New Hungarian government proposes strategy to reform research sector, in breach of Orbán's model

The Hungarian State Secretary for Science Policy and Innovation, Péter Horváth, has presented the country's proposal for a new science and innovation strategy, which would increase R&D spending to 2% of GDP by 2030, while it's currently 1.38%, far from the EU average of 2.24% and the EU objective of 3%.

This new strategy, announced on 26/08/2026, follows the statement by the new government that Hungary slipped to the bottom of the EU in research and development in recent years. This drop is blamed on the previous government, led by eurosceptic and conservative former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, which withdrew HUF 375.8 billion (€1.02bn) from the state fund allocated for innovation over 10 years.

In May 2026, after an election that saw pro-European Péter Magyar elected Prime Minister…