Rubio backs Orban’s bid for another term during visit to Hungary

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio enthusiastically endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s bid to serve a fifth straight term after upcoming elections in April, emphasising during a visit to Budapest the strong personal relationship between the nationalist leader and US President Donald Trump.

Mr Orban, who has led Hungary since 2010, is one of Mr Trump’s most vocal supporters in the European Union, and has actively curried the US president’s favour leading up to the April 12 vote in which he will face the toughest challenge of his last 16 years in power.

Mr Rubio was in the Hungarian capital for meetings with Mr Orban and his government where he signed an agreement on US-Hungarian civilian nuclear co-operation that includes the possible purchase of compact nuclear reactors – known as small modular reactors or SMRs – as well as US-supplied nuclear fuel and spent fuel storage technology.

At a news conference in Budapest, Mr Rubio said US-Hungary relations, which both he and Mr Orban described as experiencing a “golden age” under Mr Trump, go beyond mere diplomatic co-operation.

“I’m going to be very blunt with you,” Mr Rubio said. “The prime minister and the president have a very, very close personal relationship and working relationship, and I think it has been beneficial to our two countries.”

“That person-to-person connection that you’ve established with the president has made all the difference in the world in building this relationship,” Mr Rubio continued, addressing Mr Orban. “President Trump is deeply committed to your success because your success is our success.”

Mr Rubio’s stop in Hungary followed a visit to Slovakia on Sunday after he previously attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Led by eurosceptic populists who oppose support for Ukraine and vocally back Mr Trump, Slovakia and Hungary are both friendly territory for Mr Rubio in his push to shore up energy agreements with both Central European countries.

Widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most reliable advocate in the EU, Mr Orban has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin despite its war against Ukraine while building ties with Mr Trump and his Maga – “Make America Great Again” – movement.

Mr Orban has remained firmly committed to purchasing Russian energy despite efforts by the EU to wean off such supplies, and received an exemption from US sanctions on Russian energy after a November meeting in the White House with Mr Trump.

Mr Rubio would not specify on Monday how long that exemption would last as the EU plans to phase out Russian fossil fuels entirely by the end of 2027.

Apparently trusting that his political and personal affinity with Mr Trump could pay even greater dividends, Mr Orban and his government have sought to woo the US leader to Hungary before the pivotal April elections – hoping such a high-profile visit and endorsement would push Mr Orban, who is trailing in most polls, over the finish line.

On Monday, Mr Orban told Mr Rubio that his government is ready to host any future trilateral peace summit between the United States, Russia and Ukraine, and that Mr Trump has an “open invitation” to Budapest.

He also claimed that Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, were seeking to interfere in Hungary’s upcoming elections by criticising Mr Orban’s opposition to providing weapons or financial aid to Kyiv and threats to block Ukraine’s eventual membership in the EU.

Many in Maga and the broader conservative world view Hungary as a shining example of successful conservative nationalism, despite the erosion of its democratic institutions and its status as one of the EU’s poorest countries.

Mr Orban has declared that he and his movement seek to “Make Europe Great Again”.

In turn, Mr Trump has praised Mr Orban’s firm opposition to immigration, exemplified by a fence his government erected on Hungary’s southern border in 2015 as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Syria and other countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Other US conservatives admire Mr Orban’s hostility to LGBT+ rights. His government last year banned the popular Budapest Pride celebration and allowed facial recognition technology to be used to identify anyone participating despite the ban.

It has also effectively banned same-sex adoption and same-sex marriage, and disallowed transgender individuals from changing their sex in official documents.

Budapest has hosted several annual iterations of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or Cpac, and another was hastily rescheduled this year to fall in March, just before Hungary’s elections.