According to the VSquare Investigative Portal, the information on asylum was transmitted in a letter from the Hungarian delegation to the another associate States' representations in Brussels. The laconic note shows that in late December Budapest approved the applications of 2 people with Polish citizenship.
It has not been disclosed who precisely these decisions concern or what arguments the Hungarian office took. However, it is known that this is not an isolated case. These are more Poles whose authorities in Budapest have agreed to formally defend them from proceedings conducted in Poland. In practice, this means that a State belonging to the same EU legal ellipse considered that their situation required political protection.
Romanowski as a precedent
The erstwhile loud case afraid erstwhile Deputy Minister of Justice, Marcin Romanowski. At the end of 2024, Hungary granted him political exile status, even though in Poland he heard a number of allegations of irregularities erstwhile spending funds from the public fund. Warsaw demands his settlement, Budapest sees him as a victim of political strife.
In the justification of the Hungarian authorities then appeared a paper prepared by the ultraconservative think tank associated with the camp Orbán. The same hotel later hired a erstwhile deputy minister, creating safe facilities for him on emigration. At the same time, the Polish prosecution began to check whether Hungarian citizens were helping him escape and hide from the justice system.
The fresh asylum decisions are expected to fit perfectly in this pattern: Polish criminal charges versus the political communicative of Budapest about "surveillated conservatives". For Orbán, it is simply a convenient story, which allows at the same time to hit the EU's "dictature of liberal elites" and cement alliances on the right in the region.
Mysterious asylum and a long visit by the erstwhile Minister
The context of the case is broader than single asylum applications. Let us remind you that at the end of 2025, a erstwhile Zbigniew Ziobro appeared in Budapest, against which the country was already preparing for the charges. His visit lasted weeks, and during that time a gathering with Viktor Orbán took place.
At the time there was no authoritative message from Hungary. Now that we know about 2 fresh decisions in favour of undisclosed Poles, the question arises whether this visit was 1 of the elements of the wider plan.
The Hungarian Prime Minister himself publically suggested that he was willing to welcome further politicians from Poland, if he felt they were being prosecuted for political reasons, not just criminal reasons. A pre-Christmas letter from Brussels shows that these announcements were not empty words.
Orbán builds a protective umbrella just before the election
Hungary enters 2026 with the possible of key parliamentary elections. For the first time in years, the polls do not give the ruling camp full dominance, and a strong opposition leader has grown up in the country, which effectively scores government scandals, especially those concerning corruption and the usage of public funds.
It is in this context that granting political asylum to citizens of another EU country is very important. On the interior arena, he allows Orbán to keep his image of the last defender of "real conservatives" allegedly persecuted by liberal governments. On the global stage, it is becoming a demonstration of force towards Brussels and a signal that Budapest does not intend to comply with the expectations of its partners erstwhile its own political strategy is involved.
The problem, however, is that a protective umbrella, which seems solid today, may be fragile if, after the elections, the Danube is to change power. The fresh majority could look at asylum for those prosecuted for fraud completely different from the current cabinet.
Diplomatic mine in the mediate of the Union
Asylum for citizens of another associate State is simply a signal that 1 country de facto undermines the credibility of the other's justice system. akin situations have so far been associated with the Union's relations with authoritarian regimes alternatively than with the interior legal environment within the Community.
The silence of Budapest on the names of the beneficiaries of the fresh asylum only increases tension. Warsaw is officially waiting for details, not wanting to escalate the conflict with the state, which is inactive a formal ally in NATO and the EU. At the same time, all subsequent case of Polish politician or authoritative fleeing under Orbán's wing will spread an EU communicative about "common trust in legal systems". Where is the limit of loyalty between partners in the Union erstwhile the interests of national politics begin to take over the common rules of the game?
