The Russian president expressed his hopes that despite the "difficult international situation," the two countries' partnership will be in line with the interests of the Hungarian and Russian public.Continue reading
Many European politicians have congratulated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance’s victory in Hungary’s general election.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa congratulated Orbán and Fidesz in a tweet “on this historic victory for Hungary, Europe and the entire free world.”
Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a press conference that the results of Hungary’s democratic election should be respected.
Regardless of our relations with Hungary, we must note that the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance won its fourth consecutive election with the best possible results, securing a two-thirds majority in the process,”
Concerning sanctions against Russia, the Polish prime minister said “Hungary should not be used as a diversion” by the media when Germany had delayed strong sanctions. The European Union is not hindered in imposing more stringent sanctions by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán but rather “by large countries looking out for their business ties,” he said, noting that Orbán had so far voted for all sanctions.
Answering a question, Morawiecki said he would ask Orbán to support even stricter sanctions against Russia.
Later on Monday, Czech President Milos Zeman wired a message of congratulation to Orbán, saying “the Hungarian people support you because you have always put their interests first, and see serving your country as a calling.”
He praised Hungarian-Czech cooperation and called for the Visegrad Group to be given high priority. “I am convinced that central Europe has great potential in bilateral and international cooperation,” he said.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said he hoped Hungary would “take a more active part” in finding a solution to the situation in Ukraine. “Europe has to be united in its support of Ukraine, where Russia is committing war crimes,” he said.
Former Slovak President Robert Fico, the head of the opposition Smer-SD party, said Orbán had “very clearly” built on Hungary’s independence and economic prosperity. Orbán puts Hungarian interests first, and did not allow the country to be “dragged into” the conflict in Ukraine, he said.
Fico said the election results in Hungary were “not surprising at all”, and he noted that during his presidency, he and Orbán had worked together to ensure stable Hungarian-Slovak ties.
Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, congratulated Orbán on his “remarkable victory”, saying Brussels needed to respect the will of the Hungarian voters.
She said “not even the disorderly election concourse of the entirety of the left and the … far right” had been enough to “defeat the Hungarian prime minister”. Meloni said Orbán had been criticized for years “for his policies of protecting the borders and the concept of the family”, but “no one has thanked him for the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees taken in over the last few weeks”.
Bertalan Havasi, the prime minister’s press chief, said later on Monday that numerous other heads of state and government have also congratulated Orbán. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him by phone on Monday, as did Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, and Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, he said.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic and French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, among others, published statements, he said.
President of the European Council Charles Michel has congratulated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the Fidesz party’s election win, the prime minister’s media chief said in a statement on Tuesday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also extended his compliments in the past couple of days, the statement said, adding that Herbert Kickl, head of Austria’s Freedom Party, and Martin Helme, head of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party, had also written congratulatory letters.
In the featured photo: PM Viktor Orbán with Slovenian PM Janez Jansa. Photo by Vivien Cher Benko/PM’s Press Office
