Hungary’s parliament has approved legislation to maintain the country’s membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC), formally halting the withdrawal process initiated under the previous government of Viktor Orbán.
The decision, passed on May 27, reverses a move announced in April 2025 when Orbán declared Hungary’s intention to leave the Rome Statute during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant issued in November 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Orbán said the warrant against Netanyahu was a “witch hunt”, “brazen” and “cynical”. He strongly opposed Hungary’s membership of the ICC, describing it as a “political court” rather than an impartial judicial body.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar, whose Tisza Party won a landslide victory in the April 2026 elections, had pledged to stop the withdrawal and keep Hungary within the court. Magyar took office last year, with his cabinet sworn in on May 12.
The government set out the reversal in the official gazette on May 22, revoking the termination of Hungary’s membership of the Rome Statute and the related agreement on privileges and immunities.
The 199-seat National Assembly approved the bill under a fast-track procedure, with 133 votes in favour and 37 against and five abstentions. The governing Tisza Party pushed the measure through over the objections of Orbán’s Fidesz alliance.
The bill now passes to President Tamás Sulyok to be signed into law.
The move keeps Hungary aligned with the other 26 EU member states as a party to the ICC.
Hungary, a founding member of the court it helped establish in 2002, had notified the United Nations in June 2025 of its withdrawal, which would have taken effect on June 2, 2026 under Article 127 of the Rome Statute.
The country would have become the first EU member to exit the ICC.
Magyar has indicated Hungary would now act on ICC warrants against any individual, including Netanyahu, whom he has nonetheless invited to Budapest later this year.
The reversal reaffirms Hungary’s commitment to the international legal order and multilateral institutions, according to government statements.
It comes as the new administration seeks closer European integration following the end of Orbán’s 16-year rule.
Hungary’s Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar has stated that his country would be legally obliged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters Hungarian territory while subject to an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. https://t.co/vIZTDAUU7g
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) April 21, 2026
