Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will hold talks with former US President Donald Trump on Thursday, Bloomberg has reported, citing sources.
After Hungary took up the European Council's rotating presidency this month, Orban embarked on a “peace mission” to Ukraine, and a week later held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
According to the Bloomberg report, Orban will meet Trump at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort immediately after the conclusion of the NATO summit in Washington. Neither Trump’s campaign representatives not the Hungarian government have commented on the report.
The Hungarian premier has been an enthusiastic supporter of Trump and backs the Republican frontrunner's 2024 candidacy. A vocal critic of the EU’s stance on the Ukraine conflict and a proponent of a diplomatic solution, Orban said last month that there would be a greater chance of reaching a peace deal if Trump wins the presidential election in November. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he will “end this war within 24 hours,” if elected.
Bloomberg sources described the reported meeting as an informal get-together, with one claiming that Trump had not asked Orban to lay the groundwork for Russia-Ukraine peace talks. However, it is expected that the issue will be discussed.
Earlier this week, Orban said he is seeking a resolution of the Ukraine crisis by holding talks with the “five main actors” in the conflict – including Ukraine, Russia, China, the EU and the US. Apart from meeting Putin, he has also held talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
While many EU and NATO officials have disavowed Orban’s diplomatic tour, claiming it was “unhelpful” for the peace process and for Ukraine, the Hungarian prime minister dismissed the criticism and said he was “helping Europe” with his efforts to bring the conflict parties to the negotiating table. He has acknowledged, however, that he does not possess enough political power to have a significant impact on the conflict, which should be solved by others, including the new US leadership.
Orban’s efforts have so far failed to result in any significant change to the peace process. Following his meetings with Zelensky and Putin, the Hungarian premier concluded that Moscow’s and Kiev’s positions on a solution to the conflict remain very “far apart.” However, after meeting Xi earlier this week, he noted that both Moscow and Beijing foresee peace talks before the end of 2024.