{"id":1869700,"date":"2026-04-07T09:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1869700"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:16:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:16:06","slug":"hungary-europe-or-an-authoritarian-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1869700","title":{"rendered":"Hungary: Europe or an authoritarian path?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76687055_6.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5BlQv<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
The US is ignoring precedent and going all-in to help a foreign leader will an election, though it is unclear if JD Vance can aid Viktor Orban’s bid to win a sixth term as Hungary’s prime ministerImage: Jonathan Ernst\/REUTERS<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Trump administration is ignoring convention and has dispatched Vice President JD Vance<\/a> to Hungary<\/a>, where he will campaign\u00a0for that country’s longtime prime minister, Viktor Orban<\/a>, who trails dramatically in polls ahead of upcoming elections on April 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orban, who has held or been near power since the late 1990s, has become a figurehead for the global far-right and is running for his fifth consecutive term leading the eastern European nation as prime minister \u2014 a job he has held since 2010.<\/p>\n

At odds with the rest of the EU over his allegiance to Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> and his opposition to supporting the defense of Ukraine, Orban has proudly proclaimed to have transformed Hungary into an “illiberal” democracy.<\/p>\n

Despite accusations that Orban and his Fidesz party have engineered state capture by taking control of Hungary’s justice system, its media and its universities \u2014 prompting the label of “free but not fair elections” \u2014 the Trump administration has looked to Orban’s Hungary as a blueprint for success rather than a warning about good governance.<\/p>\n

Hungary is consistently ranked as the most corrupt nation in the 27-member EU and is also ranked among the very poorest in the bloc.<\/p>\n

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Hungary: Europe or an authoritarian path?<\/h2>\n

Vance to stump for far-right Trump ally Orban<\/h2>\n

Vance will join Orban, who has never shied from repeating Donald Trump<\/a>‘s lie that he won the 2020 US presidential election \u2014\u00a0he did not \u2014 for an official meeting on Tuesday morning followed by a press conference.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Hungarian \u200cForeign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who greeted Vance and his wife Usha when they touched down in Budapest, said “This visit clearly \u200cshows \u200bthat there is a new golden \u200bage in US-Hungary relations.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

Szijjarto said Vance and Orban will\u00a0discuss migration, \u2060global security, economic \u2060and \u200benergy co-operation.<\/p>\n

After his arrival, Vance\u00a0on Tuesday doubled down on baseless US claims that the EU is attempting to sabotage Orban, accusing “bureaucrats in Brussels” of trying “to destroy the economy of Hungary” because they “hate” him.<\/p>\n

Standing beside Orban before a closed-door meeting, the vice president then accused the EU of “truly disgraceful” levels of election interference.<\/p>\n

Though Vance and Orban see no irony in their claims, opposition politician Peter Magyar, railed against Vance’s visit on the social media platform X, saying: “This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow or Brussels \u2014 it is written in Hungary’s streets and squares.”<\/p>\n

Vance will later appear alongside Orban at a campaign rally, as the incumbent seeks to fend off a serious challenge from center-right candidate Peter Magyr and his Tisza party.<\/p>\n

Orban, whom rightwing leaders elsewhere see as a role model, currently trails by double-digits in opinion polls and his administration has been embarrassed by recent revelations of potential collusion with Russia<\/a> as well as spying on political opponents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA)<\/a> movement admire Orban’s crackdowns on immigration, gay rights and press freedom, and hail his championing of “Western Christian values.”<\/p>\n

In recent days, other far-right leaders \u2014 from France’s Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands to Argentina’s President Javier Miliei \u2014 have all spoken out in support of Orban’s reelection, even appearing in campaign videos.<\/p>\n

US breaks tradition by participating in foreign election<\/h2>\n

The Trump administration has repeatedly rewarded Orban’s truculence on Ukraine, going so far as to exempt Hungary from sanctions on Russian oil and gas.<\/p>\n

In February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> told Orban, “President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success,” as the two visited in Budapest.<\/p>\n

Trump, who has openly embraced far-right leaders globally, has called Orban “a fantastic guy,” who has his “complete and total endorsement.”<\/p>\n

Traditionally, the US has shied away from actively participating in foreign elections, making Vance’s visit just days before the vote is a highly unusual step.<\/p>\n

