Peter Magyar's Former Ally Drops a Bombshell: Reveals Tisza Party's Energy Policy Plan, and It Would Hurt Not a Little, but a Lot

Peter Magyar's former ally said this is exactly the kind of thing that made him leave the party.

Peter Magyar, president of the Tisza Party (Photo: Zoltan Havran)

On his social media page, Balazs Csercsa published the Tisza Party’s energy policy draft, which outlines a complete phase-out of Russian energy and a transition to Brussels-aligned energy policy. The former head of the Tizsa Party’s church policy working group wrote that the document “was blown his way by the wind” from the team of Istvan Kapitany, and according to it, the Tisza Party plans to immediately resolve the separation from Russian energy after the election.

Instead of Hungarian interests, Tisza seeks to please the European Commission

“Hungary must resolve its conflicts with the European Commission and Ukraine, and this cannot be achieved without meaningful compromises, without Russian energy sources being phased out. This shift also provides an opportunity for Tisza to break with the Fidesz governments’ model based on excessive state control – price regulation and artificial preference given to domestic actors – and to liberalize the Hungarian energy market in line with the European Commission’s guidelines,” the published document states. According to the plan, this would require:

eliminating the protected fuel price, replacing reduced household utility prices with market-based pricing, completing the conversion of the MOL refinery, and introducing a new energy independence tax to finance these costs.

Source: Facebook

According to the material from Istvan Kapitany’s team, the biggest problem of Hungary's energy policy today is excessive state intervention. In their view, regulated utility prices and the recently introduced protected pricing have diverged from market realities, causing distortions while removing incentives for consumer energy savings.

Tisza Party’s experts also argue that

both measures run counter to European Commission guidelines, which will have to be implemented sooner or later.

The document say that “protected prices place an excessive burden on value chain participants – especially fuel retailers – run counter to all market logic, and discriminatorily favor domestic consumers, which does not fit the EU’s logic based on internal market and competition law.” Therefore, after forming a government, the Tisza Party would immediately address two key challenges: phasing out Russian energy imports and reducing excessive state involvement.

The Tisza Party would introduce a new tax, placing a 1–1.5 percent burden on savings

Regarding implementation, the document states that after a change of government, Tisza must immediately begin executing the following measures:

• Phasing out protected pricing: Due to the immediate separation from Russian oil, available supply would decrease and output from the Danube Refinery would deteriorate. This would require increased imports of more expensive refined products and a reduction in fuel demand. Under current pricing conditions, this would be unmanageable, so protected pricing must be abolished immediately.
• Market pricing for household electricity and gas, phasing out regulated pricing without delay: As with fuel, demand can only be reduced in a higher price environment. European Commission guidelines call for liberalizing household price regulation and opening the market to foreign companies. In addition, state-regulated tariffs would become financially unsustainable due to the phase-out of Russian energy and price increases linked to the Iran war.
• Conversion of MOL's Danube Refinery: To restore optimal output, an investment of approximately 1 billion euros would be required at the Szazhalombatta facility, with an expected duration of two years.
• Introduction of a temporary Energy independence tax (EFA) on savings: Because the government intends to use the 600 billion forints in the utility cost reduction fund to reduce the budget deficit, additional fiscal space must be created. This justifies the introduction of a new tax. To preserve corporate competitiveness and given the high level of household savings, the burden would be placed on households. Based on international experience, a 1–1.5 percent tax rate on savings would not trigger significant public resistance, while providing funding for the refinery conversion and other transition costs.

Source: Facebook

According to Tisza’s experts, household savings in Hungary are significantly above the European average, making them a suitable source of revenue. "A 1 percent tax could generate 240 billion forints annually, while 1.5 percent could bring in 360 billion. The tax would be introduced for two years, financing the transition in 2026 and 2027. These steps must be implemented immediately after the new parliament is formed,"states the document.

The plan also outlines a timeline. At the inaugural session of parliament, a bill must be submitted to immediately ban the import of Russian gasoline and diesel into Hungary.

“At the same time, legislation must be introduced to restore state control over MOL shares placed in public-interest foundations. On the day the new government takes office – expected at T+14 days – an energy emergency must be declared, and at the first cabinet meeting it must be decided that Hungary will cease purchasing Russian energy,” the document states. It also proposes setting up a dedicated operational team to manage the energy transition, convening an immediate MOL shareholders’ meeting, appointing new board members, and installing new leadership at the company.

Between T+30 and T+90 days, the new MOL leadership and the government would conduct coordinated diplomatic and commercial negotiations with key import partners. A separate agreement would be required with Croatia, and large volumes of refined fuel would need to be secured. The state energy company MVM under the oversight of the economic minister would immediately seek new non-Russian gas suppliers, initially through short-term spot agreements, says the document published by Balazs Csercsa.

Forrás: Facebook

Preparation for privatization of MVM

According to Tisza’s economic working group, the implementation of these measures would take approximately two and a half years starting from the second month of the new government’s term. The plan also states that

by the end of 2028, state-owned MOL shares should be sold and at least 75 percent of MVM should be privatized.

