Trump lauds Viktor Orbán as Europe’s far-right leaders gather in Budapest | Hungary
Donald Trump has backed Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who faces his toughest election challenge next month since coming to power 16 years ago when Europe’s far-right leaders gathered for a “grand congress” in Budapest.
Orbàn, who has been behind his center-right rival in the polls for more than a year, is a “great guy,” the US president said in a video message at the national conservative Cpac Hungary conference in the capital on Saturday.
Trump, who also supported Orbán on social media last month, said that he is a strong leader who “shows the world what is possible when you defend your borders, your culture, your heritage, your sovereignty and your values.”
“I hope he wins and I hope he wins big,” he said.
Orbán said the West has become a better place since Trump came to power, progressive policies have been rolled back and traditional family and Christian values have been restored.
Polling averages suggest that on April 12, in what are likely to be the most important parliamentary elections of the year in Europe, Orbán’s rival Péter Magyar and his Tisza (or Respect and Freedom) party could edge Orbán by between nine and 11 percentage points.
Many prominent European far-right figures attended the weekend event, including Santiago Abascal of Spain’s Vox party, André Ventura of Portugal’s Chega party, Martin Helme of Estonia’s Ekre party and Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland’s Law and Justice party.
On Monday, Marine Le Pen of the French National Rally, Matteo Salvini of the Italian League and Geert Wilders of the Dutch Freedom Party will join them for the “Great Assembly of Patriots” named after their group in the European Parliament.
Orbán has long been at odds with the EU on various issues. He has maintained cordial relations with Moscow in defiance of Brussels, refusing to send weapons to Ukraine and saying Kiev will never join the EU.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday that he was not surprised by this situation. Washington Post’s report last week Russia’s foreign intelligence service allegedly suggested an assassination attempt on Orbán to improve his chances.
The report also stated that Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during the EU summits and informed him. Tusk said It should come as no surprise that Hungary leaked “every detail” of the EU summits to Moscow.
Szijjarto He told about the allegations emerged as “crazy conspiracy theories” that are part of an international smear campaign aimed at influencing next month’s elections.
Many of the far-right leaders scheduled to attend Monday’s meeting were among about a dozen who supported Orbán in a campaign video released in January. Alice Weidel from Alternative für Deutschland said in this article: “Europe needs Viktor Orbán.”
Media reports had previously suggested that US vice president JD Vance would attend the Budapest meeting, but Szijjártó said last week that the visit would take place in early April instead.
