Viktor Orbán celebrated by Europe’s far right before Hungary election

Original article by Flora Garamvolgyi in Budapest and Jon Henley

Marine Le Pen has called Viktor Orbán “an exceptional leader” and Geert Wilders hailed “a lion on a continent led by sheep” as Europe’s far-right figureheads rallied round Hungary’s prime minister before an election that polls suggest he may lose.

“Hungary has become a symbol in Europe of a proud and sovereign people’s resistance against oppression,” Le Pen, the parliamentary leader of France’s National Rally (RN), told a gathering of EU-sceptical leaders in Budapest on Monday.

“Hungary has achieved this status under the leadership of none other than prime minister Viktor Orbán,” said Le Pen, a frontrunner in France’s 2027 presidential vote if she wins an appeal against a conviction in a graft case. She praised Orbán’s “intelligence, courage and vision”.

Wilders, the head of the far-right Dutch Freedom party (PVV), told the so-called Patriots’ Grand Assembly – named after the nationalists’ political group in the European parliament – that Orbàn had “shown what it means to stand tall”.

The Hungarian prime minister “knows that a leader’s first duty is to his own people, not to distant elite and certainly not to unelected Brussels bureaucrats”, said Wilders, whose party lost to the liberal-progressive D66 in last year’s Dutch elections.

He said Hungary had become “something extraordinary” during Orbàn’s 16 years in power. “And that is why the Brussels bureaucrats want … another prime minister. One who bows. One who obeys. And one who does not put Hungary first.”

Orbán has long been at loggerheads with the EU over a range of issues including attacks on the rule of law. In defiance of Brussels, he has remained friendly with Moscow, refuses to send weapons to Ukraine and insists Kyiv cannot join the bloc.

He is running a classic populist campaign, arguing that a vote for him will preserve Hungary as “an island of security and tranquillity” whereas victory for his rival, Péter Magyar, whom he paints as an agent of Brussels and Kyiv, would mean chaos and war.

Polls suggest the centre-right Magyar and his Tisza party could outscore Orbàn’s Fidesz by between nine and 11 percentage points in the parliamentary election on 12 April, which is likely to be the most consequential vote for Europe this year.

Leading rightwing figures including Santiago Abascal of Spain’s Vox, André Ventura of Portugal’s Chega and Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS) attended a weekend national-conservative Cpac Hungary conference in Budapest.

They were joined on Monday by Le Pen, Wilders, Matteo Salvini of Italy’s League and others. Salvini said he believed voters would “make their decision with pride and with Hungary’s interests in mind” in next month’s election.

“Their choice will be about preserving self-determination, maintaining a thousand-year Christian identity, Hungarian families, secure borders, and a future where their children will be able to decide for themselves,” the Italian deputy prime minister said.

Budapest must not become a capital “that is obedient to Brussels” and Hungary must “remain proud and in control of its own destiny”, Salvini said, leading the crowd in a chant of “Viktor, Viktor, Viktor!”

On Saturday Donald Trump endorsed Orbán, saying in a video message to the Cpac conference that the illiberal prime minister, who has been trailing Magyar in the polls for more than a year, was a “fantastic guy”.

Trump, who also backed Orbán on social media last month, said he had been a strong leader who had “shown the entire world what’s possible when you defend your borders, your culture, your heritage, your sovereignty and your values”. “I hope he wins, and I hope he wins big,” he said.

Media reports had previously suggested that the US vice-president, JD Vance, would attend the Budapest gathering, but Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, said last week that Vance’s visit would take place in early April instead.