Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet with Donald Trump at the former U.S. president's luxury Florida resort on March 8 after the Hungarian leader endorsed the bid of his "good friend" in the November presidential election.
Orban, arguably Trump's biggest booster in Europe, has openly spoken of wanting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee back in the White House, saying it's "the only sane approach for Hungary," a position that comes in stark contrast to many of Europe's leaders, who fear a Trump return will damage relations and diminish security across the continent.
"For Hungary, the preference for Trump is not about personal likings or political affiliations but about which U.S. leader's foreign policy would bolster Hungarian security," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on March 4.
Orban stops at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort after attending a panel at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington a day earlier, where he spoke about Hungary's conservative family and economic policies, the war in Ukraine, relations between the United States and Hungary, Trump, and his personal political beliefs.
The Hungarian prime minister's schedule has not been published, and it is not known if he will meet with any other U.S. officials during his visit to the country.
Washington has been critical of Orban because of his government's erosion of democratic principles and its continued close ties to Russia since the Kremlin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Orban, who has been shunned by many Western leaders, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine while pushing for an immediate cease-fire and peace talks. He says Trump and his good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin make him the better candidate to quickly end the war.
"The only chance of the world for a relatively fast peace deal is political change in the United States, and this is linked to who is the president," Orban said earlier this week.
"It is not gambling at all, but the only sane approach for Hungary is to bank on the return of President Donald Trump," he added.
Orban, who has been in power since 2010, has called Biden's White House an adversary, according to the pro-government Magyar Nemzet daily newspaper.
Trump has reciprocated with his admiration of Orban, whom he has called a "strong leader," even though in October he referred to Orban as "the leader of Turkey."
