Former judge Baka elected new Hungarian president in another break from Orbán era – as it happened

And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today.

• Former ECtHR and Hungarian supreme court judge András Baka has been elected the new Hungarian president in another break with Viktor Orbán era (13:14, 15:15, 15:26).

• Baka will replace an Orbán loyalist, Tamás Sulyok, who stepped down last month after signing a constitutional amendment passed by the ruling Tisza party of the prime minister, Péter Magyar.

• Baka was removed by Orbán as the head of the Hungarian Supreme Court in 2011, and later won a case on unfair dismissal at the European Court of Human Rights.

• In his acceptance speech, Baka warned that “we cannot build the new Hungary on revenge” (15:43), as he outlined his vision for performing the largely ceremonial role.

In other news,

• Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares urged migrants to “not risk their lives” and abandon any plans to force their way through the Spanish-Moroccan border, as he pledged that “every last person” crossing the border will be returned to their place of origin (12:59).

• Latvia said a tunnel had been discovered under the border with ⁠Belarus and announced plans to combat networks that it says are helping a growing number of migrants cross the frontier illegally, following similar concern in neighbouring Lithuania (12:05).

• New Eurostat data showed 4.41 million non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine had temporary protection status in the EU at the end of June 2026 (14:34).

The blog will be start a bit later than usual tomorrow as we will focus on the solar eclipse seen in various parts of Europe. Make sure to tune in and follow our coverage.

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.

I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Nicola Davis and Oliver Holmes

Tomorrow’s total eclipse will be the first in mainland Europe in two decades.

A wide band of north and central Spain, plus a sliver of Portugal and parts of Greenland and Iceland will experience a rare total eclipse. The light of the setting sun will be virtually blocked out across much of western Europe, including the UK, France, Belgium, Switzerland and northern Italy.

Interactive

The last event of this kind visible from the UK occurred in 1999, when parts of Devon and Cornwall were in the path of totality. The next total solar eclipse visible in the UK is not due to occur until 2090.

Ahead of tomorrow’s solar eclipse – which will be probably best seen in Iceland and Spain, but should also give us some stunning visuals in the UK – hotel prices have surged in key European cities as hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to see the first total eclipse visible from the continent this century.

Interactive

Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, has seen one of the biggest jumps in hotel room prices, being one of the few accessible locations to see the full eclipse before evening on Wednesday, Kalyeena Makortoff reports.

Spain is also steeling itself for an influx of tourists, as one of the best places on the European continent to view the total solar eclipse. The finance ministry said on Monday that it expected 460,000 overseas tourists to visit specifically to see the eclipse.

However, authorities in Spain are worried about an increased risk of fires, with police expecting 1.5m more car journeys than usual on Wednesday. They have warned that extraordinarily dry temperatures mean the smallest spark could lead to devastating forest fires, while traffic could end up blocking access for emergency vehicles if fires break out in rural areas.

In other news…

The EU wants to “positively advance” closer relations with the UK that can deliver “for business, young people” and shared security interests, Ireland’s Europe minister has said.

Thomas Byrne was speaking after an introductory call on behalf of the EU presidency with the UK’s new European relations minister Hamish Falconer on Tuesday (11:08).

He also hinted at new deals on defence and security revealing they discussion the importance of the UK participation in the Ukraine support loans.

“Exploring further areas of cooperation in the area of security and defence is critical to protecting the European continent,” said Byrne.

As holder of the rotating EU presidency the Irish government is currently driving the EU agenda with closer ties with the UK on the priority list for this year.

“We discussed our joint commitment to positively advancing the EU-UK relationship. This is in our shared interests when it comes to delivering for business, young people and our security.

Ireland is ambitious in supporting the strongest possible EU-UK relationship, so that the benefits can be felt by citizens across these islands, and across the EU. A successful and balanced second EU-UK Summit is key to supporting this partnership.”

In a deeply intellectual acceptance speech, Baka talks about the legacy of Orbán era, talking how the previous administration pitted Budapest against the rest of the country, young versus old, and majorities versus minority, undermining people’s trust to each other.

“They wanted to make us believe that anyone who thinks differently is not simply wrong, but an enemy,” he says.

“However, this country cannot build a common future while its citizens see each other as enemies. Therefore, the task before us requires both justice and self-restraint,” he says.

He stresses that “political change cannot mean that from now on, different people must fear others, be silent or feel like outsiders in their own country.”

“One thing is certain: we cannot build the new Hungary on revenge.”

He says the country needs more than just a favourable election result to restore the rule of law, as it needs to rebuild “a democratic and functioning constitutional culture” in which “the limitation of [executive] power is not an obstacle,” and which enables healthy criticism and compromise without anyone branding it an act of betrayal or a sign of weakness.

