Hungary's former PM to donate severance payout to Ukrainian orphanage

Hungary's former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has announced that he will donate his severance payment to a Ukrainian orphanage following a string of public accusations from Budapest's newly elected government.

Writing on Facebook on May 16, Orbán — who led Hungary for 16 years before losing last month’s parliamentary election — said the funds would go to the Good Samaritan Reformed Children’s Home in Transcarpathia, a region home to a sizeable ethnic Hungarian minority.

The announcement came after several ministers from Orbán’s former Fidesz government also pledged to donate their own severance payments to the same institution.

Under Hungarian law, ministers and deputy ministers are entitled to severance packages based on their years in office. However, the newly formed government led by Péter Magyar has sought to block the payouts, accusing former officials of misusing public funds.

Magyar previously stated that members of the outgoing cabinet had agreed during the official transfer of ministerial responsibilities to waive their severance payments. Orbán, however, was initially absent from the group, agreeing to forgo the money, prompting the new prime minister to publicly single him out.

As a former member of parliament, Orbán is entitled to receive three months of parliamentary salary amounting to HUF 6.37 million (€17,700), as well as six months of prime ministerial pay worth an additional HUF 32.4 million (€90,000).

The Magyar government has defended its hard line on the payouts by citing the country’s difficult economic situation, including government debt approaching 75 per cent of GDP and inflation that peaked at 26 per cent in 2023.

By Nazrin Sadigova