How Europe conquered Hungary

Operation Purgatory. It sounds like a Pete Hegseth fever dream. In fact, it’s Péter Magyar’s name for his assault on the Orbán system and all its works. Blending legislative and administrative measures, the cornerstone of the new Hungarian government’s offensive is a vast constitutional overhaul: a series of sweeping amendments to Hungary’s so-called “Fundamental Law”, designed to destroy what’s left of the ancien régime — and ensure it can never return to power. The most consequential provision is without doubt the 16th Amendment to the constitution, which imposes a lifetime term limit of eight years (two parliamentary terms) on the prime minister. Effective retroactively, the measure is obviously targeted at Viktor Orbán. Given he’s already served for a total of 20 years, the new law bar