He says that as a president he will be neutral in terms of party politics, but not in terms of values, as he will defend “necessarily diverse” views of the public.

He also says that any new constitution needs to be built with a long-term thinking in mind, and not to serve “the momentary majority.” If the government were to do that, they would be “making the same mistake the consequences of which we are now trying to resolve,” he says.

Baka also talks about the importance of representing Hungary abroad, and restoring its relations with Europe and other allies. He says it’s the responsibility of the government to lead on that point, but stresses Hungary’s cultural and historical ties with Europe.

“Hungary’s place in Europe is not a momentary decision of the current government, but a consequence of our history, culture and interests.”

Interestingly, he also specifically references his duties towards the ethnic Hungarians who live beyond the country’s borders, a regular point of contention with other countries, including Ukraine and Slovakia.

He ends by making a point that the state’s first task is to serve its people – and gets warm reception from the gathered MPs (but, remember, the opposition Fidesz party is not there).

Former ECtHR and Hungarian Supreme Court judge András Baka has been elected the new Hungarian president.

146 votes were cast: 140 in favour, and six against.

72-year-old Baka is another example of the new government’s clear break with the Orbán era: the lawyer was removed from the post of the president of the Supreme Court in 2011 by the then prime mnister, three years before his term was set to expire. He later won a case at the European Court of Human Rights against Hungary.

In his acceptance speech, Baka said he believed Hungary “reached a period in its history when a serious reflection is needed about the functioning of the state,” after the last two decades of “a serious crisis” under the previous government and with deep societal divisions.

He will replace Viktor Orbán loyalist Tamás Sulyok who stood down – or was effectively removed – from the post last month.

As flagged earlier (13:14), the Hungarian parliament is now voting to elect a new president, with the government-backed former judge András Baka the only candidate available.

We should get the result soon, and given the main opposition party, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, is boycotting the vote there are no prizes for guessing what’s going to happen.

New Eurostat data showed 4.41 million non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine had temporary protection status in the EU at the end of June 2026.

This number has gone up by 0.6%, or 24,000, over the last year.

Germany (1.3m), Poland (1m) and Czechia (400,000) host the three largest groups of people using the status to stay in the bloc.

Eurostat data showed that adult women made up 43% of the total, with minors at around 30%, and adult men at 27%.

As I flagged earlier, Hungarian lawmakers on Tuesday are expected to elect former supreme court chief András Baka, who was fired under ex-premier Viktor Orbán, as the country’s next head of state.

Hungary’s last president and Orbán loyalist, Tamás Sulyok, stepped down last month after signing a constitutional amendment passed by the ruling Tisza party of the prime minister, Péter Magyar.

The appointment of Baka, a senior judge who also served on the European Court of Human Rights, is intended as another break with the Orbán era.

“After many years, Hungary will once again have a true head of state,” Magyar said in a post of X this afternoon.

Tisza has the two-thirds parliamentary majority required to elect Baka on the first round without any opposition support, AFP noted.

The vote is expected in under an hour from now.

Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares visited Ceuta earlier today, as he insisted that Madrid had it all under control despite “the most unique and complex” border arrangements there.

He said Spain was in direct dialogue with the Moroccan authorities on how to prevent another border crisis.

He also directly addressed migrants considering another attempt at crossing the border, telling them to “not risk their lives, their money or their futures by an endeavour that is doomed to fail.”

Any migrants crossing irregularly will not be able to reach the mainland Europe or stay in Ceuta, he said.

Albares picked up “online disinformation” on social media with a “false” interpretation of a recent court ruling, stressing that his ministry’s website sets out clearly that “entering Ceuta or Melilla does not grant anyone the right to remain” and “every last person” crossing the border will be returned to their place of origin.

“No one has left the city for the mainland, nor can they, precisely for the reasons I explained regarding this double control border filter, and that the diplomatic work we are doing with Morocco is for the return of all those who have entered irregularly. Everything else is fake news, self-serving rumors,” he stressed,

But Ceuta’s conservative president Juan Jesús Vivas told reporters after meeting Albares that up to 10,000 people still remained in the city, a situation which he calls “unsustainable.”

He welcomed Albares’s commitment to return all people to Morocco, but lamented there was no guaranteed timeline for that to happen.

The European Commission is now giving its regular midday briefing.

EU foreign spokesperson Anitta Hipper offered the commission’s response to the Yabloko party’s ban in Russia (11:34).

“So from what we have seen is that this is another testimony of Russia’s action against the fundamental freedoms and the continued pressure on opposition figures.

This basically shows that Russia is afraid because they truly need to eliminate any dissenting voices.

By silencing the political opposition, Kremlin is also removing any domestic voice that has been critical of its unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine. I would say this comes as a surprise, but it’s not.”