Though Orban welcomes US support, he has railed against fellow EU leaders commenting on the vote \u2014\u00a0decrying it as an infringement on Hungarian sovereignty and blasting what he calls election interference.<\/p>\n

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In bid to boost Orban, Vance to visit Hungary ahead of vote<\/h2>\n

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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The Trump administration is ignoring convention and has dispatched Vice President JD Vance<\/a> to Hungary<\/a>, where he will campaign\u00a0for that country’s longtime prime minister, Viktor Orban<\/a>, who trails dramatically in polls ahead of upcoming elections on April 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orban, who has held or been near power since the late 1990s, has become a figurehead for the global far-right and is running for his fifth consecutive term leading the eastern European nation as prime minister \u2014 a job he has held since 2010.<\/p>\n

At odds with the rest of the EU over his allegiance to Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> and his opposition to supporting the defense of Ukraine, Orban has proudly proclaimed to have transformed Hungary into an “illiberal” democracy.<\/p>\n

Despite accusations that Orban and his Fidesz party have engineered state capture by taking control of Hungary’s justice system, its media and its universities \u2014 prompting the label of “free but not fair elections” \u2014 the Trump administration has looked to Orban’s Hungary as a blueprint for success rather than a warning about good governance.<\/p>\n

Hungary is consistently ranked as the most corrupt nation in the 27-member EU and is also ranked among the very poorest in the bloc.<\/p>\n

\n

Hungary: Europe or an authoritarian path?<\/h2>\n

Vance to stump for far-right Trump ally Orban<\/h2>\n

Vance will join Orban, who has never shied from repeating Donald Trump<\/a>‘s lie that he won the 2020 US presidential election \u2014\u00a0he did not \u2014 for an official meeting on Tuesday morning followed by a press conference.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Hungarian \u200cForeign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who greeted Vance and his wife Usha when they touched down in Budapest, said “This visit clearly \u200cshows \u200bthat there is a new golden \u200bage in US-Hungary relations.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

Szijjarto said Vance and Orban will\u00a0discuss migration, \u2060global security, economic \u2060and \u200benergy co-operation.<\/p>\n

After his arrival, Vance\u00a0on Tuesday doubled down on baseless US claims that the EU is attempting to sabotage Orban, accusing “bureaucrats in Brussels” of trying “to destroy the economy of Hungary” because they “hate” him.<\/p>\n

Standing beside Orban before a closed-door meeting, the vice president then accused the EU of “truly disgraceful” levels of election interference.<\/p>\n

Though Vance and Orban see no irony in their claims, opposition politician Peter Magyar, railed against Vance’s visit on the social media platform X, saying: “This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow or Brussels \u2014 it is written in Hungary’s streets and squares.”<\/p>\n

Vance will later appear alongside Orban at a campaign rally, as the incumbent seeks to fend off a serious challenge from center-right candidate Peter Magyr and his Tisza party.<\/p>\n

Orban, whom rightwing leaders elsewhere see as a role model, currently trails by double-digits in opinion polls and his administration has been embarrassed by recent revelations of potential collusion with Russia<\/a> as well as spying on political opponents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA)<\/a> movement admire Orban’s crackdowns on immigration, gay rights and press freedom, and hail his championing of “Western Christian values.”<\/p>\n

In recent days, other far-right leaders \u2014 from France’s Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands to Argentina’s President Javier Miliei \u2014 have all spoken out in support of Orban’s reelection, even appearing in campaign videos.<\/p>\n

US breaks tradition by participating in foreign election<\/h2>\n

The Trump administration has repeatedly rewarded Orban’s truculence on Ukraine, going so far as to exempt Hungary from sanctions on Russian oil and gas.<\/p>\n

In February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> told Orban, “President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success,” as the two visited in Budapest.<\/p>\n

Trump, who has openly embraced far-right leaders globally, has called Orban “a fantastic guy,” who has his “complete and total endorsement.”<\/p>\n

Traditionally, the US has shied away from actively participating in foreign elections, making Vance’s visit just days before the vote is a highly unusual step.<\/p>\n

Though Orban welcomes US support, he has railed against fellow EU leaders commenting on the vote \u2014\u00a0decrying it as an infringement on Hungarian sovereignty and blasting what he calls election interference.<\/p>\n

