US vice-president JD Vance endorses Viktor Orbán ahead of Hungarian elections

A handful of days before Hungarians vote in elections that pit long-time leader Viktor Orbán against pro-European opposition candidate Péter Magyar, US Vice-President JD Vance travelled to Hungary to endorse Orbán and critique the EU.

Vance, giving a press conference beside Orbán, made a number of claims about the European Union, accusing it of “trying to destroy” Hungary’s economy, sabotaging the country’s energy independence and “driving up costs for Hungarian consumers”.

He didn’t hold back as he accused the EU of “one of the worst examples of election interference I have ever seen or ever even read about” during his trip to Budapest.

But several of Vance’s claims are misleading. EU News’ fact-checking team, The Cube, looked at the three biggest ones.

Is the EU trying to ‘destroy’ Hungary’s economy?

According to Vance, Brussels is “trying to destroy the economy of Hungary”.

But there is no evidence that the European Union is deliberately targeting Hungary’s economy, which remains a beneficiary of EU funding and integrated in the European single market.

What Vance may have been referring to is the fact that, as of early 2026, Brussels has frozen at least €17 billion worth of funds allocated to Hungary as part of the EU budget, over Budapest’s failure to implement sufficient reforms to combat long-standing rule of law breaches and misuse of public funds.

Some of these reforms include stemming corruption, improving judicial independence and public procurement processes.

The frozen funds are a central issue in Hungary’s election, with opposition parties pledging to unlock the money, which is estimated to be the equivalent of roughly 8% of Hungary’s GDP.

The conditions applied to Hungary are agreed by all member states and are designed to protect the EU budget, rather than punish specific economies.

It is also not permanent, and the funds can be released if Hungary meets the agreed reform conditions. Previously, Poland saw billions in EU recovery funds delayed over concerns about judicial reforms, although this money was eventually unlocked.

Is Brussels trying to make Hungary ‘less energy independent’?

Vance claimed the EU is undermining Hungary’s energy independence and increasing consumer costs, but the reality is more complex.

The remarks appear to refer to the EU’s push to diversify away from Russian crude oil, an endeavour that began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and that Hungary seems hesitant to undertake.

It also appears to refer to a dispute around the Druzhba pipeline — a key supplier of Russian oil to Hungary — which has been damaged since early 2026.

The damage has sparked a dispute between Hungary and Slovakia on one side and Ukraine on the other, with Budapest alleging Ukrainian sabotage and Kyiv blaming a Russian airstrike.

The European Union has sent an independent “fact-finding mission” to ascertain the cause of the damage.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU has sanctioned Russian energy, including a ban on seaborne oil. However, Hungary — along with Slovakia and Bulgaria — has been granted exemptions to continue pipeline imports.

Hungary remains highly dependent on Russian oil, which accounted for around 90% of its imports by 2025, according to the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), an independent think-tank based in Bulgaria.

In contrast, as part of long-term sanctions against Russia, European Union countries have all sought to diversify their fuel sources to wean EU economies off Russian oil.

But Hungary’s continued reliance on Russian crude is complex and controversial. Orbán argues that switching away from the Druzhba pipeline would raise costs, but critics argue that Hungary has been slow to diversify despite having viable alternative routes that could supply the country with non-Russian crude.

Whilst Russian crude is indeed roughly 20% cheaper than alternatives, the CSD’s analysis shows that this did not necessarily translate to lower prices for consumers, especially compared to neighbours in the Czech Republic, which reduced its imports of Russian crude.

Despite repeated claims that Russian imports would ensure low prices and energy security in Hungary, recent disruptions to the Druzhba pipeline, alongside turmoil in the Middle East, suggest the country has not benefited from its reliance on discounted Russian crude. Fuel prices in Hungary have risen in line with the rest of Europe amid global market instability.

Is Brussels dictating social media content for Hungarian voters?

Finally, Vance suggested that Brussels was directing social media content shown to Hungarian voters, implying EU interference in elections.

The vice president appeared to be targeting the Digital Services Act (DSA), in force since November 2022. The law is based on the principle that “what is illegal offline is also illegal online”.

It aims to curb the spread of illegal or harmful content and goods, including racist abuse, child sexual abuse material, disinformation, and the sale of drugs or counterfeit products.

In November 2025, the DSA led to a €120 million fine against X over advertising transparency, contributing to tensions between the EU and Washington.

The administration of President Donald Trump has formally opposed the DSA and has targeted EU officials over it. For example, on 23 December 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that former European Commissioner Thierry Breton — seen by the administration as the architect of the law — would be barred from entering the United States for allegedly forcing US social platforms to censor users.

Thomas Regnier, spokesperson for the European Commission, told The Cube that the DSA addresses risks linked to online platforms, recalling that “in Europe, elections are the sole choice of citizens”.

“Online platforms can be used to spread disinformation and manipulate citizens,” he said. “Because of our Digital Services Act, online platforms have to mitigate risks to protect our democracies. In Europe, elections are not the choice of Big Tech and their algorithms.”

Ahead of Hungary’s elections, accounts supporting Fidesz have also accused Meta of censoring Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Fidesz official Balázs Orbán claimed users were “unable to like Fidesz-related content”.

A spokesperson for the US tech company has hit back at these claims, telling The Cube there were “no restrictions on the [Hungarian] Prime Minister’s accounts” and that none of his posts had been removed.

Meta’s community standards, which determine whether content has a limited reach or is removed, are based on factors such as whether content is “hateful” or targets people for their race or sexual orientation, for example.

These, according to a Meta spokesperson, “apply equally to everybody”.