BUDAPEST: Donald Trump is ready to renew a conservative alliance with Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the US Republican presidential candidate said in a video message on Friday.
Orban has been one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe, where comments by the former US president suggesting he would not protect countries that failed to meet NATO defence spending commitments have raised nerves among leaders.
A new Trump presidency could ease US relations with Hungary, which has come under criticism by Washington for its close ties to Russia and foot-dragging over the ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession, which Budapest finally agreed to in February.
“I look forward to working closely with Prime Minister Orban once again when I take the oath of office as the 47th President of the United States,” Trump said, calling the Hungarian leader a “great man”.
Trump’s message was broadcast at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the United States’ most prominent conservative gathering, in Budapest, the third such CPAC event in Hungary.
The years of Trump’s presidency brought a closer relationship between the US and Hungary after previous administrations accused Orban’s government of curbing democratic freedoms, including press freedom and the independence of the judiciary.
