporters will counter that extraordinary messes require extraordinary mops.
Either way, Hungarian politics remains the most gripping soap opera in Central Europe - and Peter Magyar has just made sure the next episode will be unmissable.
