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Hungary's parliament votes to remove Orbán-allied President Tamás Sulyok from office; Sulyok given five days to sign his own dismissal

Hungary's National Assembly approved a constitutional amendment on July 13 to remove President Tamás Sulyok from office; Prime Minister Péter Magyar's coalition used its two-thirds supermajority to pass the 17th amendment to Hungary's Basic Law; Sulyok now has five days to sign his own dismissal or face impeachment proceedings

Leaders·Courts· active Who Decides·What Broke ·14 takes · ·rbtfl upd Jul 15, 2026
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developments

  1. Hungary's parliament passes constitutional amendment removing President Sulyok from office; Sulyok has five days to sign his dismissal or face impeachment ↗

The split

The same story, as told by newsrooms in different countries. Their words, attributed and linked.

Belgium / pan-European

Euronews

“Magyar repeatedly called on Sulyok to resign, branding the 70-year-old unworthy of the post for failing to stand up to Orbán's divisive rhetoric and attacks on the rule of law.”

pan-European, EU rule-of-law framingread the original ↗

Georgia / South Caucasus

Prism

“Parliament moved to oust Sulyok as Magyar used a two-thirds majority to rewrite Hungary's rules, igniting fears of a new power grab.”

South Caucasus and Eastern Europe democracy trackerread the original ↗

United States

ABC News

“Hungary's Parliament has passed a constitutional amendment to remove President Tamás Sulyok, seen as a loyalist of former PM Viktor Orbán, giving him five days to sign his dismissal or face impeachment.”

US international broadcaster; confirms the vote and frames Sulyok as an Orbán loyalist; covers the five-day deadline for Sulyok to choose between signing his own dismissal or facing impeachmentread the original ↗

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Summary

Hungary's National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment on July 13 removing President Tamás Sulyok from office, using the two-thirds supermajority held by Prime Minister Péter Magyar's coalition. Sulyok, appointed during the Viktor Orbán (Hungary) era, has five days to sign his own dismissal or face impeachment. Magyar called Sulyok "unworthy of the post" for failing to challenge Orbán-era governance abuses. Both ABC News and Balkan Insight noted that Magyar is deploying the same constitutional engineering Orbán used for 12 years, raising concern that the mechanism normalises supermajority overrides of the executive regardless of which coalition wields it.

Why it matters

Hungary's two-thirds parliamentary majority can rewrite the constitution without a referendum. Sulyok's removal marks the first use of the supermajority to override a sitting executive under the Magyar government. Whether Magyar uses this power to restore rule-of-law protections or to entrench his own administration will be a central test for Hungary's EU standing and for the disbursement of previously frozen EU funds tracked in EU releases €16.4bn in frozen funds to Hungary as Magyar's government meets reform conditions.

What to watch

  • Whether Sulyok signs his dismissal within five days or forces an impeachment process.
  • Who Magyar nominates as the next Hungarian president.
  • EU and European Commission assessment of the constitutional mechanism and any effect on Hungary's recovery and resilience plan.
  • Whether Fidesz challenges the amendment in Hungary's Constitutional Court.

The briefing, by email