Trump is ready to renew the conservative alliance with Hungary’s Orbán

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Donald Trump is ready to renew a conservative alliance with Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the U.S. Republican presidential candidate said in a video message on Friday.

Orban has been one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe, where comments from the former US president suggesting he would target countries that failed to meet NATO defense spending commitments have frayed nerves among leaders have increased.

A new Trump presidency could ease US relations with Hungary, which has come under criticism from Washington for its close ties with Russia and its drag on ratifying Sweden’s NATO accession, which Budapest is in February finally agreed.

“I look forward to working closely with Prime Minister Orban again as I take the oath of office as the 47th President of the United States,” Trump said, calling the Hungarian leader a “great man.”

Trump’s message was broadcast at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the United States’ most prominent conservative gathering, in Budapest, the third CPAC event in Hungary.

The years of Trump’s presidency brought a closer relationship between the US and Hungary, after previous administrations accused Orban’s government of restricting democratic freedoms, including press freedom and the independence of the judiciary.

“As president, I was proud to work with Prime Minister Orban, a great man by the way, to advance the values ​​and interests of our two nations,” Trump said. “We have cracked down on illegal immigration, protected our borders, created jobs and defended our traditions and Judeo-Christian values.”

Orban, who was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term after a landslide election victory in 2022, is seen by many on the American far right as a model for his hardline policies on immigration and support for families and Christian conservatism.

Trump met Orban in Florida in March. After their meeting, Orban lent his support to the former president and said only Trump’s return to the White House could bring peace to Ukraine.

In a speech to CPAC on Thursday, Orban said 2024 was a year of elections around the world and that conservative forces must work to win and end “liberal hegemony.”

This year’s European and local elections could be the toughest of Orbán’s 14-year rule, as the country’s economy is in recession, an abuse scandal strikes at the core of his family values ​​platform and a political newcomer threatens to disrupt the status quo.

Despite these challenges, Orbán’s Fidesz remains the most popular party in Hungary.

(Reporting by Anita Komuves and Gergely Szakacs, editing by Angus MacSwan)