Over the past 16 years prime minister Viktor Orbán has turned Hungary into what he calls an ‘illiberal democracy’, using a parliamentary supermajority to effect constitutional control over institutions, targeting minorities, political opponents and the independent media in the process.

Yet in spite of this power, he is projected to potentially lose the popular vote at the upcoming election, the most critical in Europe this year.

See our On the Ground video report from Hungary for more on the election:

Despite JD Vance’s backing for Viktor Orbán, the opposition leader Péter Magyar continues to focus on another part of the vice-president’s comments earlier as he tries to put out a positive message.

Responding to Vance’s public commitment that the US administration was ready to work with “whoever” wins the election on Sunday, he says that his Tisza government would “regard the United States as a key partner, both as a Nato ally and as an economic partner.”

The new government “would be pleased to welcome the president and the vice-president to Budapest on the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956” in October, he says.

1h ago14.33 BST

Lisa O’Carroll

US vice-president JD Vance has accused the EU of making a “huge mistake” cutting off oil and natural gas from “the East” since the war in Ukraine and said they should have followed the “policies” of Viktor Orbán.

What are the facts?

In 2022, Orbán has successfully got special exemptions from EU sanctions on Russian energy – from the very leaders Vance is criticising.

The purpose of the EU derogation was to allow Hungary time to reduce its reliance on Russian oil and natural gas imports at a time when the world, including G7 countries, were imposing sanctions on Russian energy exports.

A report out last month shows that rather than reducing, Hungary’s reliance on Russia has increased, now accounting for 93% of the country’s crude oil imports compared to 61% in 2021, according to the Center for the Study of Democracy.

Gas supplies from Gazprom were effectively cut off in 2022 in a separate dispute with Russia.

Imports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) controversially continued to be allowed with the EU only agreeing this January to a ban beginning of 2027.

In fact the US has became the world’s largest LNG supplier in 2023 due to the Ukraine war.

Under threat of punishing tariffs, that in some eyes amounted to bullying, the EU cemented US supplies to the bloc last year agreeing to buy $750bn worth of energy from the US up to 2028 as part of the EU-US trade deal.

Faced with accusations that it was turning its back on net zero emission targets, officials privately pointed out that the deal was “only” for three years after which imports of LNG would likely reduce dramatically from the US.

The US’s war on Iran has, ironically, given a 2026 unexpected boost to the greening of energy with European capitals waking up to the urgent need to electrify cars, factories and homes.

2h ago13.45 BST

JD Vance criticises alleged EU interference in Hungarian elections as he effectively endorses Orbán with some interference of his own – snap analysis

Jakub Krupa

That was quite something.

The US vice-president JD Vance has just repeatedly criticised allegedly unprecedented and “disgraceful” foreign interference in the Hungarian parliamentary election, while effectively strongly endorsing Viktor Orbán to win the vote on Sunday in what critics will no doubt see as his very own interference with the country’s electoral process.

Without skipping a beat, he smoothly moved from lambasting European “bureaucrats” for “one of the worst examples of foreign election interference” he has ever seen (14:09) and accusing them of trying to “destroy the economy of Hungary” to saying he is “here to help him in this election campaign” and that and he was expecting him to win the vote on Sunday (14:26).

Lavishing praise on the embattled prime minister, he argued that he sees in Orbán someone who “ferociously advocated” for his country, “stands up for the values of western civilisation” (14:04), and is generally right on all sorts of things from energy (14:01) to Ukraine (14:05, 14:15).

But it is the stark contradiction at the very heart of his criticism of “foreign interference” that will no doubt raise eyebrows elsewhere in Europe.

His repeated attacks on “Brussels” and Ukraine (14:19) – two of Orbán’s favourite enemies in this campaign – are likely to raise further alarm among other EU leaders as they need to figure out how to respond to this new crazy world of the US vice-president not-at-all-interfering-with-the-vote in an EU member state.

Vance also gets asked how the military goals in Iran can be achieved if the US continues its attacks on the country.

He also gets asked about reports about US attacks on Kharg Island, and he says the plan was to hit “some military targets” there and “I believe we have done so.”

“The president’s deadline is has been followed by us and everybody else. And he said very clearly, we’re not going to strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don’t make a proposal. But he’s given them until Tuesday at 8:00. So I don’t think the news and Kharg Island, is represents a change in strategy or represents any change from the president.”

He then jokes about Iran leaders being “not the fastest negotiators,” but says he hopes to get an answer by 8pm deadline.

