Hungarian PM Orbán got everything from the White House he could hope for
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US President Donald Trump and Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán met on Monday in the White House and discussed a range of issues including trade, energy and security. Experts say that though there are still many dividing issues regarding the two countries, Orbán can exploit the meeting in its domestic policy since instead of any critical remarks, he only received compliments from Trump.
Compliments and courting
Though direkt36, an investigative Hungarian news outlet wrote before the summit that the two leaders were going to announce high-value arms deals worth billion dollars (aircraft, missile system) as well as joint energy projects, nothing like that happened. During their yesterday joint appearance at the White House, Donald Trump complimented the Hungarian PM for what he has done regarding fighting illegal immigration and terrorism and helping Christian communities. Trump added that PM Orbán is probably like him, “a little bit controversial, but that’s OK …
you’ve done a good job, and you’ve kept your country safe“.
Furthermore, Trump praised Hungary’s commitment towards NATO and highlighted that Orbán is supported in Hungary and Europe. Moreover, he defended Orbán for undermining democratic institutions in Hungary and said that the Hungarian PM has issues with Brussels only because in the times of the migrant crisis he had done else than the rest of the EU.
Ideological similarities
Strategic director of the Republikon Institute, Csaba Tóth, said to HVG that it was the 15-minute-long meeting in itself that bore importance, and not things that were said. Managing director Péter Krekó of the Political Capital said that for Orbán it will be
easy to sell the summit as a domestic political success.
Krekó added that the meeting in itself signs a change in the US foreign policy since it was in 2001 for the last time the acting American president welcomed PM Viktor Orbán in Washington. Despite ideological similarities which the two leaders gladly talked about yesterday, there were no actual announcements and according to Csaba Tóth, for Trump Orbán is not a particularly important leader, just the least one among the leaders of the Visegrad Group.
Though Trump or Orbán announced no arms deals or energy agreements, Krekó believes that the main reason behind the summit was in connection with military and economic issues.
Regular meetings with Trump in the future?
Many were surprised that the Hungarian PM did not receive any critical remarks regarding his too close relationship with Moscow and Beijing; instead, Trump complimented him because of Hungary’s commitment towards NATO. However, experts agree that hot topics between Washington and Budapest like calling the headquarters of the Russian International Investment Bank to Budapest, cooperation with Chinese Huawei, or the conflict between Ukraine and Hungary remained on the table. Krekó said that in this regard worries expressed by both Republican and Democrat congressmen/congresswomen in letters before the meeting still exist.
