Election 2018 – French president, state and religious leaders congratulate Orbán

French President Emmanuel Macron and more have congratulated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on his victory in Hungary’s April 8 parliamentary election, Orbán’s press chief said on Tuesday.

Macron said in a letter that he was looking forward to continuing the constructive cooperation aimed at deepening French-Hungarian relations.

He noted that Hungary will mark the 15th anniversary of joining the European Union next year.

Macron said he was also looking forward to working together with Viktor Orbán, and the other three Visegrád countries, in further building Europe and preserving its values.

The prime minister of Singapore, the patriarch of Antioch and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi also congratulated Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on his election win.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his letter highlighted Hungary’s good relations with the Asian city state as well as its stance favouring an EU-Singapore free trade agreement.

Singapore hopes to strengthen bilateral ties in trade, investment and education, the Hungarian prime minister’s press chief said, citing the letter.

Berlusconi, who also heads Italy’s Forza Italia party, congratulated Orbán in a letter saying “your exceptional election results  show the overwhelming consensus about your person and your party in Hungary”, Bertalan Havasi said. The Fidesz-Christian Democrat landslide win in the April 8 general election, when the ruling parties garnered a supermajority, was also a “win for the European People’s Party, which was in dire need of one,” it said. “I am also sure that cooperation between our countries will continue to expand,” he said.

Bechara Boutros Rai, the Patriarch of the Syriac Meronite Church of Antioch, in his letter praised Orbán’s “determination to keep your country close to [its] Christian roots” and the initiative offering grants to Christian youth from Syria to study in Hungary.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI