BUDAPEST, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Hungary’s opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose Tisza party leads most polls ahead of an April 12 election, has tapped international energy expert Anita Orban to be in charge of foreign policy.
Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party is ahead of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz in most polls, though many voters remain undecided ahead of the election that will be highly consequential in Europe.
Anita Orban, unrelated to the prime minister, earned her PhD degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston in 2007 and is the author of the book ”Power, Energy and the New Russian Imperialism” published in 2008.
Between 2010 and 2015, she was an envoy for energy security in Viktor Orban’s government, during his second, 16-year, spell in power, and has since worked in London in senior positions in the LNG sector and, most recently, at the Vodafone Group.
She joins Magyar’s team a week after he appointed former Shell executive Istvan Kapitany to a senior economy role.
“Anita Orban is an experienced diplomat … with insight and experience in diplomacy, foreign and energy policy and also about the decision-making of international companies,” Magyar said in a statement on Saturday.
Magyar, a former government insider, has told Reuters he would keep Hungary firmly anchored in the European Union and NATO if he wins elections and would strive for “pragmatic relations” with Russia.
His Tisza Party swept into Hungarian politics in 2024, mounting the most serious challenge to Orban since he came to power in 2010.
Magyar has said he would unlock billions of euros in frozen EU funds to boost the economy, after a rule of law dispute with Brussels led to Hungary losing access to the funds under Orban.
(Reporting by Krisztina ThanEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
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