{"id":17239,"date":"2026-05-18T05:33:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T05:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/the-real-work-begins-now-roma-take-centre-stage-as-hungary-brings-in-new-government-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T05:33:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T05:33:45","slug":"the-real-work-begins-now-roma-take-centre-stage-as-hungary-brings-in-new-government-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/the-real-work-begins-now-roma-take-centre-stage-as-hungary-brings-in-new-government-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The real work begins now\u2019: Roma take centre stage as Hungary brings in new government – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Campaigners say symbolism of Magyar inauguration must translate into real change for Roma rights after years of Orb\u00e1n discrimination
T<\/span>he clutch of young Roma boys in black bow ties were lined up beneath the ornate arches and royal frescoes of Hungary\u2019s dazzling parliament. Moments after P\u00e9ter Magyar<\/a> was sworn in, bringing an end to Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s 16 years in power, the young musicians launched into the unofficial anthem of Roma in Hungary, leaving many MPs wiping away tears.
It was an extraordinary moment \u2013 one that fused the nationwide hope<\/a> for change with the longstanding aspirations of the country\u2019s most marginalised community. Roma rights campaigners have seized the moment, calling on the new government to ensure that the symbolism of last weekendtranslates into real change.
As Hungary<\/a> \u2013 which is home to one of the continent\u2019s largest proportions of Roma, at about 8% \u2013 begins the post-Orb\u00e1n era, many across Europe are watching closely.
There are encouraging signs, say observers. The new parliament includes a record number of Roma MPs: four in Magyar\u2019s Tisza party and one with the rightwing nationalist opposition, Fidesz. Roma artists featured prominently during the daylong inauguration.
\u201cNever before have Roma been such an integral part of a nation at a state or national event as they were at the ceremonial opening of the new parliament,\u201d wrote<\/a> Stephan M\u00fcller, an adviser on international affairs with the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma. \u201cThis gives cause for hope that it will not remain merely a matter of symbols, but that real change will indeed take place.\u201d
A recent letter to Magyar, drafted by about 50 Roma professionals from various sectors in Hungary, urged the government to acknowledge the longstanding discrimination against Roma, take action to protect their rights, and ensure they have equal access to opportunities.
\u201cWe told them that the regime change can only be successful if they do it hand in hand with the Roma,\u201d said Alad\u00e1r Horv\u00e1th, one of Hungary\u2019s most prominent Romany rights campaigners and an architect of the letter.
During the past 16 years, as Orb\u00e1n and Fidesz sought to conjure<\/a> fears of an imagined \u201cother\u201d, their targets often included Roma.
\u201cIt was a situation of social Darwinism,\u201d said Horv\u00e1th, a former Liberal politician who in 1990, after the collapse of communism, became the country\u2019s<\/a> first Romany MP. \u201cA fascist-like social and economic situation prevailed. And Roma were the ones who suffered the most as a result.\u201d
Roma advocacy organisations were dismantled, state protections for the community were eroded, and the laws protecting them were trampled upon. A case in point was Romaversitas, founded by Horv\u00e1th in 1996, which helps Romany youth acquire vocational skills and post-secondary schooling.
During Orb\u00e1n\u2019s time in power, the Roma-led group was classified as a threat to national sovereignty<\/a>, leaving it wrestling with bureaucratic hurdles and contemplating whether it had a future in Hungary, said Ildik\u00f3 T\u00f6r\u00f6k, the organisation\u2019s managing director.
\u201cWe were unable to secure funding domestically,\u201d she said. \u201cWe worked under constant intimidation; it destroyed our mental health.\u201d
Fidesz\u2019s approach to Hungary\u2019s 800,000-strong Roma population was often top-down, said Kriszti\u00e1n K\u0151szegi, a Roma Tisza MP who \u2013 in a first for the community \u2013 has become one of the deputy speakers of the national assembly.
