Few world leaders have appeared as natural in the White House as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who met US President Donald Trump on Friday in an atmosphere of warmth and humour. During a lively press briefing, Orbán jokingly asked to hire Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt—prompting laughter and millions of views online as both leaders reaffirmed their close rapport.
‘Attacks from the Dems are ultimately to be expected, with the cause secondary to the pure utility of attacking Europe’s most effective right-wing leader.’
‘What does democracy look like today?…We have become socially liberal, while the government has become more federalist and centralized.’
‘By being responsive to changes at the system level, multilateralism can contribute to maintaining peace during the shifts in the balance of power that we are currently living through. Europe’s peoples would benefit from it, as would their governments’ reputation and diplomatic standing in the world.’
‘Our heroine wanted to become an engineer from an early age and chose the least feminine of all disciplines—structural engineering. She drew up the plans for the reinforced concrete structures of the national swimming pool designed by Alfréd Hajós…and it was her task to reinforce the collapsed roof structure of the damaged National Theatre.’
Hungary has secured a US-backed ‘financial shield’ to protect its economy from external shocks, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after meeting Donald Trump at the White House. He claimed that the European Commission’s ‘financial blackmail’ had become ineffective, adding that the US had promised to defend Hungary’s financial stability.
US President Donald Trump approved a full sanctions exemption for Hungary on Russian oil and gas imports during his White House meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in what both sides called a new era of US–Hungarian cooperation. The leaders secured multimillion-dollar deals on nuclear energy, defence, and space technology.
Hungary and the United States are set to deepen cooperation in nuclear energy, as Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced a new intergovernmental agreement with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The deal focuses on fuel supply, waste storage and small modular reactors.
‘For us, it is a matter of life and death,’ Viktor Orbán said on his way to meet Donald Trump. Szabolcs Pásztor of the Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation pointed out that few European leaders enjoy such personal rapport with Trump, calling the visit ‘highly significant’ and predicting ‘major agreements’ between the two countries.
What will be the main topics of Viktor Orbán’s 7 November White House meeting with Donald Trump? Can he secure an opt-out on energy, and how will Hungary’s connectivity strategy hold up if global powers clash? We spoke with the Deputy State Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office about the potential new deals between Trump and Orbán.