‘Waiting for Trump’: Viktor Orbán hopes US
election will change his political fortunes
Exclusive: Hungary’s PM and EU’s most isolated leader
says he is pursuing ‘friendship with everybody’ – particularly the former US
president
Lili Bayer
Lili Bayer
Thu 25 Apr
2024 05.00 BST
Europe’s
most isolated leader was beaming.
Standing in
a hallway in Brussels, Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, spoke
excitedly about the politician he hopes will change his political fortunes –
Donald Trump.
The
longtime leader, who has been widely criticised for undermining Hungary’s
democratic institutions and cultivating ties with Moscow and Beijing, has been
busy building an international far-right network of political allies, from
Brazil to Austria.
His
strategy, experts say, centres on the bet that nationalist and far-right forces
are on the rise. And at the core of his calculus is the wager that change is
coming in Washington DC.
Approached
by the Guardian this month as he was rushing after a meeting with Polish and
French nationalists, Orbán, who rarely speaks to independent media, stopped to
defend his foreign policy choices – and cheer for Trump.
Asked about
his recent trip to the US – where he visited the former American president in
Florida but did not meet with any US administration officials – Orbán said that
“our strategy is connectivity”.
“We have to
have good relations and friendship with everybody,” the prime minister
insisted.
Pressed on
criticism that the relationship between the US and Hungary was at a 30-year
low, he enthusiastically responded: “Waiting for Donald Trump!”
Orbán’s
embrace of the former US president – and conspiracy theories that paint
Washington as meddling in Hungarian domestic politics – can be felt in the
streets of Budapest, where people walk by billboards depicting opposition
figures with dollar signs.
And the
prime minister’s narrative about the US – echoed in government-controlled media
outlets – is resonating with some voters.
Trump and
Orbán are “big friends”, said László, a refuse collector, in Budapest’s city
park one afternoon. “It’s exactly right, in terms of interests, politically,”
he said. It was “clear” that a Trump presidency would be better for Hungary
than a Joe Biden win, he added.
Sitting at
a nearby picnic table, 79-year-old Ferenc also praised the former American
president. Biden and his party “love the war”, he said. “That’s the business,
they are pro-war.”
Orbán has
repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Ukraine, accusing western capitals of
prolonging the war and arguing that Kyiv cannot win.
In a study
by the Globsec thinktank last year, Hungarians were asked which countries they
consider to be Hungary’s two most important strategic partners. Only 17% of
respondents selected the US.
Another
poll, by the Budapest-based Political Capital Institute, found that 22% of
Hungarians believe common disinformation narratives about America.
David
Pressman, the US ambassador in Budapest, has raised concerns about the
Hungarian government’s approach.
In a
statement to the Guardian, the ambassador said that “Hungary is pursuing a
relationship with the US – and a relationship with Russia and China – unlike
any other ally”.
“With
Hungary facing very serious issues – including a war next door and corruption
challenges at home – the US will remain focused on advancing security and
democracy, including by standing up for Ukraine as it is invaded by Putin’s
Russia, and standing up for democratic institutions and independent voices upon
which democracy depends,” Pressman added.
But despite
facing anti-government protests, a new challenger and economic troubles at
home, Orbán has been spending a significant amount of his time on his
international image.
In
Brussels, he spoke at a National Conservatism conference – co-sponsored by
groups linked to the Hungarian government – which garnered international
attention after a local mayor attempted to shut it down.
In April,
Orbán will speak alongside conservative American lawmakers and figures
including the Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders at the Budapest edition
of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a gathering whose
organisers rejected the Guardian and other media outlets’ accreditation
requests citing a “no woke zone”.
Péter
Krekó, the director of the Political Capital research institute, said: “One of
the essential elements of Orbán’s foreign policy is that he is not building
bilateral relationships, but personal or party relationships.”
The
Hungarian leader is looking for allies who are “anti-migration, anti-LGBT,
anti-woke – and what is important, anti-international institutions”, Krekó
said, adding that Orbán supported Trump because “he sees him as an isolationist
who won’t say anything about what’s happening in Hungary”.
Trump, in
turn, has welcomed the Hungarian leader’s friendship. “Viktor is a Great
Leader, respected all over the World. Hungary is a Safe Country because of his
Strong Immigration Policies, and as long as he is in charge, it always will
be!” he wrote after Orbán’s March visit to Mar-a-Lago.
Asked about
the aims of this year’s CPAC Hungary, Miklós Szánthó, the director of the
government-linked Center for Fundamental Rights, which is organising the event,
said in an emailed statement that “the goal is clear: to create a global
alliance of anti-globalist forces”.
“At CPAC
Hungary, we are the wokebusters and we will drain the swamps in Washington and
Brussels,” he said.
The prime
minister’s domestic opponents have raised qualms about the government’s foreign
policy decisions.
Klára
Dobrev, a member of the European parliament and lead candidate of the
opposition Democratic Coalition in the European elections, said: “The
relationship between the US and Hungary began to deteriorate when Orbán ignored
Washington’s concerns about the rule of law in Hungary and the rapidly
worsening corruption.”
“This was
compounded by Orbán’s increasingly open obstruction of his allies’ actions and
his increasingly spectacular echoing of the narrative of Moscow and Beijing,”
she said.
Márton
Tompos, a member of the Hungarian parliament and vice-president of the
opposition Momentum party, criticised Orbán’s public campaigning for Trump.
“I believe
that this is the typical case of putting all the eggs in one basket, which is
irresponsible and deeply concerning,” he said. “Hungary does not seem to have
any kind of strategy, only the will of Orbán and a few people around him – and
this is terrifying.”
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