The US vice-president JD Vance is en route to Budapest this morning, where he is expected to support the embattled prime minister Viktor Orbán in the final days of the campaign before this weekend’s crucial parliamentary election in Hungary.
US vice-president JD Vance waves as he boards Air Force Two to depart for Budapest, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/APDeparting from Joint Base Andrews last night, JD Vance said he was looking forward to meeting his “friend Viktor,” and said that the pair would discuss not just the state of the US-Hungarian relations, but also broader issues on Europe and Ukraine.
Read moreHis visit is likely to be seen as somewhat unprecedented involvement in a foreign electoral campaign, highlighting the importance of Orbán – a regular critic of Brussels and Europe’s migration policies – for Maga worldview. In January, nearly a dozen rightwing leaders came together to endorse Orbán in a video and last month they attended a “Patriots” rally in Budapest.
But Orbán is also a rare Russian ally in Europe, who keeps blocking the EU’s support for Ukraine – including the latest €90bn loan – and stricter sanctions on Moscow as part of his escalating spat with Kyiv over energy supplies.
Read moreVance is expected to land in Budapest this morning before appearing alongside Orbán at a joint press conference around lunch and joining him for a rally on “the Hungarian-American Friendship Day” this afternoon.
There are, however, some doubts whether any of that is really going to help Orbán much as he continues to trail the opposition by some 10 percentage points as the campaign focuses on the government’s domestic record, including on the economy.
Read moreI will bring you all the lines from Budapest here.
Separately, the former French president and one time prison memoir writer Nicolas Sarkozy is back in court for his Libyan case appeal hearing, and the Danish coalition talks continue as they seek for a majority to form the next government.
It’s Tuesday, 7 April 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
