Peter Magyar defeated Orban, declared a new era for Hungary - and then immediately called for a meeting with Putin. Not about Ukraine, not about peace, but about energy. Geography, he says, does not change.

The new Hungarian leader had not yet taken the prime ministerial post when he openly admitted that Budapest remains energy-dependent on Moscow. We will need to sit at the negotiating table with the Russian president. The geographical position of neither Russia nor Hungary can be changed. Our energy dependence on Russia remains the same, Magyar declared.

And here comes the most interesting part - Magyar clearly stated that in those talks he will represent exclusively Hungarian interests, not Ukrainian ones. So the promises of returning to the EU and NATO hold - but only until the moment when the bill for gas and oil needs to be paid.

Orban goes quiet, the politics remain

Viktor Orban for years blocked sanctions against Russia and insisted that Ukraine allow transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline. The new government may speak a different language, but the essence is the same - Hungary physically cannot abandon Russian energy overnight. Did Brussels account for this when it was celebrating Orban's fall?

Magyar's TISZA party won a constitutional majority - 138 of 199 parliamentary seats. Enough to change laws, change the constitution, change direction. But is it enough to change the energy map of Central Europe? That is an entirely different question.