JD Vance meets Orbán on visit ahead of knife-edge Hungarian election – Europe live | Hungary
Orbán and JD Vance just briefly appeared before the photographers for a quick handshake, but they did take any questions.
The Hungarian prime minister appeared to be quite interested in engaging with reporters, but the US vice-president shut them down saying “we will do a press conference later.”
Key events
We are now getting more pictures from inside Orbán’s meeting with JD Vance in Budapest.
There are also some government-issued handout pictures, showing the pair deep in conversation with the backdrop of the Hungarian capital.
They are expected to hold a joint press conference sooner rather than later, and I will bring you all the key lines here.
Sarkozy insists he is innocent as he faces fresh trial over Libyan funding allegations
Angelique Chrisafis
in Paris
Elsewhere, Nicolas Sarkozy has told a Paris court of appeal he is innocent as he faces a fresh trial over allegations he conspired to receive illegal election campaign funding from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
The former rightwing French president, who was in office between 2007 and 2012, said: “Gaddafi had no hold over me, not political, not financial, not personal.”
Last year, Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy over the alleged scheme to obtain election campaign funds from Gaddafi’s regime. He became the first former head of an EU country to serve time in prison, and the first French postwar leader to go behind bars.
After 20 days in a Paris jail, which he described as “gruelling” and a “nightmare”, Sarkozy was released from prison in November, pending his appeal, and published a book about his time inside. He was in solitary confinement for his own security, in an individual cell of about 9 sq metres with his own shower and toilet.
Sarkozy has been accused of making a deal, as interior minister in 2005, with Gaddafi to obtain campaign financing for his successful 2007 presidential bid in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage. Sarkozy denied this.
Last year, Sarkozy was found guilty of one count of criminal conspiracy over the scheme to obtain election funds from Libya. He was acquitted of three other charges of corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and illegal election campaign funding.
Sarkozy is now on trial again on all four counts at the fresh trial on appeal after he appealed against his conviction and the state prosecutor appealed against the acquittals.
If convicted, Sarkozy, 71, faces up to 10 years in prison.
Orbán and JD Vance just briefly appeared before the photographers for a quick handshake, but they did take any questions.
The Hungarian prime minister appeared to be quite interested in engaging with reporters, but the US vice-president shut them down saying “we will do a press conference later.”
We are expecting to hear from JD Vance later today twice, first at a joint press conference with Viktor Orbán and then at a pre-election rally disguised as Hungarian-American Friendship day.
He is about to meet Orbán any moment now for a quick handshake for photographers to formally kick-off the visit.
As you can see, the preparations are now in final stages…
JD Vance arrives in Budapest – in pictures
… and here they are!
JD Vance and Usha Vance off the Air Force Two, welcomed by Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó as they begin their two-day trip to the Hungarian capital.
JD Vance’s visit signals ‘golden age’ of Hungarian-US relations, foreign minister says
In a short video clip for social media, Hungary’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó hailed today’s visit by JD Vance as historic, saying it’s the first visit of the US vice-president since 1991, and the highest level US visit since George W Bush in 2006.
“There is no question this is a golden age for Hungarian-American relations,” he said, stressing the political and ideological proximity and even friendship, as he calls it, between Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán.
Today’s talks are expected to touch upon migration, global security, and economic and energy cooperation between Hungary and the US.
Szijjártó is strategically positioned by the steps from Air Force Two and will welcome JD Vance and his wife, Usha, to Budapest any second now.
JD Vance lands in Budapest
In the meantime, the Air Force Two carrying the US vice-president JD Vance has now landed at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International airport, and the ground crew are rolling out the red carpet for the US VP.
A matter of minutes before we see him on the tarmac there.
Orbán told Putin he was ‘at his service’ when discussing potential US-Russia summit on Ukraine, Bloomberg reports
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán reportedly told Russia’s Vladimir Putin he was “at his service” as part of their preliminary discussions about hosting a peace summit on Ukraine in Budapest, Bloomberg reported (£) citing a leaked transcript of their phone call.
The phone call, which reportedly took place in October, focused on plans to organise a peace summit involving the US and Russia to discuss ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They also discussed what was needed to make the meeting happen, with a preparatory discussion by the respective US and Russian foreign ministers.
In the call, the pair discussed their longstanding relationship going back to Orbán’s first visit to St Petersburg in 2009, as well as their admiration of the US president, Donald Trump, Bloomberg said.
Hungary was one of the few, “perhaps the only,” European country that was an acceptable venue for the meeting under discussion, Putin said, as per Bloomberg.
The conversation ended with Orbán saying good-bye in Russian, it was reported.
The report will no doubt bring even more scrutiny of the Hungarian government’s relations with Russia after recent controversies involving Orbán’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó after his call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, was reported by a consortium of European media.
JD Vance’s Air Force Two is now on approach to Budapest.
Several traffic restrictions and disruptions are expected across the capital as it steps up security to host the US vice-president.
‘Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow or Brussels,’ Magyar responds to Vance’s visit
Meanwhile, the opposition leader Péter Magyar has responded to JD Vance’s visit rejecting what he described as “interference in Hungarian elections.”
He said:
“No foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections.
This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels – it is written in Hungary’s streets and squares.
Five days to go!”
Vance’s visit highlights Orbán’s importance for Maga movement
Ashifa Kassam and Flora Garamvolgyi in Budapest
The visit has sparked questions over why Vance and his wife, Usha, are carving out time to visit Budapest as the US administration faces a threat of escalation in its five-week war on Iran.
Since returning to power, Trump and his government have broken with the principle among western democracies – to which past US presidents have adhered – of not taking sides in foreign elections.
Instead, the Trump administration openly shows support for leaders it sees as compatible with Maga ideology and foreign policy priorities – regardless of their democratic credentials.
“Hungary is their El Dorado,” said Jacob Heilbrunn, the editor of National Interest. “Vance has always been besotted with Hungary for political and religious reasons.”
The veneration spans across much of the current US administration. Orbán has been lauded by Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon as “Trump before Trump”, while Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation thinktank that produced Project 2025, a far-right blueprint for Trump’s second term, once said: “Modern Hungary is not just a model for conservative statecraft, but the model.”
While Trump has repeatedly endorsed Orbán, describing the rightwing populist leader as a “fantastic guy” and a “strong and powerful leader”, Heilbrunn saw Vance’s visit as a hint that Trump believed Orbán could lose the election. “Trump hates to be associated with a loser, so he is sending Vance to be the fall guy,” he said.
If Orbán were to lose the elections, it would be a “crashing blow” for the Maga movement, said Heilbrunn.
“They have staked almost everything on Hungary as a vanguard to erode and undermine the EU and to bolster Putin’s ability to threaten Ukraine.”
JD Vance’s Air Force Two is currently flying over southern Germany and nearing the Czech airspace. He is expected in Budapest in just over an hour.
You can track the flight here.
Morning opening: JD Vance in Budapest
Jakub Krupa
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.
Vance is expected to land in Budapest this morning before appearing alongside Orbán at a joint press conference around lunch and joining him for a rally on “the Hungarian-American Friendship Day” this afternoon.
There are, however, some doubts whether any of that is really going to help Orbán much as he continues to trail the opposition by some 10 percentage points as the campaign focuses on the government’s domestic record, including on the economy.
I will bring you all the lines from Budapest here.
Separately, the former French president and one time prison memoir writer Nicolas Sarkozy is back in court for his Libyan case appeal hearing, and the Danish coalition talks continue as they seek for a majority to form the next government.
It’s Tuesday, 7 April 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
