The result of Hungary’s hotly watched parliamentary election earlier this year has already yielded several high-profile consequences.
Most recently, the change has yielded a significant impact on the European media landscape that has gone largely unreported on.
On September 8, Alvino-Mario Fantini, the print edition editor-in-chief of The European Conservative (Lean Right), announced that the publication “is now in the hands of the Hungarian state,” and the magazine’s online counterpart has not published any new articles since.
Why Did The European Conservative Shut Down?
The apparent shutdown of The European Conservative – which was founded in 2008 – is tied to the new Hungarian government’s efforts to dismantle and/or restructure institutions that were under the influence of the previous government, led for 16 straight years by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
One of the most high-profile is Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), a conservative college headquartered in Budapest that also has facilities in neighboring countries and Brussels. MCC, which under Orbán sought to become a thought leader in European conservatism, began as a private operation in 1996. But in 2020, the Orbán government designated it as a “public-interest trust foundation” and transferred significant public assets – primarily shares of state-owned corporations and cash grants – into its endowment.
Just two days after Prime Minister Péter Magyar won the election in April, he said Budapest would no longer fund MCC. On September 1, as part of a wider move to dismantle 16 major organizations, the Hungarian government officially cut funding to MCC and re-nationalized many of its assets.
Magyar reportedly said in August that MCC would be free to continue its work as a civil society organization but would have to raise its own funds and organize its own programs. At the end of June, the state reportedly assumed control of its founding rights and prohibited it from entering into new financial obligations.
What Did The European Conservative Say About Its Closure?
According to Fantini, at the “tail-end” of 2024, “all control” of The European Conservative was given to MCC. Fantini wrote, “After a series of unfortunate events (about which I may someday write in a memoir), all control of my company (registered in Budapest) which published The European Conservative was transferred to the Matthias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) at the tail-end of 2024.”
He added that MCC then split the online site – which is what AllSides rated in 2025 – from the print magazine and “inexplicably” appointed a new editor-in-chief who took the site in a “rather anti-Christian” direction. Fantini said he “retained complete editorial control” of the print magazine.
After the election, Fantini said both MCC and the previous Hungarian government had “abandoned” the outlet. “Not a single person associated with the Hungarian foundation that had originally funded The European Conservative, nor anyone at MCC who had taken ownership of the project in 2024… has bothered to make any public statement defending it nor lament its fate. Thus, as of last week, the new Hungarian government – the Ministry of Finance, specifically – has taken ownership of The European Conservative,” he wrote.
Fantini accused MCC and members of the previous government of using the magazine “to gain contacts, acquire influence, or build their own ‘prestige.’”
He also defended the publication’s track record and pushed back against previous claims of bias. “To all those who claim that The European Conservative was nothing more than a mouthpiece of the previous Hungarian government (under Viktor Orbán), I can only surmise that they had never read it,” Fantini wrote. He claimed that in its print edition, The European Conservative “published writers from across a spectrum of opinion” on a range of topics that included the conflict in Ukraine, free-market economics, the Catholic Church, Hungarian politics, and more.
Fantini concluded by saying that the publication’s future is uncertain, but that he believes “the reasons it has had such loyal readers” were not “repealed by April’s election in Hungary.”
“Europe still faces serious and urgent questions – about borders, demography, family, faith, identity, immigration, religion, and free speech – that much of the legacy media prefers to ignore. So, in my humble opinion, there is still a need for a project like ours.”
AllSides’ Assessment of The European Conservative
AllSides regularly reposted articles from The European Conservative and analyzed its coverage for Headline Roundups, especially on European stories.
After an Independent Review in March 2025, it was assigned an initial bias rating of Lean Right.
On June 30, 2026, one AllSides team member flagged the publication for review, saying they had a hunch that it could potentially yield a rating of Right, though further review did not occur prior to the publication’s closure.
Track all of AllSides’ most recent bias reviews and updated ratings here.
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Conservative Outlets Shut Down Under Péter Magyar’s Government
Since taking office this May, Prime Minister Magyar’s new government has taken several measures that have changed the Hungarian media landscape.
After the April election, Magyar said he wanted to create “a truly balanced, objective news service,” and in one of his first decrees he ordered a “comprehensive and immediate” review of state media and its funding.
In July, Hungarian state television network M1 and radio network Kossuth Radio were shut down in a move Magyar called “the end of propaganda.” Though they were not explicitly conservative outlets, they were overseen by Orbán’s government. The M1 channel was replaced with a message that said, “Public media now will be reformed so it will be independent and trustworthy. Our news programme is currently suspended. Stay tuned!”
M1 returned to the airwaves on Hungary’s national day, August 20.
Earlier this month, Hungary’s top conservative magazine Mandiner – which was offered in Hungarian online and in print and has not been reviewed by AllSides – was also shut down. Alongside The European Conservative, MCC took control of Mandiner at the very end of 2024. Mandiner stopped posting articles on September 4, and reported that its CEO and editor-in-chief was fired by the Hungarian Ministry of Finance, which now also controls The European Conservative, according to Fantini.
In a similar situation to The European Conservative and Mandiner is The Hungarian Conservative (Lean Right). Though the outlet is still actively publishing stories, it is operated by the Batthyány Lajos Foundation (BLA), which also had its assets nationalized by the new Hungarian government.
On September 2, Orbán’s former political director, Balázs Orbán (no relation), said, “As of September 1, Hungarian Conservative is directly state-funded media, and its claims should be treated accordingly.”
The future of The Hungarian Conservative is currently unclear, though as long as it remains active, AllSides will continue to monitor it for any potential changes in bias.
Andy Gorel is the Managing Editor of AllSides. He has a Center bias.
This piece was edited and reviewed by Julie Mastrine, Director of Communications and Bias Services (Lean Right), and Henry A. Brechter, Editor-in-Chief (Center).
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