Hungary's new prime minister, Peter Magyar, has refused to sign the document for the severance payments to ministers in Viktor Orban's government. Around one billion forint (about 2.6 million euros) that, under a law Orban himself put in place, would have to be paid out - will now be redirected to humanitarian causes. It's a political decision, and it's a message for a new era.

Magyar addressed Orban directly: "Viktor Orban, who on paper owns virtually nothing, would be entitled to 38 million forint (105,000 euros) under the law he himself introduced." A sentence that connects two Hungaries - the one in which Orban ruled for two decades, and the one in which open talk about corruption now has a place in the prime minister's office.

Magyar called the payout "for the looting of our country" - and announced that Orban will not get it. That's a bold posture for a new prime minister - but Magyar knows he has the political capital for it. In the previous election, support for Orban collapsed after years of public criticism that he was declaring minimal personal assets while those close to him built fortunes.

The most provocative example: Lorinc Mesaroš, a childhood friend of Orban and a former gas installer. Today he is the richest man in Hungary, with a fortune of 3.1 billion euros, built primarily through state contracts. Financial Times and political analysts describe that model of governance as "neo-feudal clientelism" - public funds flow to the prime minister's inner circle.

Magyar has also asked the state secretaries to declare publicly whether they will give up their severance or donate it to humanitarian causes. That's political pressure dressed in ethical clothing - and many have already given it up without waiting to be asked twice.

The result? Not quite what Magyar planned. Orban later donated his own 105,000 euros to an orphanage in Zakarpattia - the Ukrainian region with a significant ethnic Hungarian community. He turned the indictment of "looting" into a humanitarian gesture. And that's what makes politics with Orban complicated even when there are credible alternatives.

There's a lesson here for the Balkans. When a new administration arrives with the message "we are not paying stolen money back to the thieves," that's a good start. But right afterwards comes the moment when the old administration responds with a gesture - and the political picture blurs again. That's the test for Magyar, and the test for everyone watching Hungary as a training case for how to deliver real reform without resorting to the old practices.