Latvia said on Tuesday a tunnel had been discovered under the border with ⁠Belarus and announced plans to combat networks that it says are helping a growing number of migrants cross the frontier illegally, Reuters reported.

Latvian ⁠soldiers last month used ⁠teargas and ​fired a warning shot to stop migrants trying to enter from Belarus, which shares a 173-km (107-mile) border with European Union ⁠member state Latvia.

“The protection of Latvia’s eastern border will be strengthened, with closer cooperation between the Border Guard, State Police, National Armed Forces and ⁠security services, and more intensive use of drones for early detection and detention of illegal ​migrants,” interior minister Jānis Dombrava told ‌a joint press conference with ‌prime minister Andris Kulbergs.

European nations have expressed concern over unregulated migration in recent weeks ‌following an inflow of tens of thousands of people from Morocco to the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, although most of those migrants have since left, Reuters said.

Lithuania said in July it had also found a tunnel that migrants were using to enter from Belarus.

Poland and the Baltics have long accused Belarus of weaponising irregular migration to test their borders.

Meanwhile, Russia has banned voting against the war in September’s elections.

The supreme court upheld a suit brought by a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party, Roblina, and stripped voters opposed to the war of their last option on the ballot: Yabloko, the country’s only remaining anti-war party.

The court banned Yabloko’s entire list of federal election candidates from standing for the State Duma of Russia’s parliament.

With most of Vladimir Putin’s opponents jailed, exiled or dead, Yabloko is the only liberal party still operating in Russia.

Voting options other than Putin’s de facto party, the ruling United Russia, are only tolerated if they are too weak to win; give their backing to the Kremlin; or serve as “spoilers” that draw votes away from anyone who might pose a threat to the regime. About a hundred supporters, mostly young people, gathered outside the courthouse chanting “Shame! Shame!” after the ruling was delivered. Like the Duma, the supreme court routinely rubber-stamps the Kremlin’s wishes.

Addressing protesters, Yabloko leader Nikolay Rybakov said the party would appeal against the decision.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse on the weekend, Rybakov said about 40 party activists were facing prosecution for opposing the war. The party’s deputy leader, Maxim Kruglov, was jailed for seven years in June over social media posts, while Rybakov was fined and barred from elections for posting a photo of Alexei Navalny. Independent polls show most Russians favour peace negotiations with Kyiv.

Senior correspondent

The UK’s new European relations minister Hamish Falconer will talk with Ireland’s Europe minister today, a key step to refresh talks over Britain’s post-Brexit relations with the bloc.

Ireland holds the rotating presidency of the EU and has a key role in influencing the pace and direction of political agreements on all issues that come up in the last six months of 2026.

Falconer and Thomas Byrne are due to talk by phone in the afternoon.

UK-EU relations have already been made a priority for Ireland’s presidency.

In other news, Romania’s nuclear power plant at Cernavodă could shut down a second reactor in the next 48 hours as falling water levels on the Danube make it increasingly difficult for cooling pumps to operate safely, local media have reported.

The plant’s first reactor had to close in late July.

The government has insisted there will be no need for energy rationing, but imports will have to rise to meet demand.

The move could come despite efforts to divert cooling water to the plant, which included a controlled explosion on the river last week.

Ukraine’s drone forces issued an update on their strikes overnight.

They confirmed hitting a military base in Voronezh, an oil refinery in Orsk, a cargo ship in the Black Sea and energy facilities in the temporarily occupied Russian territories, the army said in a statement.

Overnight Russian attacks on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least six people and injured 20, officials said. Another six people were killed and 16 injured in attacks on Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk, Reuters reported.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Zaporizhzhia “was struck with North Korean ballistic missiles, Zircons, and guided aerial bombs.”

“It was a vicious attack, calculated to inflict maximum damage specifically on civilian infrastructure,” he said.

“Every step Russia takes – increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilisation – all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation. And the world needs to respond now, not wait.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine continued its drone strikes deep inside Russia with one person dead and two injured after an attack on Voronezh region, where falling debris triggered fires at a Wildberries logistics warehouse.

The company ​later said that the fire ​at the ‌facility had ​been extinguished, ​that goods had not been damaged and that deliveries had been rerouted to other warehouses, Reuters said.

Elsewhere, the Hungarian parliament set to choose a new president in a further break with Orbán-era of the past two decades. András Baka, a former president of the Supreme Court and a judge on the European court of human rights, is expected to be confirmed in the largely ceremonial post later today.

And temperatures are rising again in western Europe as Spain and France are about to enter the fifth heatwave of the summer with temperatures up to 38C.

Lots to write about.

It’s Tuesday, 11 August 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.