\n

In bid to boost Orban, Vance to visit Hungary ahead of vote<\/h2>\n

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Trump administration is ignoring convention and has dispatched Vice President JD Vance<\/a> to Hungary<\/a>, where he will campaign\u00a0for that country’s longtime prime minister, Viktor Orban<\/a>, who trails dramatically in polls ahead of upcoming elections on April 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orban, who has held or been near power since the late 1990s, has become a figurehead for the global far-right and is running for his fifth consecutive term leading the eastern European nation as prime minister \u2014 a job he has held since 2010.<\/p>\n

At odds with the rest of the EU over his allegiance to Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> and his opposition to supporting the defense of Ukraine, Orban has proudly proclaimed to have transformed Hungary into an “illiberal” democracy.<\/p>\n

Despite accusations that Orban and his Fidesz party have engineered state capture by taking control of Hungary’s justice system, its media and its universities \u2014 prompting the label of “free but not fair elections” \u2014 the Trump administration has looked to Orban’s Hungary as a blueprint for success rather than a warning about good governance.<\/p>\n

Hungary is consistently ranked as the most corrupt nation in the 27-member EU and is also ranked among the very poorest in the bloc.<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

Vance will join Orban, who has never shied from repeating Donald Trump<\/a>‘s lie that he won the 2020 US presidential election \u2014\u00a0he did not \u2014 for an official meeting on Tuesday morning followed by a press conference.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Hungarian \u200cForeign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who greeted Vance and his wife Usha when they touched down in Budapest, said “This visit clearly \u200cshows \u200bthat there is a new golden \u200bage in US-Hungary relations.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

Szijjarto said Vance and Orban will\u00a0discuss migration, \u2060global security, economic \u2060and \u200benergy co-operation.<\/p>\n

After his arrival, Vance\u00a0on Tuesday doubled down on baseless US claims that the EU is attempting to sabotage Orban, accusing “bureaucrats in Brussels” of trying “to destroy the economy of Hungary” because they “hate” him.<\/p>\n

Standing beside Orban before a closed-door meeting, the vice president then accused the EU of “truly disgraceful” levels of election interference.<\/p>\n

Though Vance and Orban see no irony in their claims, opposition politician Peter Magyar, railed against Vance’s visit on the social media platform X, saying: “This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow or Brussels \u2014 it is written in Hungary’s streets and squares.”<\/p>\n

Vance will later appear alongside Orban at a campaign rally, as the incumbent seeks to fend off a serious challenge from center-right candidate Peter Magyr and his Tisza party.<\/p>\n

Orban, whom rightwing leaders elsewhere see as a role model, currently trails by double-digits in opinion polls and his administration has been embarrassed by recent revelations of potential collusion with Russia<\/a> as well as spying on political opponents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA)<\/a> movement admire Orban’s crackdowns on immigration, gay rights and press freedom, and hail his championing of “Western Christian values.”<\/p>\n

In recent days, other far-right leaders \u2014 from France’s Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands to Argentina’s President Javier Miliei \u2014 have all spoken out in support of Orban’s reelection, even appearing in campaign videos.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has repeatedly rewarded Orban’s truculence on Ukraine, going so far as to exempt Hungary from sanctions on Russian oil and gas.<\/p>\n

In February, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> told Orban, “President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success,” as the two visited in Budapest.<\/p>\n

Trump, who has openly embraced far-right leaders globally, has called Orban “a fantastic guy,” who has his “complete and total endorsement.”<\/p>\n

Traditionally, the US has shied away from actively participating in foreign elections, making Vance’s visit just days before the vote is a highly unusual step.<\/p>\n

Though Orban welcomes US support, he has railed against fellow EU leaders commenting on the vote \u2014\u00a0decrying it as an infringement on Hungarian sovereignty and blasting what he calls election interference.<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher<\/em><\/p>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76687055_6.jpg”] https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5BlQv The US is ignoring precedent and going all-in to help a foreign leader will an election, though it is unclear if JD Vance can aid Viktor Orban’s bid to win a sixth term as Hungary’s prime ministerImage: Jonathan Ernst\/REUTERS The Trump administration is ignoring convention and has dispatched Vice President JD […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,74],"class_list":["post-1869700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dw-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1869700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1869700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1869700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1869700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}