The US vice-president and Hungary’s prime minister will hold a joint press conference later today
The US vice-president JD Vance is en route to Budapest this morning, where he is expected to support the embattled prime minister Viktor Orbán in the final days of the campaign before this weekend’s crucial parliamentary election in Hungary.
Departing from Joint Base Andrews last night, JD Vance said he was looking forward to meeting his “friend Viktor,” and said that the pair would discuss not just the state of the US-Hungarian relations, but also broader issues on Europe and Ukraine.
His visit is likely to be seen as somewhat unprecedented involvement in a foreign electoral campaign, highlighting the importance of Orbán – a regular critic of Brussels and Europe’s migration policies – for Maga worldview. In January, nearly a dozen rightwing leaders came together to endorse Orbán in a video and last month they attended a “Patriots” rally in Budapest.
But Orbán is also a rare Russian ally in Europe, who keeps blocking the EU’s support for Ukraine – including the latest €90bn loan – and stricter sanctions on Moscow as part of his escalating spat with Kyiv over energy supplies.