And that ends the press conference.

JD Vance gets asked if the US administration would work with another Hungarian government too.

He says they would, but adds:

“Viktor Orbán is going to win the next election in Hungary, so I feel very confident about that and about our continued positive relationship.”

He then turns to Orbán and asks “Viktor, is that right?”

Delighted Orbán says: “That’s the plan.”

Travelling US reporters then ask JD Vance about his views on Iran.

He says there are “clear two pathways for Iran.”

“I think pathway one is where the Iranians decide they’re going to be a normal country. They’re not going to fund terrorism any more. They’re going to be part of the world system of commerce and exchange. And that’s going to mean much better things for them economically. … Option B is that the Iranians don’t come to the table and they stay committed to terrorism, to terrorising their neighbours, not just Israel, but of course their Arab neighbours too. Then the the economic situation in Iran is going to continue to be very, very bad and frankly, it will probably get worse.”

He says the US deadline expires in “about 12 hours from now” and “we are going to find out” what’s next then.

JD Vance then pivots to discuss what’s next for Ukraine as he says:

“I really believe it’s in the best interest of Ukraine, the best interests in Europe and Hungary, the best interests of the United States for this war to come to as rapid of a close as possible.”

He also says the EU made a “huge mistake” by cutting itself off from oil and natural gas from the East.

“The seeds of this conflict were actually planted well before the fighting started, and they were planted when European leaders decided that they were going to go so deep into a particular energy economy that they were going to cut themselves off from oil and natural gas that came from the East.

That was a huge mistake then, and it’s obvious that it’s a huge mistake now.

And it’s funny when I hear people accuse, you know, my president, for example, of being pro-Russia. My president has done more to to help Europe out with energy and liquid natural gas than anybody in the world, which weakens Russia because we would love our allies and our friends to pursue smart energy policies so their consumers can pay less money. But also when, God forbid, there’s a conflict, they can rely on us rather than another country for the energy that they need.

So it’s so funny to me that very often, the very people who accuse this or that leader of being pro-Russia are the very people who created an energy weak economy in Europe to begin with.”

He says the US wants “the killing to stop” and “get back to commerce” with Ukraine and Russia.

A Hungarian journalist now plays up Orbán’s attack lines on Ukraine, alleging all sorts of Ukrainian involvement in the US campaign and other attacks on conservatives.

JD Vance in response says that the US is “certainly aware that there are elements within the Ukrainian intelligence services that try to put their thumb on the scale of American elections, [or] on Hungarian elections, this is just what they do.”

Amazingly, he also condemns “people in the Ukrainian system who were campaigning with Democrats literally in the weeks before the presidential election,” while literally standing next to Viktor Orbán doing the very same thing in the Hungarian election.

The press conference turns towards Ukraine, with Orbán repeating his readiness to host a potential future summit on peace talks with Russia.

In response, JD Vance says the US “don’t like the war, we want it to stop” as he talks about how difficult this has proved to be so far.

He says:

“The question is, how do you make it stop? And the answer is not by politicians who stand up microphones and beat their chests and act tough when somebody else’s children are going off to fight in a conflict; you do it through sustained diplomacy.”

He says Orbán “has been better than anybody at helping us understand what is it that the Ukrainians need and what is it that the Russians need to achieve peace.”

“Viktor has been a great part of it, which is why the president asked him about the Budapest summit, because I think [if] we’re ever going to get these leaders together, this is the perfect place to do it, a place of real statesmanship, a place that has shown itself very willing to be a positive force for peace.

Amazingly, Vance then launches a tirade against “one of the worst examples of foreign election interference that I have ever seen,” lambasting “the bureaucrats in Brussels [who] have tried to destroy the economy of Hungary.”

“They’ve done it all because they hate this guy,” he says, calling their involvement “disgraceful.”

In a completely-not-interfering-with-the-vote-tone-at-all, he tells the Hungarian voters they should consider “not who is pro- or anti-Europe, who is pro- or anti-US, but who is pro-you and pro- the people of Hungary.”

“And my experience, I have seen a guy who is ferociously advocated for the interests of Hungary,” he says.

Without a hint of response to apparent contradiction at the very heart of his comments, he then ends his long praise for Orbán saying:

“Part of the reason why we’re here, and part of the reason why the president, the United States sent me here is because we think the amount of interference that’s come from the bureaucracy in Brussels has been truly disgraceful. I won’t tell the people of Hungary how to vote. I would encourage the bureaucrats in Brussels to do the exact same thing.”