Hungary's Orban hails Trump as 'president of peace' after US meeting

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reiterated his admiration for former US president Donald Trump after they met in Florida on Friday, endorsing him as a "president of peace."

"We Hungarians have only one thing to do, and that is to admit honestly: The world would be better and it would be better for Hungary if Mr. President Donald Trump were to return [to power]," Orban said in comments dubbed over video footage of him visiting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach.

During Trump's time in office, there was peace in the Middle East and Ukraine, and these wars would not exist today if he were leading the United States, Orban said in a message posted on Facebook.

Trump had "offered respect in the world and thus created the conditions for peace," according to Orban. He also expressed the hope that his return to the White House would revive bilateral trade relations.

Trump is seeking re-election for a second term for the Republican Party in US presidential elections scheduled for November.

At a campaign appearance in Pennsylvania on Friday evening, the incumbent US President Joe Biden mocked the fact that Trump was meeting the very head of government from Europe "who's stated flatly that he doesn't thinks democracy works."

Orban's Facebook post contained footage without sound of his meeting held at Trump's luxurious Florida estate.

The two later planned to have dinner together and listen to a concert, said Orban's spokesman Bertalan Havasi, according to the Hungarian news agency MTI. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó was also present.

Before their meeting, Orban also made an appearance at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington and met with Trump's former chief advisor, the right-wing publicist Steve Bannon.

Trump and Orban regularly praise each other publicly. Orban, in power in Hungary since 2010, was the only EU leader to openly declare his support for Trump even before his election as president in 2016.

The two populists have much in common politically, with Bannon once referring to the Hungarian as "Trump before Trump."

Trump has in the past openly expressed his admiration for a number of authoritarian leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Orban also maintains good relations with Putin and only half-heartedly supports the West's sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, launched in 2022.