BUDAPEST – Brussels bureaucrats are trying to destroy Hungary, JD Vance, the US vice president, said on a mission to Budapest for Donald Trump to help Viktor Orbán “as much as we can”.
Appearing alongside the Hungarian leader — Trump’s closest European ally — Vance accused both Brussels and Kiev of meddling in the country’s upcoming election on his visit, the first by an American “Veep” in 35 years.
“Viktor Orbán is the most important leader in Europe,” said the US vice president, adding that the United States and Hungary, under the leadership of Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán, stand for “the defense of Western civilization.”
Orbán thanked the US for its support in the final days of the campaign before Sunday’s election, which is expected to be his closest competition in 16 years.
“We thank President Trump and Vice President Vance for standing by Hungary,” Orbán said. “The strongest country in the world is the ally of the Hungarians today, and thus Hungary’s peace and security are guaranteed.”
Foreign intervention
Vance attacked EU institutions, accusing Brussels of seeking to undermine Hungary’s economy to punish voters for supporting Orbán’s sovereignist policies.
“I want to send a message, especially to the bureaucrats in Brussels who have done everything to oppress Hungarians because they don’t like a leader who stands up for his people,” he said.
The US vice president claimed that Europe’s ongoing energy crisis stemmed, not from the war-torn Middle East, but from Orbán’s anti-EU policy of importing Russian oil and gas. He urged EU leaders to look at Hungary’s lower energy prices and follow Budapest’s example to make the continent “energy dominant”.
Orbán and Vance also accused foreign powers of meddling in Hungary’s democratic process with Vance claiming – echoing Orbán – that Ukrainian intelligence is now meddling in the campaign.
Decisive approval
The visit comes five days before a vote that threatens to unseat Orban, Europe’s longest-serving prime minister and Trump’s closest personal ally, in a test of US national security strategy. DESIGNATED last December, to strengthen “patriotic European parties”.
Previous endorsements from Trump and the first visit by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, in February have failed to give the Hungarian leader, who has been in office for 16 years, a shot in the arm.
Orbán can claim to be one of Trump’s closest political friends, supporting him since before his first election victory in 2016 and supporting him in the wilderness years after his loss to Joe Biden. He praised Trump for destroying the “old world order” and ushering in a “new era of nations” while defending his efforts to make peace with Russia over Ukraine, even at the expense of Kiev.
In what has been turbulent and bitter election campaign dominated by Russia and the Ukraine war, Orbán has failed to defeat his opponent Péter Magyar, who was forced out of his inner circle after a scandal destroyed his ruling Fidesz party in 2024.
Magyar has taken aim at Orbán’s closeness to Putin and Russia, accusing his government of betraying the national interest to keep Moscow happy and Russia’s cheap oil supplies flowing.
New poll from Median, reported by Telex on Tuesday found that 48% of Hungarian voters fear Russian influence in the election, double the number who see interference from Ukraine as a threat, despite official claims of Ukrainian plans to sabotage Hungary’s energy supplies, including bombing a pipeline in neighboring Serbia.
A newly released Hungarian government transcript of a phone call between Orbán and Putin last October 17. published by Bloomberg, show the extent of their relationship which is sensitive in a country that was dominated and occupied by Moscow until the end of the Cold War. “In any matter where I can be of help, I am at your service,” he told Putin.
(Additional reporting by Bruno Waterfield)
(bw, cs)
