Gergely Gulyas: Fidesz Parliamentary Group Must Embody Party's Renewal

After preparatory talks ahead of the inaugural session of Parliament, outgoing minister Gergely Gulyas said that following the election results, restructuring the Fidesz parliamentary group has also been put on the agenda. The future group must simultaneously reflect renewal while ensuring expertise in policy issues, he said.

“A Fidesz parliamentary group is needed that is capable of symbolizing the party’s renewal,” Gergely Gulyas, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office told journalists after attending a preparatory meeting on Friday on behalf of Fidesz and the Christian Democrats (KDNP) to discus the National Assembly's inaugural session.

Put to him that Viktor Orban has announced a restructuring of the Fidesz parliamentary group, saying that those seated in Parliament may not necessarily be those at the top of the party list, he replied that since they had not prepared for this election outcome, it makes sense to have a Fidesz group that clearly demonstrates the party’s renewal.

Fidesz cannot remain united without Viktor Orban

“It is obvious that a parliamentary group is needed that can both symbolize Fidesz’s renewal and include people who are well-versed in policy issues and have governing experience,” the minister said.

Asked whether Fidesz's renewal is possible with Viktor Orban at the helm, he replied that, in his view, Fidesz cannot remain united without Viktor Orban. He asked for patience regarding the question of whether he would take the position of parliamentary group leader and indicated that he was considering all options.

There are many kinds of discussions, many kinds of requests reach a person, and everyone must consider the answer to each one of them,

he said.

Fidesz and KDNP will form separate groups

Gergely Gulyas described the tone and content of the preparatory meeting for Parliament’s inaugural session as fair, and said the new two-thirds majority will ensure the same conditions to the opposition, which does not make up one-third, as the previous governing side ensured for the opposition. He added that 

Fidesz and KDNP will continue to form two separate parliamentary groups.

Asked whether he still considered prime minister-elect Peter Magyar a “fool,” Gergely Gulyas replied that he has not used that word in the recent past and said public officials currently in office deserve a certain degree of respect, and he will act accordingly.

Regarding Fidesz's failure to foresee the rise of the Tisza Party, he said the polls he had seen did not predict this significant difference.

We must acknowledge that Endre Hann, head of the Median polling institute, was right, and so was my wife,

he remarked.

When asked how Fidesz had reached a point where they were so out of touch with reality, he replied that the polls had been wrong. Since the polls were flawed, it was a mistake to trust them, he added in response to the suggestion that it was a mistake to trust the analyses produced by “institutions funded by the government and Fidesz.”

In the final weeks before the election, it appeared that the race was close and that Fidesz could even win. From that perspective, the election result is surprising. The political situation was misjudged in recent months, and there is no doubt that the Tisza Party won the election, he said, when asked whether Peter Magyar had been underestimated.

Gergely Gulyas identifies the cause of defeat

Asked whether it was a mistake to base Fidesz's campaign so heavily on “inciting a fear of war,” he said that while mistakes were made during the campaign, he does not consider this the main reason.

I consider the main reason to be that sixteen years is a long time. Obviously, there were mistakes, and there were also accusations that we were unable to refute,

he said.

He added that the party would analyse the situation and report to the public on the reasons for their defeat.

When asked about a meeting he had with Magyar in November 2023 and what his experience was of the current meeting, he said: the personal part of the matter has been closed, and beyond that, his contact with Magyar only had political significance.

Referring to a statement he made in 2024 when he said he had nothing to do with Peter Magyar’s emergence but that, if he did, many would be grateful, Gergely Gulyas said that 

since he has no connection to the events, he has nothing to say on the matter.

Besides Gergely Gulyas, Fidesz-KDNP was represented at the preparatory meeting by former Fidesz parliamentary group head Gyorgy Balla, KDNP's deputy parliamentary speaker Janos Latorcai, and Bence Retvari, a state secretary of the interior ministry and deputy leader of KDNP.

After four parliamentary terms in government since 2010, the Fidesz–KDNP alliance lost the April 2026 elections. According to preliminary results, the alliance will have 56 representatives in the new National Assembly. The Tisza Party has secured a two-thirds majority and, according to preliminary results, holds 137 seats. In the previous parliamentary term, Fidesz had a 116-member parliamentary group, while the KDNP had a 19-member group.

Cover photo: Peter Magyar and Gergely Gulyas at the parliamentary consultation (Photo: Attila Polyak)