BBC
US Vice-President JD Vance is scheduled to visit Hungary to demonstrate support for veteran Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a significant European ally of the Trump administration, during what promises to be a challenging parliamentary election.
Vance will address an election rally alongside Orban at a football stadium in Budapest on Tuesday afternoon, in a high-profile show of international backing for the Hungarian leader.
The visit follows President Donald Trump's public endorsement last month, when he declared Orban had his "complete and total support" in a video message delivered to the Hungarian Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest.
The April 12 election represents what analysts consider Orban's most formidable political challenge in a career spanning nearly four decades.
Orban faces Peter Magyar, a former Fidesz party insider who departed two years ago to establish the center-right Tisza party. According to most polling data, Tisza maintains a lead of 10-20 percentage points over Fidesz. Only the pro-government Nezopont polling agency shows Fidesz with a narrow advantage.
The relationship between Orban and President Trump dates back to 2016, when the Hungarian leader became the sole EU head of government to endorse Trump's initial presidential campaign. This partnership has strengthened significantly over time. Orban actively supported Trump's 2024 re-election effort and traveled to Washington in October to negotiate Hungary's exemption from US sanctions targeting Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil.
Trump subsequently characterized this exemption as a personal agreement with Orban, suggesting that a new Hungarian government would need to renegotiate such arrangements.
Hungary stands virtually alone among EU member states in resisting Brussels' calls to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels. During his Washington visit, Orban also committed to increased purchases of US liquefied natural gas (LNG), nuclear technology, and fuel. The country relies heavily on Russian oil delivered through the eastward Druzhba pipeline and Russian gas via the southern TurkStream pipeline.
Both supply routes currently face significant challenges. Oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, which traverses Ukraine, ceased at the end of January. Orban attributes this disruption to Ukraine's failure to restore pipeline operations following Russian strikes on western Ukrainian oil infrastructure on January 27.
Notably, the Trump administration has not provided visible diplomatic support regarding the pipeline issue. To prevent fuel shortages, Hungary has been compelled to utilize emergency reserves and import non-Russian oil through an alternative Croatian pipeline route.
A new concern emerged Sunday when Serbian authorities announced the discovery and neutralization of explosives near the TurkStream gas pipeline, close to the Hungarian border.
Orban and pro-government media characterized the incident as a terrorist attack on Hungary's energy infrastructure. However, former Hungarian intelligence officials and opposition leader Peter Magyar have accused Orban of orchestrating the incident with Serbian President Alexander Vucic's assistance to enhance his electoral prospects.
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment and criticism of President Volodymyr Zelensky have become central themes in Orban's campaign strategy.
Additional controversies have potentially impacted his standing with voters. Leaked private telephone conversations between Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and senior Russian officials spanning several years have surfaced.
The transcripts suggest Szijjarto regularly shared confidential information from European Union summit discussions with Russian counterparts and advocated for removing Russian officials from sanctions lists at Moscow's request. Szijjarto has defended these communications as "normal diplomacy."
Orban appears to be leveraging Vance's visit to persuade undecided Hungarian voters that he remains a capable and internationally respected leader during these uncertain times.
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