Hungary's ambassador to Warsaw recalled ahead of Magyar delegation's visit

Hungarian-Polish relations are entering a new era, and the new government's goal is to put cooperation on a new footing, Foreign Minister Anita Orbán wrote on her Facebook page one day before she was to leave for Poland as part of the high-level delegation accompanying Péter Magyar.

“A new era calls for a new approach, which is why I have decided to recall Hungary’s ambassador to Warsaw, believing that a new person will be better able to represent the renewed foreign policy direction with credibility and consistency in the period ahead.”

The Embassy in Warsaw has been headed by an experienced ambassador, István Íjgyártó, who served as Hungary’s ambassador to Russia from 2010 to 2014. He then became the State Secretary for Cultural Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2018, Íjgyártó was appointed Hungary’s ambassador to Ukraine, a position he held until May 2023. Starting in 2023, he served as a senior researcher at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, and in October 2024, he was appointed to head the embassy in Warsaw.

His predecessor, Dr. Orsolya Kovács, was dismissed from her position as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary in August of that year, as announced in the Hungarian Gazette at the time. She was relieved of her position at the recommendation of Péter Szijjártó. In 2023, Direkt36 reported in an article published on Telex that, at the time of writing and prior to that, Orsolya Kovács had been Viktor Orbán’s resident Polish interpreter. Kovács had become a trusted confidante for both sides, someone who “knows everything, including the highest-level consultations and the most sensitive topics.”