US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Budapest on Tuesday with a clear message for the European Union and strong support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The visit came five days before Hungary’s election, one of the most important in Europe this year.
At a joint press conference with Orbán at his headquarters in Budapest’s Carmelite Monastery, Vance said he wanted to help as much as I possibly can before the April 12 vote.
He called the EU’s actions toward Hungary one of the worst examples of foreign election interference he had ever seen.
Vance pointed to what he called the bureaucracy in Brussels. He accused EU officials of trying to hurt Hungary’s economy and limit what voters could see online through social media censorship.
He did not provide evidence for those claims. No EU leader has campaigned with the Hungarian opposition in Budapest.
Vance called Orbán one of the only true statesmen in Europe. He praised what he said was their shared goal of defending Western civilisation and Christian values.
The visit comes at a tough time for Orbán. Independent polls show his Fidesz party behind the opposition Tisza party led by Péter Magyar by a double digit gap among decided voters.
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Magyar has promised to bring Hungary closer to its Western partners. He hit back at Vance’s visit quickly. “No foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections,” he wrote on X.
Orbán has been in power for 16 years and keeps close ties with Moscow. He has refused to give Ukraine financial aid or weapons, putting him against most EU countries.
Hungary also got a US exemption from sanctions on Russian oil and gas after Orbán met Trump at the White House in November.
The trip follows a February visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told Orbán that Trump was deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success.
The final days of the campaign have been filled with claims of foreign interference from all sides. There have been reports of Russian, Ukrainian and European intelligence activity around the vote.
Over the Easter weekend, Serbian authorities said they found explosives near a gas pipeline that supplies Hungary. Orbán blamed Ukraine for sabotage. Kyiv denied it and Magyar suggested it could be a staged event.
Vance is set to appear at an Orbán campaign rally at a Budapest sports stadium on Tuesday evening.
It is an unusual move for a foreign leader in office. He is the first US vice president to visit Hungary since 1991.
