Orbán To Meet Trump In Clear Partisan Move

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will meet with former US President and current Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump at his residence at Mar-a-Lago, Florida later today. The visit has garnered significant focus, with Orbán being the sole EU leader openly supporting a second term for Trump. The Hungarian leader is not due to meet with any Biden administration officials on his trip.

• Speaking last week Orbán stated, “The only serious chance for peace now is if [Trump is] able to come back — that’s my only hope. Otherwise, the war between Ukraine and Russia will be long, getting closer and closer to Hungary and creating more and more strong dilemmas for European politics.”
• There are concerns at the White House, in Brussels, and Kyiv that Orbán will use the visit in an effort to funnel Kremlin views on the war in Ukraine to Trump. Orbán is the EU leader to have most recently met Russian President Vladimir Putin in person.
• The partisan strategy from Orbán is a risky one. Should Trump win the presidency in November he could emerge as one of the EU/NATO leaders with the closest relationship with the White House, despite Hungary's relatively small presence in global geopolitics. However, if Biden retains the presidency Orbán risks Hungary being pushed even further towards the margins of Atlantacist policy making.