Foreign Minister Anita Orbán says her ministry has cut travel costs dramatically, with 23 trips costing less than HUF 63 million between May and October, compared with more than HUF 960 million under her predecessor. Fidesz has hit back, arguing that Péter Szijjártó delivered billions in investment and thousands of jobs.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Anita Orbán says official trips under her leadership have cost barely a tenth of what they did under her predecessor, Péter Szijjártó, as the ministry seeks to reduce spending and improve efficiency.
In a Facebook post, Orbán said the ministry had reviewed its central administrative expenditure as part of preparations for the 2027 budget. She also announced savings in public diplomacy and development programmes, insisting that these cuts had not required the cancellation of any programmes.
Travel costs fall from HUF 960 million to less than HUF 63 million
According to Orbán, the previous foreign ministry spent more than HUF 960 million on 37 trips between May and October 2025. During the same period in 2026, the ministry under her leadership made 23 trips at a total cost of less than HUF 63 million.
This means the average cost per trip fell from more than HUF 25.9 million under Szijjártó to less than HUF 2.7 million under Orbán.
“In other words, one trip cost barely more than a tenth of what it did last year during the same period,” the foreign minister wrote.
Orbán attributed the savings partly to a decision to stop using individually chartered aviation services for temporary overseas assignments involving ministerial delegations. She said this change alone would save close to HUF 1.2 billion in operating expenditure.
The ministry has also terminated or streamlined several contracts following a review of its running costs.
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Ministry claims 30% savings without cancelling programmes
Travel costs are not the only area where the ministry says it has made savings. Orbán said public diplomacy programmes and the development portfolio had achieved overall savings of 30% without cancelling a single programme.
She stressed that the reductions resulted from professional reviews and rationalisation rather than cuts to the programmes themselves.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ key objective is to establish an organisation that operates more efficiently and manages public funds responsibly,” she wrote.
The figures come amid scrutiny of the cost of official travel under the previous foreign minister. According to figures previously published by Telex, Szijjártó’s hired-aircraft trips alone cost Hungarian taxpayers more than HUF 2 billion in 2025.
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Fidesz counters with investment and job figures
Fidesz, the former governing party now in opposition, quickly responded to Orbán’s announcement, arguing that the cost of a foreign minister’s travel should not be the only measure of their performance.
The party said Szijjártó had announced, launched or handed over investments worth HUF 1,635 billion during the corresponding period, which it linked to the creation of 22,552 new jobs across Hungary.
“Péter Szijjártó served his country with thousands of billions flowing into the Hungarian economy and tens of thousands of jobs. Anita Orbán does so by costing less,” the party said in a statement, ending with a sarcastic “Well, that’s something too – congratulations!”
Fidesz also summarised its comparison with the slogan “Péter Szijjártó–Anita Orbán: 22,552–0”, referring to the number of jobs it attributed to the two ministers.
