As Hungary undergoes an extensive policy remodeling after 16 years under the leadership of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, much focus has been on the new administration's efforts to uproot corruption, liberalize state institutions and rebuild ties with European allies. This effort by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who bested the longtime right-wing populist incumbent in an April election, has prompted a deluge of comparisons to a potential U.S. blueprint for a post-Trump era in the United States.
But as Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orbán—no relation to the former prime minister—told Newsweek, pursuing close ties with Trump would be one of several areas spared from the new government's major overhaul. "The relationship between the two countries is solid," Anita Orbán said during an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "The main alliance, which provides the framework, is, of course, NATO.
So, the new Hungarian government aims to have an intensive, solid partnership with the U.S. administration." "We thankfully also inherited a couple of agreements or proposals or MOUs negotiated between the previous administration and the Trump administration," she added. "We are looking into all those, and we aim to progress with all those." The comments came amid strained ties between Trump and a number of European countries which have been subject to frequent bouts of criticism from the White House. Since assuming office for a second non-consecutive term last January, Trump has accelerated rhetoric targeting trans-Atlantic allies with accusations of contributing too little on defense, maintaining unfair economic policies and pursuing harmful stances on immigration and other social issues.
Until earlier this year, Viktor Orbán stood as an outlier who largely aligned with Trump's worldview. The former prime minister and his administration regularly charged the European Union with seeking a globalist, federalist agenda that would undermine Hungary's sovereignty and argued that European NATO members were prolonging the war in Ukraine launched by Russia, with which the former Hungarian administration cultivated strong ties. The Trump administration openly threw its weight behind Viktor Orbán's re-election, with Vice President JD Vance traveling to Budapest to support his campaign days before the vote.
After the outcome, Trump said he "wasn’t that involved" in the effort to keep his ally in office, though he referred to Viktor Orbán as "a good man." Trump used the same description for Magyar, telling reporters at the time that "I think the new man's going to do a good job — he's a good man." Now, Anita Orbán said there was reason to believe the two countries would continue to find common ground as "we aim to have the same institutional, solid relationship" enjoyed under the previous administration. "In terms of values, we are aligned in quite many things," Anita Orbán said. "We are a conservative government, very much pro-faith.
We are very strong on protecting children and families." Another key area she highlighted was the ongoing effort to tackle illegal migration, one of Viktor Orbán's strongest areas of alignment with Trump. "We will be strongly defending all borders and fences," Anita Orbán added. "So, the mandate of the electorate that the Tisza government received is overwhelming, it's resounding, but we need to be very clear where the mandate is continuity and where the mandate is change, even 180 degrees change." The Magyar administration's efforts to strike the right balance on its transformation of Hungarian politics also intersects with a sensitive debate on the degree to which the EU and other institutions would exert influence within the Central European nation being welcomed back into the fold.
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