US Vice President JD Vance said from Hungary’s capital that he was “here to help” the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban in his re-election bid.
His comments were the clearest sign yet that US President Donald Trump’s administration is going all-in for an Orban victory when Hungarians go to the polls on Sunday.
Mr Vance’s two-day visit to Budapest is a bid to turn the tide in Mr Orban’s election campaign where the long-serving leader, a close Trump ally, is trailing in the polls.
Mr Orban is running for his fifth-straight term as prime minister. He and his nationalist-populist Fidesz party are facing their toughest race in two decades against a centre-right challenger, the Tisza party led by Peter Magyar, that could bring an end to Mr Orban’s 16 years in power.
The prime minister has bristled at the mention of the Hungarian election by any of his partners in the European Union, decrying any expressions of support for his opponent as a grave breach of Hungary’s sovereignty and meddling in the election.
Yet speaking at a joint news conference with Mr Orban at his headquarters in Budapest’s Carmelite Monastery, Mr Vance campaigned openly for the prime minister, saying he wanted to “help as much as I possibly can” ahead of the April 12 vote.
Mr Vance was scheduled to appear later on Tuesday at an election rally for Mr Orban dubbed a Day Of Friendship event — an unusual step from a foreign leader and a break with the practice of most politicians who avoid taking an active role in the political campaigns of other countries.
Despite his clear endorsement of Mr Orban, Mr Vance lashed out at the EU for what he said was “one of the worst examples of foreign election interference that I’ve ever seen or ever even read about”.
“I won’t tell the people of Hungary how to vote. I would encourage the bureaucrats in Brussels to do the exact same thing,” he said, adding that he was confident Mr Orban would win the election.
Long accused by critics of taking over Hungary’s institutions, clamping down on press freedom and overseeing entrenched political corruption — charges he denies — Mr Orban has become a significant figure in the global far-right movement.
Mr Trump has repeatedly endorsed Mr Orban’s candidacy for re-election, and many in the Make America Great Again movement approve of the Hungarian leader’s opposition to immigration, curtailing of LGBT+ rights, and capture of the media and academia.
But with most independent polls showing a double-digit deficit for Fidesz among decided voters ahead of the April 12 vote, Mr Orban has sought to boost his profile by appearing publicly with his international admirers.
Hungary, which has broken with most European Union countries by refusing to assist Ukraine with financial assistance or weapons to ward off Russia’s full-scale invasion, has remained firmly committed to purchasing Russian energy despite EU efforts to wean off such supplies.
In November, Hungary received an exemption from US sanctions on Russian oil and gas after a White House meeting between Mr Orban and Mr Trump.
Yet on Tuesday, Mr Vance seemed to contradict US efforts to push its allies to break with Russian energy, excoriating other EU countries for moving to cease their imports of Russian fossil fuels in response to the war.
“It is funny to watch prime ministers and leaders in some of the western European capitals talk about the energy crisis when frankly they should have been following the policies of Viktor Orban,” he said.
