Trump hands Viktor Orbán a win as Hungary locks exemption for Russian energy imports

For Viktor Orbán, his visit to Washington was more than just an ordinary meeting.

The Hungarian Prime Minister arrived in Washington with a 180-strong delegation and high hopes, counting on his friendship with US President Donald Trump to secure an exemption to buy Russian oil and a public endorsement ahead of April’s election.

In that sense, he got both.

Trump called him a “great leader” and a friend. He also handed Hungary a one-year exemption to keep buying Russian oil after the US imposed sweeping sanctions on Russian energy last month out of frustration for the lack of progress in peace negotiations. The exemption means that Hungary will continue to buy Russian fuels through the Druzhba and South Stream pipelines just as Orbán wanted.

“Orbán will be very happy about the outcome of his visit to Washington. In the short term, he seems to have gotten out of it with pretty much everything he wanted,” Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at Bruegel told Euronews after the meeting.

An ‘election gift’ to Orbán ahead of tight campaign

Hungary has long argued that it needs Russian energy as it a landlocked country with no access to the sea or secondary ports. Still, the European Union has been pushing member states to find alternative routes and providers to fully unplug from Russian energy as it generates income for Russia to continue its war against Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the EU has exempted Hungary from oil sanctions since the war started in 2022, which still allows Budapest to import Russian energy. The exemptions granted by the US to Hungary align with those that already apply from the EU’s side.

The US has urged all European nations to stop buying Russian energy. US NATO officials said in the run-up to the meeting that the goal remains unchanged: Hungary will have to stop importing Russian energy in the medium term and insisted there are alternative providers beyond Moscow.

The exemption granted by Trump may respond to political motivations, rather than an actual problem of supply, as the two are closely aligned on their political views.

Hungary is set to hold parliamentary elections next April, pitting Orbán against a much younger, conservative candidate Peter Magyar who is campaigning on a platform denouncing the government’s poor economic track record and the cost-of-living crisis.

“Trump is giving Orbán a political and economic lifeline ahead of the election. The exemption is for one year just as the campaign is starting,” he said. “Mr. Orbán will now be able to campaign saying he is best buddies with Trump and presumably avoid further energy prices increases which could help with inflation in the near term.”

During the US election campaign, Orbán was the only European leader to openly support Trump and the first one to congratulate him on his election victory in November last year.

The US President has returned the favour by referring to Orbán as a “great leader, a good friend, and a strong man.”

The two leaders’ political agendas align in many areas.

Both have made migration a key focus of their domestic policy, and the two have denounced what they call “gender ideology” and “woke” policies.

Hungarian ‘compensation helped to convince’ Trump

At the White House, Prime Minister Orbán announced that his country will purchase US liquified natural gas (LNG) worth 600 million dollars, and nuclear fuel for its Paks nuclear plant.

Hungary also signed a declaration of intent for a future purchase of small-sized nuclear reactors from the United States, signaling the exemption – beyond the politics – did not come for free.

“When you go to Donald Trump and ask for something, you have to bring gifts. That is how the American president works,” Kirkegaard of the Bruegel think tank added. “If you want something from me, you have to pay. That how the President views the world. He applies that to all of Europe, to Ukraine, and even his friends like Orbán.

Orbán blames Europe in front of Trump

In October, Trump announced a US-Russia summit would take place in Budapest but later called it off on the basis that Moscow’s maximalist demands meant it was not ready for serious peace talks, which the US argues will take compromise from both sides.

The meeting has been indefinitely postponed, and it is not clear whether it will take place at all. When meeting Orbán, President Trump did not give any indication that the Budapest summit will be happening any time soon despite repeated calls from Hungary suggested that the meeting is necessary and they are ready to host it.

Orbán did, however, attack the Europeans.

He told Trump in front of the cameras that his “peace efforts are splendid” but the issue continues to be the European leadership. He argued that “the problem is Brussels and the Europeans…they prefer to continue the war because they still think Ukraine can win on the battlefield. They have misunderstood the situation.”

In October, the European Council, which hosts the 27 leaders of the EU, said “we will continue contributing to peace efforts, with the Coalition of the Willing (of which Hungary is not a party) and in cooperation with the United States. We reiterate our support to a comprehensive, fair and lasting peace in Ukraine.”

In the same meeting, European leaders including the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron said Russia had intensified its attacks on civil infrastructure and Ukrainian civilians “demonstrating a lack of political willingness to engage in meaningful talks” towards peace.

Orbán’s EU and Ukraine position unchanged after the meeting

Orbán is alone in blocking Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union and its accession talks.

The Hungarian Prime Minister argues that the country should not become a member of the Union, restricting itself to a “strategic partnership with the EU, on the basis that it could be detrimental economically for the bloc and incorporate the war.

Ukraine has repeatedly said it understands it cannot join while the war is ongoing, but the reforms and technical work attached to the process should go ahead. The European Commission said this week the country is “technically prepared” to open up clusters, a step required in negotiations, as soon as this month.

In an interview with Euronews this week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would not make direct concessions to Orbán, arguing instead that Budapest should recognize that Ukraine is “protecting all of Europe, and even during this war, we did not get any support from him or our vision of life” as a sovereign, free European nation.

So far, there is no indication that Orbán will change his position.

European leaders are due to gather in Brussels for their final European Council meeting in December where the issue of an unprecedented reparations for Ukraine using the Russian frozen assets held in Europe will be top of the agenda.