Political prospects in Hungary for 2025.

In Hungary, the political outlook is difficult to assess today. Hungary’s current leaders envision a sovereign political entity, but the country is in reality exposed to countless foreign influences that contradict the desired autonomy.

For several years now, the economy has been unable to finance an increase in the standard of living, and in some cases, even the previous standard has been jeopardized, for example in healthcare, public transport and energy supply.

For years, parliamentary democracy has not been fulfilling the will of the citizens, and the parties not in government have been in an internal crisis of confidence due to the losses of the past year and the series of defeats, and are losing their sympathizers and members.

The traditional party system is in crisis, and there is no prospect of what could replace parties in public life.

In 2024, a protest party emerged and strengthened, which currently represents the largest opposition force, but it is not yet known how long it will be able to grow and continuously influence the political discourse.

Employment did improve significantly in the 2010s: a determining factor in economic growth was the workforce brought back to the labor market. However, most of the mobilizable labor reserve in Hungary was exhausted by 2020. There is no suitable domestic workforce to operate the significant industrial capacity currently under construction, and supplementing it from abroad makes the government’s life politically difficult.

Almost all members of the EU are in the Eurozone, and the constant exchange rate fluctuations of the Hungarian currency do not help the import-driven economy. Hungary has a low innovation capacity because investments financed almost exclusively by the state do not require the development of special skills. In Latvia alone, there are 70 startup companies by 2024, with a total value of several billion dollars.

In 2024, Hungarian startups occupied the 50th place in the world ranking and we are in 31st place in Europe. The biggest advantage of our country is the low overhead costs associated with business activities and the low cost of living, while the biggest disadvantage is the emigration of IT professionals.

The share of renewables in the energy sector is low, and medium-term developments are also based on nuclear energy and gas-fired power plants, which continues to mean vulnerability to energy exchanges.

Local governments are unable to perform the remaining tasks due to their low income, and the previously implemented centralized education and healthcare system did not actually live up to the hopes attached to economical and unified operation.

Hungary cannot look calmly to the coming year, as its own internal problems are exacerbated by rapidly changing foreign policy events, which can influence the everyday life of Hungarian domestic politics not only in the short but also in the long term.