Hungary PM visits Poland, Austria to restore ties

BUDAPEST

Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Magyar begins a two-day visit to Poland on Tuesday, hoping to restore ties hit by his predecessor's closeness to Moscow during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

By choosing Poland as his first official visit as prime minister, Magyar is both looking to turn the page on the Viktor Orban era and also create a bloc of central European countries that carries weight within the European Union, analysts say.

Poland has in recent years shifted its focus towards "Nordic and Baltic cooperation", Piotr Buras, of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, told AFP.

But Magyar, who ended nationalist Orban's 16-year rule at elections last month, is hoping that Poland will again look towards central Europe.

Earlier this month, he proposed merging the Visegrad Group -- an informal alliance of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia -- with the Austerlitz format, comprising the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria.

"I think that will be in the interest of every country," he said, suggesting such an alliance could wield greater influence over the EU's cohesion fund distribution policy.

"The peoples of central Europe are stronger together than apart," he added last week.

In Poland, his visit is being presented as the possible start of a "new era", while the host's deputy foreign minister Ignacy Niemczycki voiced hope for more "loyal" cooperation.

Magyar, who will be accompanied by six ministers, including Foreign Minister Anita Orban, will meet President Karol Nawrocki and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk.

He intends to take inspiration from Tusk for the way in which he "reconnected with the European Union and secured the gradual unfreezing of funds", political scientist Peter Dobrowiecki, of the MCC Institute, told the ATV channel.

A European Commission delegation is expected in Budapest this week and Magyar is hoping to conclude a deal to recover billions of euros frozen due to rule-of-law violations by Orban's government during a trip to Brussels next week.

On the economic front, the head of the Polish-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, Anna Wisniewski, said she expected "momentum" on bilateral ties, with trade currently amounting to 15 billion euros ($17.5 billion).

"I sense that companies as well as individuals have long been waiting for this moment to work together," she told AFP.

En route for Warsaw, Magyar plans to stop in Krakow and meet the new archbishop, Grzegorz Rys, then hold a meeting in Gdansk with Poland's former president Lech Walesa, a Nobel peace laureate and figure in the country's struggle against the USSR.

He is then expected in Austria on Wednesday evening.

"I would like to strengthen the relationship between Hungary and Austria for historical but also cultural and economic reasons," he said.

The two countries have long shared close ties dating back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Austria is the second-largest investor in Hungary after Germany, with more 11 billion euros.

Vienna, which has long sought to deepen its ties with Hungary and other countries in the region, could finally see its strategic ambitions align more closely with its neighbour.

Magyar and his team will travel part of the way by train to highlight EU-funded projects, including the high-speed line between Krakow and Warsaw, which would also underscore one of his priorities -- modernising Hungary's rail network.