Hungary could follow the Trump administration’s lead and move to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke about the possibility of such a decision in a radio interview on Friday, recalling that Budapest has also witnessed Antifa-related aggression in recent years.
‘Antifa is indeed a terrorist organization. They came to Hungary, beat up peaceful people on the streets, and some were beaten half to death,’ Orbán said, referring to Italian far-left MEP Ilaria Salis, who was among a group of Antifa members that attacked people on the streets of Budapest in 2023 based on their ‘right-wing appearance’. He added that these same people now try to lecture Hungary on the rule of law, which he described as absurd.
‘The time has come for organizations such as Antifa to be classified as terrorist organizations, following the American model,’ Orbán stressed.
US President Donald Trump announced last Thursday that he is planning to designate Antifa as a ‘major terrorist organization’. He described Antifa as a ‘sick, dangerous, radical left disaster’, and said he would recommend investigations into those who fund it. Trump’s move came in the aftermath of the assassination of US conservative activist Charlie Kirk on 10 September. The perpetrator, Tyler Robinson, is believed to have been influenced by far-left ideology.
How such a designation would affect Antifa, which is not a single organization but an umbrella network of far-left militant groups, remains an open question, as little detail has been provided by the president or other officials.
Speaking to the Hungarian outlet Magyar Nemzet, József Horváth, head of the Sovereignty Protection Research Institute and former deputy director-general of counter-intelligence, pointed out that both open and intelligence service tools could be deployed if Antifa groups are declared terrorist organizations in Hungary.
He argued that Antifa could then be dealt with in the same way as the Islamic State. At the same time, he noted that even if the organization were to be designated as a terrorist group, this would not affect criminal proceedings already under way. If foreign nationals are identified among its members, they must be expelled from the country, he said.
The expert also emphasized that, following Trump’s announcement that Antifa would not be tolerated in the United States and would be treated as a terrorist organization, ‘the European Union cannot approach the issue any differently either’.
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