Rubio visits eastern Europe to bolster ties with pro-Trump leaders
By Humeyra Pamuk
BUDAPEST, Feb 15 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a two-day trip to Eastern Europe on Sunday to strengthen ties with Slovakia and Hungary, whose conservative leaders who are often at odds with other European Union countries have warm ties to President Donald Trump.
Rubio will use the trip to discuss bilateral issues, including energy cooperation and NATO commitments, the State Department said in an announcement last week.
“These are countries that are very strong with us, very cooperative with the United States, working very closely with us,” Rubio told reporters Thursday before leaving for Europe. he said.
Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser in his dual role, met with Slovakian President Peter Pellegrini on Sunday and discussed energy and defense issues during his arrival in Bratislava, the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state in seven years.
“An important topic of the talks… was defense cooperation and the fulfillment of commitments resulting from NATO summits,” Pellegrini’s office said in a statement. he said.
Rubio then met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who visited Trump in Florida last month. The US diplomat’s trip follows his attendance at the Munich Security Conference in the past few days.
MEETING WITH ORBAN ON MONDAY
On Monday, Rubio is expected to meet with Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who is trailing in most polls ahead of elections in April and could be ousted from power.
Rubio said in a statement before his trip: “The President (Trump) said he is very supportive of him, and so are we.” he said. “But frankly, we were going to make this visit as a bilateral visit,” he said.
Orban, one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe, is seen by many on the American far right as a model for the US president’s tough policies on immigration, support for families and Christian conservatism. Budapest has repeatedly hosted Conservative Political Action Conference events bringing together conservative activists and leaders, with another scheduled for March.
RELATIONS WITH MOSCOW, CONFLICTS WITH THE EU
Both Fico and Orban have clashed with EU institutions over investigations into backsliding from democratic rules.
They also maintained ties with Moscow, criticized and at times delayed EU sanctions on Russia, and opposed sending military aid to Ukraine.
While other European Union countries have secured alternative energy supplies after Moscow invaded Ukraine, including buying US natural gas in 2022, Slovakia and Hungary have continued to buy Russian gas and oil, a practice the US has criticized.
Rubio said this would be discussed during his short tour but did not provide any details.
Describing the European Union as an institution in “deep crisis”, Fico praised Trump, saying that he would bring peace back to Europe.
However, Fico criticized the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January.
Hungary and Slovakia have also so far deviated from Trump’s demand that all NATO members significantly increase their military spending to 5 percent of GDP, raising defense spending to 2 percent, NATO’s minimum threshold; This is a lower level than some other NATO members.
On nuclear cooperation, Slovakia signed an agreement with the United States last month, and Fico said there was a high possibility that US-based Westinghouse would build a new nuclear power plant.
(Reporting by Hümeyra Pamuk, additional reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Susan Fenton)
