‘The president loves you’: US’ Vance visits Hungary to boost Orban re-election bid

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (right) welcomes US Vice-President J.D.

Vance in front of his office in Budapest, Hungary on Tuesday.

Photo: EPA US Vice-President J.D.

Vance lavished praise on Hungary and Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday as he arrived in Budapest to boost the veteran nationalist leader’s campaign ahead of an election that many opinion polls suggest Orban will lose.

Orban, a Eurosceptic nationalist in power since 2010, is facing the toughest re-election bid of his career, with independent polls indicating his Fidesz party will lose Sunday’s vote to centre-right challenger Peter Magyar’s Tisza party.

Vance’s visit, just days before the vote, underscores ‌how crucial President Donald Trump’s Maga movement deems Orban’s re-election to be.

Trump has already personally endorsed Orban, 62, as “a truly strong and powerful leader”. “The relationship and friendship between Hungary and the United States is very important to us,” Vance told Orban before they entered talks behind closed doors. “In part because we love the Hungarian people and this amazing nation and culture, but in part because the president loves you, and so do I, because you’re such an important part of what has made Europe strong and prosperous.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (left) and US Vice-President J.D.

Vance talk on the terrace of Orban’s office in Budapest.

Photo: EPA Vance and his wife Usha were greeted at the airport in Budapest by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who said the visit illustrated “a new golden age in US-Hungary relations”.

Vance ⁠and Orban will discuss migration, global security, economic and energy cooperation, Szijjarto said.

Bloomberg News reported that Hungarian oil company MOL would agree to buy 500,000 tonnes of oil from the ‌US for about US$500 million.

The rare in-person gesture of support for Orban by a top US official is the latest example of Trump’s efforts to prop up like-minded right-wing leaders, including in Argentina and Japan.

In a post on X ahead of Vance’s arrival, Orban’s rival Magyar ‌warned against foreign interference. “This is our country,” he wrote. “Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels – it is written in Hungary’s streets and ⁠squares.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during an election campaign rally in Gyor on March 27, 2026.

Photo: Reuters Orban’s self-described “illiberal democracy” mirrors key themes of Trump-era ⁠America: harsh anti-immigra

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