Polish Senate Speaker Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska (R) welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar (L) before a meeting at the Polish parliament building in Warsaw, Poland, 20 May 2026. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar arrived in Poland on 19 May for his first foreign trip as head of government. EPA/Radek Pietruszka POLAND OUT
Orban’s government decided to withdraw from the ICC, saying the court had become “political.” Current Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who ousted Orban in parliamentary elections last month, pledged to halt the withdrawal process and keep Hungary in the ICC.
The International Criminal Court was set up more than two decades ago to prosecute those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Orban’s government announced the withdrawal in April 2025, shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary for a state visit in a rare trip abroad in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant. Hungary rejected the idea of arresting Netanyahu and called the warrant “brazen.”
The legislation passed on Wednesday said: “in the interest of international peace and security, and for the protection of human rights it is ... necessary to hold those who committed the worst of international crimes, accountable in an international court.”
The law said it is necessary to maintain Hungary’s participation in the ICC.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)