US Vice-President JD Vance has insisted he was right to stage a two-day campaign visit to back Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán five days before he was voted out of office by opposition party Tisza's landslide victory.
Insisting Orbán was a 'great guy' who did a 'very good job', Vance told Fox News he was 'one of the few European leaders we've seen who's been willing to stand up to the bureaucracy in Brussels'. While he was sad Orbán had lost, he was sure the US would 'work very well' with the new government.
Péter Magyar, who led Tisza to victory, had been critical of Vance's intervention, warning last week that 'no foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections'. However, he remarked that the US is a 'strong and important' NATO partner and if President Donald Trump or anyone else called him, he would talk to them.
Orbán will continue to run Hungary in a caretaker role until Magyar is sworn in, and the three party leaders with seats in parliament have been invited to meet President Tamás Sulyok on Wednesday. Sulyok has the task of convening Hungary's new parliament and recommending the next prime minister by 12 May, and Magyar has urged him to do that as soon as possible and then resign, calling him a 'puppet' of Orbán's government.
Magyar has suggested that he could become prime minister on 5 May, or even sooner. Sulyok's office has made clear to Hungarian media he will not resign, however he is expected to discuss with the three party leaders when to convene the National Assembly and propose a new prime minister.
Top of Magyar's priorities will be to unlock billions of euros in EU funding and loans that were frozen due to a variety of issues such as rule of law and democratic backsliding under Orbán. An estimated €17bn (£14.8bn) has been suspended, and Hungary is waiting for €16bn more to be approved in defense loans. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had spoken to Magyar on Tuesday and noted there was 'swift work to be done to restore the rule of law and realign with our shared European values'.
Meanwhile, EU leaders are pushing for Hungary to overturn a veto imposed by Orbán on €90bn in aid to Ukraine in the weeks leading up to the election. Magyar, however, has made clear he does not consider the veto to be relevant, as Hungary was one of three countries that opted out of the loan to Ukraine last December.
Insisting Orbán was a 'great guy' who did a 'very good job', Vance told Fox News he was 'one of the few European leaders we've seen who's been willing to stand up to the bureaucracy in Brussels'. While he was sad Orbán had lost, he was sure the US would 'work very well' with the new government.
Péter Magyar, who led Tisza to victory, had been critical of Vance's intervention, warning last week that 'no foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections'. However, he remarked that the US is a 'strong and important' NATO partner and if President Donald Trump or anyone else called him, he would talk to them.
Orbán will continue to run Hungary in a caretaker role until Magyar is sworn in, and the three party leaders with seats in parliament have been invited to meet President Tamás Sulyok on Wednesday. Sulyok has the task of convening Hungary's new parliament and recommending the next prime minister by 12 May, and Magyar has urged him to do that as soon as possible and then resign, calling him a 'puppet' of Orbán's government.
Magyar has suggested that he could become prime minister on 5 May, or even sooner. Sulyok's office has made clear to Hungarian media he will not resign, however he is expected to discuss with the three party leaders when to convene the National Assembly and propose a new prime minister.
Top of Magyar's priorities will be to unlock billions of euros in EU funding and loans that were frozen due to a variety of issues such as rule of law and democratic backsliding under Orbán. An estimated €17bn (£14.8bn) has been suspended, and Hungary is waiting for €16bn more to be approved in defense loans. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had spoken to Magyar on Tuesday and noted there was 'swift work to be done to restore the rule of law and realign with our shared European values'.
Meanwhile, EU leaders are pushing for Hungary to overturn a veto imposed by Orbán on €90bn in aid to Ukraine in the weeks leading up to the election. Magyar, however, has made clear he does not consider the veto to be relevant, as Hungary was one of three countries that opted out of the loan to Ukraine last December.
