Orbán warns of risks during Trump transition, advocates for peace in Ukraine at Diaspora Council reception

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave a reception to members of the Diaspora Council attending a meeting in Budapest, the PM’s press chief, Bertalan Havasi, said on Wednesday.

Regarding world politics, Orbán told participants that while the election of Donald Trump had ended progressive-liberal government in the US, the two months until he is inaugurated “will hold a lot of insecurity in the US and Europe, and that may be a source of enormous risks.”

“Those on the side of war still haven’t acknowledged the new reality. We must do everything in our power against an escalation of the war in Ukraine — a ceasefire and peace talks have never been more important than now,” Orbán said.

“That is all the more important” because the Hungarian government has prepared a “peace budget” to help its new economic policy to succeed, he said. “Based on that [budget], people and companies may look into the future more positively,” he added.

Szijjártó: Hungary-US ties could enter ‘new dimension’ during Trump presidency

Hungarian-American ties will enter “a new dimension”, a kind of “golden age”, with the inauguration of Donald Trump in January, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said speaking at a business forum organised by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Budapest on Wednesday.

In a statement issued by his ministry, Szijjártó said Hungary-US ties had reached a “low point” in recent years. With the re-establishment of mutual respect, there could be a “great advance” in bilateral relations, he added.

He pointed to the impact of sanctions policies on the European economy, arguing that they had hurt Europe more than the Russians, and said an end to the war in Ukraine would be in Europe’s best interest.

“Many among us hoped for big change thanks to American voters and victory by the pro-peace candidate….We’re very pleased with the outcome,” he added.

He augured big geopolitical changes as a result of Trump’s win, impacting US ties with the EU and Hungary, too. He said partners in the European Union would have to face “a new reality” and grasp that a protracted war would cause the situations of Ukraine and the EU to worsen further. There is no solution for the conflict on the battlefield, he added.

He said that the remaining two months of the Biden presidency were “extraordinarily dangerous” and warned that the pro-war side would work “to make achieving peace more difficult or practically impossible”.

Szijjártó said Hungary would not support new EU sanctions extending to Russia’s energy sector.

Szijjártó noted that some 1,200 US-owned companies in Hungary employed several hundred thousand people. Agreements have been reached with US-owned companies recently on investments with a value of several billion dollars, he added.

Orbán: Most dangerous two months of war ahead

The two most dangerous months of the war in Ukraine lie ahead, Orbán said, noting that he has convened the country’s Defence Council in light of “alarming news”.

“The threat of escalation and the expansion of the war is greater than ever,” Orbán said in a video posted on his social media page after being briefed at a meeting of the Defence Council.

He said Donald Trump’s impending presidency had made the prospect of peace, or at least a ceasefire, tangible. But a pro-war US administration was “still in power” and would remain so for the next two months, he added.

“In practice this means that Ukrainians fired long-range missiles into Russian territory on Tuesday, and Russia responded by adopting a stricter nuclear doctrine,” Orbán said.

The prime minister said that in the next few weeks and months Hungary must draw on “all its knowledge and diplomatic experience” in order to “stay out of this war”.

Read also:

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• Orbán cabinet: Trump’s presidency ‘beacon of hope’ for Europe, Hungary