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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomes US vice president JD Vance to his office in Budapest. (EPA Images pic)
\nBUDAPEST: US vice president JD Vance on Tuesday threw his support behind Hungary\u2019s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban, ahead of this weekend\u2019s fiercely fought parliamentary elections, accusing Brussels of \u201cforeign election interference\u201d.<\/p>\n
Orban \u2013 the EU leader with the closest ties to US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin \u2013 is facing an unprecedented challenge to his 16-year rule in Sunday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n
Vance arrived on Tuesday in the Hungarian capital Budapest to deliver a message of support from Trump to his ally, hailing Orban as a \u201cmodel\u201d for Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did want to send a signal to everybody, particularly the bureaucrats in Brussels,\u201d he told reporters in a press conference alongside Orban, accusing Brussels of interfering \u201cto hold down the people of Hungary\u201d.<\/p>\n
Vance is due to deliver a speech at a rally with Orban later, focusing on \u201cthe rich partnership between the US and Hungary\u201d, according to a statement from his office.<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old conservative\u2019s visit follows that of US secretary of state Marco Rubio in mid-February, who wished his Hungarian ally \u201csuccess\u201d in the April 12 election.<\/p>\n
US and Hungarian flags lined a bridge leading up to Orban\u2019s office in the landmark Carmelite Monastery, overlooking the Danube.<\/p>\n
Security was tight across the capital with a heavy police presence and a tight cordon around Orban\u2019s office, the venue for the joint press conference.<\/p>\n
Vance is one of the US administration\u2019s fiercest critics of centrist and progressive European governments and one of the most fervent supporters of far-right parties in Europe.<\/p>\n
\u2018Crude interference\u2019<\/p>\n
Orban said he had discussed the \u201cmajor issues facing Western civilisation\u201d with Vance, such as \u201cmigration, gender ideology, family policy, and global security\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also slammed the \u201cunusually crude and overt interference by foreign intelligence services in Hungary\u2019s electoral processes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Orban, 62, has been in power for 16 years and is close to Moscow.<\/p>\n
According to analysts, Orban has benefited from covert Russian assistance to boost his chances of reelection.<\/p>\n
However, polls by independent institutes predict a sweeping victory for the Tisza party led by pro-European conservative Peter Magyar.<\/p>\n
In two years, Magyar has built an opposition movement capable of challenging Orban.<\/p>\n
Pro-government institutions are predicting victory for Orban\u2019s Fidesz-KDNP coalition.<\/p>\n
Since returning to power, Trump and his government have broken with the traditional restraint past US administrations have shown regarding foreign elections.<\/p>\n
Instead, they now strongly show support for leaders they see as compatible with US diplomatic priorities.<\/p>\n
In his visit in February, Rubio left no doubt about who the US wants to prevail in Sunday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can say to you with confidence that President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success,\u201d Rubio said during a joint press conference with Orban after their meeting.<\/p>\n
Orban is particularly aligned with the Trump administration on anti-migrant policies, which came to the fore in Hungary during the refugee crisis 10 years ago. He has visited Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida several times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomes US vice president JD Vance to his office in Budapest. (EPA Images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,7213,7214,7215,7216,4229,5563,6092,7217,7218,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-10505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brussels","8":"tag-brussels","9":"tag-brussels-criticism","10":"tag-european-elections","11":"tag-far-right-politics","12":"tag-fidesz-party","13":"tag-hungarian-election","14":"tag-jd-vance","15":"tag-political-interference","16":"tag-trump-allies","17":"tag-us-hungary","18":"tag-viktor-orban"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116364033788562016","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}