Tisza would work to change this approach, he said. \u201cWe want to work in collaboration and address the issues facing Roma in every sector, from social policy to healthcare to education, housing and the justice system,\u201d he added. \u201cWe are civilians, teachers and healthcare workers who lived the previous system and saw its shortcomings.\u201d
Poignant hints of what could lie ahead were laced through Saturday\u2019s inauguration as K\u0151szegi and another Roma MP took their oaths in Romany languages and the Roma singer Ibolya Ol\u00e1h sang Magyarorszag, <\/em>the patriotic song she had stopped performing years earlier in protest against attacks directed at her by Fidesz supporters and the extreme right.
But it was the S\u00fck\u00f6sd Roma Child Choir, with a performance of Z\u00f6ld az erd\u0151<\/em>, known to many as the unofficial anthem of Roma in Hungary, who stole the show<\/a> and epitomised the widespread hope that things could be different.
Magyar had met the choir during a visit in November to their village of 3,000 people, a two-hour drive south of Budapest. After one of the young musicians told Magyar that he hoped to visit parliament one day, the leader promised<\/a> an invitation if Tisza won the election.
After Tisza\u2019s landslide victory, the promise became an invitation to perform. As the country tuned into Saturday\u2019s inauguration, and tens of thousands of people followed along outside parliament, the performance marked a bright spot in what has long been a fraught relationship between Roma and the Hungarian state.
It also, however, laid bare lingering discrimination: the six MPs from the extreme right Our Homeland party walked out of parliament just as the choir began.
Magyar later described the walkout as an \u201cutterly unacceptable act\u201d but the extreme-right party \u2013 which has been linked<\/a> to a vigilante group accused of anti-Roma violence – insisted they had done so in protest at the decision to play the EU anthem in parliament.
For decades, civil society groups have flagged issues with deep discrimination, particularly around the segregation of Roma in schools. In 2024, as the EU announced an investigation into the matter, a spokesperson noted<\/a> that Roma children were \u201cdisproportionately overrepresented\u201d in schools for children with disabilities.
The consequences were wide-reaching<\/a> and long-lasting, as \u0110or\u0111e Jovanovi\u0107, of the European Roma Rights Centre, has pointed out, saying the segregation \u201cdenies them the opportunities to succeed and traps yet another generation in deprivation and poverty\u201d.
Anger over the issue has long simmered in the Roma community. But the political tipping point seemingly came earlier this year, when a senior Fidesz politician took aim at Roma when explaining why he did not see migration as a solution to the country\u2019s labour shortage.
J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r cited Roma people,<\/a> using a racist slur to refer to them, saying \u201csomeone has to clean the bathrooms on the inter-city trains\u201d.
Roma responded with political force in the election, said Mensur Haliti, the vice-president of the Roma Foundation for Europe<\/a>. \u201cRoma in Hungary punished those who used them and exploited them, while offering a change to those who are seemingly new,\u201d he said.
After the election, an analysis carried out by the Roma for Democracy Foundation looked at voting patterns in areas with significant Roma populations and found that Roma votes had appeared to play a role<\/a> in flipping multiple seats from Fidesz to Tisza.
\u201cThey gave a chance to Magyar,\u201d said Haliti. \u201dBut this was not because they believe he will carry out miracles. They are very cautious.\u201d How Magyar and his Tisza government respond, he said, \u201cwill set a precedent for the treatment of Roma minorities across Europe\u201d.
This view was echoed by M\u00fcller, of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma. \u201cThe real work, beyond the symbols and speeches, begins now, and it is a herculean task,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I have hope, like almost everyone in Hungary, that things will get better.\u201d
He added: \u201cOne first step that I really liked is that a group of Roma children managed to get fascists to leave the parliament. Keep it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Campaigners say symbolism of Magyar inauguration must translate into real change for Roma rights after years of Orb\u00e1n discriminationThe clutch of young Roma boys in black bow ties were lined up beneath the ornate arches and royal frescoes of Hungary\u2019s dazzling parliament. Moments after P\u00e9ter Magyar was sworn in, bringing an end to Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}