The document acknowledges that restructuring the energy system would create social tensions and suggests that these should be politically redirected against Fidesz. It states that the Tisza government must prepare in advance for political attacks:

• Attacks due to rising household energy prices: Estimates suggest that phasing out Russian energy and price controls would increase electricity and gas bills to 2–2.5 times current levels.
• Proposed response: Emphasize that price increases are the result of past overconsumption and lack of energy efficiency, and blame previous Fidesz governments for creating excessive dependence on Russia and debts. Energy companies linked to Lorinc Meszaros should be held responsible, and debate should be initiated on nationalizing them.
• Attacks due to rising fuel prices:  Estimates suggest that as a result of phasing out Russian energy and price controls, gasoline prices could approach, and diesel exceed, 1000 forints per liter.
• Proposed response: Attribute price increases to market distortions caused by price caps and protected pricing, and blame the Iran war and Orban's ally, US President Donald Trump.
•  Attacks due to energy independence tax: The new tax would become a major political target, with Fidesz accusing Tisza of tax increases.
• Proposed response: Emphasize that the burden falls mainly on the wealthy and the “NER elite,” and introduce an additional wealth tax, which would also go to the energy transition fund. However,  most revenue would come from the broadly applied EFA, which can be quickly and easily collected from the population, while the wealth tax would help shape public opinion.

Magyar Nemzet has contacted the Tisza Party’s press office regarding the energy policy draft, and will update the article when they respond.

We have heard about Tisza’s energy policy plan before

Although the document published by Balazs Csercsa had not previously been known in full, the plans communicated so far by experts of the Tisza Party strongly align with its content.

Istvan Kapitany, for example, outlined his position at a forum, arguing that the functioning of the state should be simplified, with far less intervention, fewer special taxes, and significantly fewer price caps and margin caps. The statement by Peter Magyar’s energy expert is not surprising, as he had previously indicated that Hungary should break away from cheap Russian gas—while, of course, not mentioning that this would lead to the abolition of the utility cost reduction scheme. Istvany Kapitany, who was brought into Tisza from Shell, also failed to address the fact that abolishing protected pricing and price caps would push fuel prices to around 1,000 forints per liter.

It is also worth recalling that earlier this year, in an appearance on ATV’s program Egyenes beszed (Straight Talk), Istvan Kapitany explained how he would reshape Hungary’s energy procurement. He made statements that sound appealing at first, such as: “In general, in any business situation, total dependence, or at least a very strong commitment, is not desirable, regardless of political considerations.” He said Hungary has the opportunity to procure energy from various sources, but that this must be technically enabled. This wording, however, also implies investments, meaning additional costs.

While he mentioned low costs as a condition, he did not explain why Hungary receives the overwhelming majority of its natural gas and crude oil from Russian sources. The reason is affordability, which is frequently emphasized. It is true that alternative sources exist, but Hungarian energy traders do not purchase from them because it is not economically viable.

In other words, Istvan Kapitany would shift energy procurement toward more expensive sources, which would clearly make the utility cost reduction policy unsustainable.

At the same time, rising utility prices would hardly affect Istvan Kapitany personally, as the Tisza politician reportedly made 1.5 billion forints from the Ukrainian oil blockade alone.

The household utility cost reduction scheme  has been under attack by left-wing actors since its introduction in 2012. Although older left-wing, liberal parties have largely disappeared, their experts have not followed them into obscurity. Instead, they have aligned themselves with the Tisza Party and continue to voice essentially the same positions. Attila Holoda, for example,

has criticized utility cost reductions from the beginning, arguing that electricity prices are too low.

“It is not the system usage fee that is high, but the price of electricity that is low, especially compared to market prices,” said the energy expert closely associated with the Tisza Party. He expressed himself even more bluntly in December 2025, when on Sandor Friderikusz’s program he described household energy price caps as a scam. According to him, people do not realize that artificially low tariffs have a cost “on the other side.” This echoes his earlier 2023 statement that utility cost reductions were “a deception that people do not understand,” and he has also referred to the measure as a “household trap” in an interview with Kontroll, a platform operated by Peter Magyar’s brother.

Neither has Gyorgy Suranyi hidden his opinion on the household utility cost reduction policy. 

The former central bank governor argued that the biggest problem with the subsidy is that all families receive it.

Speaking to ATV, he added: “Every economist—ninety-nine out of a hundred—knows that utility cost reductions are a seriously flawed instrument.”

Gyorgy Suranyi has previously spoken about phasing out the measure as well, acknowledging that it would be a “sensitive move.” In a July 2025 recording from a lecture delivered at a Tisza event, he said: “The same applies to utility cost reductions. It is a sensitive issue, so I would not recommend that any government start with it. But sooner or later [...] there may come a moment when it can be called into question.”

Political scientist Laszlo Keri, often described as one of the first figures aligned with the Tisza Party, expressed a simpler view, calling utility cost reductions “the biggest bluff in the world.”

It is an important question why so many figures around the Tisza Party are pushing for the abolition of utility cost reductions. This position is particularly striking at a time when a new energy crisis is affecting supply on two fronts: on the one hand, the Iran war has reduced supply security; on the other hand, Kyiv continues to refuse to reopen the Druzhba pipeline that supplies Hungary with Russian oil.

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