As part of his tour of countries staged as a “peace mission”, the head of government of the NATO country is visiting Russia, China – and now Trump in Florida. This is not going down well with the allies.
Immediately after the NATO summit in Washington, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban paid a visit to former US President Donald Trump. The trip, less than a week after Orban’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, is likely to further frustrate Western allies. Hungary took over the rotating presidency of the EU Council in July for six months. A spokesperson for the European Commission made it clear again that Orban was not traveling on behalf of the European Union. Berlin also again expressed criticism of Orban’s solo actions – there was talk of “damage to the environment”.
The Hungarian Prime Minister published a photo of the meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday evening (local time) on the X platform and wrote: “We discussed ways to #peace. The good news of the day: He will solve it!” Orban is likely referring to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine with the post. Orban also published a video that captures his trip. In it, he can be seen together with Trump in Mar-a-Lago.
Trump also used his mouthpiece Truth Social to thank Orban for the visit. There must be peace, and quickly, said the Republican. “Too many people have died in a war that should never have started!”
Pretty much best friends
The two right-wing populists have a very friendly relationship and had already met in Florida in March. At the time, Orban had called his host the “president of peace,” while the American praised the Hungarian as the “best leader” ever. No one was better or smarter – Orban was simply “fantastic.”
Orban was also a guest speaker at the CPAC in Dallas two years ago. The meeting is a regular gathering of right-wing nationalists, conspiracy theorists and the religious right. Orban also combined this trip to the USA with a meeting with Trump. The European version of the CPAC conference was held in Budapest in the spring. Orban, however, has not yet visited the White House since US President Joe Biden moved in.
Trump wants to return to the White House for the Republicans after the US election in November and replace Joe Biden as president, who is again running for the Democrats. The election campaign is in the middle of a heated phase. Trump keeps claiming that he could quickly end the war in Ukraine if he is re-elected. However, he does not say exactly how he intends to do that.
Orban’s solo actions cause anger
Orban had already made headlines in the days before the summit. As part of his tour of countries staged as a “peace mission”, the head of government of the NATO country visited Russia, China and Ukraine.
The Foreign Office once again sharply criticized Orban for this. “These are Hungarian solo actions that we note with great surprise and scepticism,” said a spokesman at the federal press conference in Berlin. Orban speaks exclusively for himself on these trips – and not for the European Union, in which Hungary has held the rotating Council Presidency since the beginning of July. “We have to wait and see how the Hungarian Council Presidency continues. We are now on day 12. And it has already left a lot of damage in its wake.”
Hungary also caused a scandal at the NATO summit in Washington. At the end of the alliance summit, the Hungarian government accused NATO partners of double standards and failure in dealing with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Specifically, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto criticized the inconsistency of NATO refusing to engage in dialogue with Russia while Israel was being pressured to negotiate with Hamas. The Foreign Minister represented Orban, who had left the summit early because of the meeting with Trump.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
