Vance repeatedly praises Orbán on Ukraine as he acknowledges his ‘unprecedented’ Budapest visit
Praising Orbán further, Vance says he “does a good job, because he does,” and is a “very, very important partner for peace.”
He says “most of the European political capitals have not been nearly as helpful to the cause of peace between Russia and Ukraine as Viktor Orbán has.”
He repeatedly rejects EU criticism of Orbán’s Hungary as a “scandal.”
He eventually acknowledges how unusual it is for him to be here, though:
“It’s the reason why I’m here. This is unprecedented. It’s unprecedented for an American vice-president to come the week before an election.
The reason why we’re doing it is because we thought there were so much garbage happening against Viktor in this election, that we had to show that there are actually a lot of people and a lot of friends across the world who recognise that Viktor and his government are doing a good job, and they’re important partners for peace.”
Circling back to the issue of Ukraine, Vance says the US has been “disappointed by a lot of the political leadership in Europe,” who he says “do not seem particularly interested in solving this particular conflict.”
He says only some leaders have been helpful – he namechecks Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and “some of the western European capitals, … at least behind the scenes” – but says Orbán “is the one who has encouraged us to truly understand this” conflict.
He says the work will go on, but Ukraine and Russia need to decide to move, too – seemingly implying that Kyiv should make territorial concessions to end the conflict.
“What I would say to both the Russians and the Ukrainians is, you know, we’re talking about haggling at this point over a few square kilometres of territory in one direction or another. Is that worth losing hundreds of thousands of additional Russian and Ukrainian young men? Is that worth an additional months or even years of higher energy prices and economic devastation?
We think the answer is clearly no. But it takes, you know, two to tango. So while Viktor and president Trump are going to continue to work towards a peaceful settlement, fundamentally we can only open the door. The Russians and the Ukrainians have to walk through it.”
Key events
Iran truce is ‘fragile,’ JD Vance says, as he hints at disagreements within Iranian regime and warns against attempts to sabotage deal
On Iran, JD Vance says this is why he was late to the meeting as he was “up very late last night” dealing with the Middle East.
He says the military aim in Iran – or “decimating the Iranian military” – has been “achieved,” and the focus shifted to re-opening the straits with Trump telling Iran to “stop trying to hold the world’s economy hostage.”
“And that’s exactly the agreement that we came to last night.”
He calls the truce “fragile,” but references Trump’s comments that “the Iranians are better negotiators than they are fighters.”
He says some people in Iran replied “very favourable” to the proposed truce, but others “are basically lying about what we have accomplished militarily” and “about the nature of the agreement.”
“This is why I say this is a fragile truce. You have people who clearly want to come to the negotiating table and work with us to find a good deal, and then you have people who are lying about even the fragile truce that we’ve already struck.”
He ends with a thinly veiled warning to the Iranian leadership:
“The president … has told me and he’s told the entire negotiating team, the secretary of state, the special envoy, Steve Witkoff, he said: go and work in good faith to come to an agreement. … If the Iranians are willing, in good faith, to work with us, I think we can make an agreement; if they’re going to lie, if they’re going to cheat, if they’re going to try to prevent even the fragile truce that we’ve set up from taking place, then they’re not going to be happy.”
He says:
“He’s told us to come to the negotiating table. But if the Iranians don’t do the exact same thing, they’re going to find out that the president, the United States, is not one to mess around.
He’s impatient. He’s impatient to make progress. He has told us to negotiate in good faith. And I think if they negotiate in good faith, we will be able to find a deal. That’s a big if. And ultimately it’s up to the Iranians how they negotiate. I hope they make the right decision.”
JD Vance criticises EU and UK energy policies
Repeating his lines from last night, Vance also talks about how much he and the US administration love Europe and want it to succeed and that this is where they harsh criticism come from.
He specifically criticises the energy policies of European partners, including specifically that of the UK (“which is way underinvested in their energy resources”).
He says:
“But is it a scandal that middle class Brits, that people who are working hard and playing by the rules, can’t afford to heat their home, can’t afford to transport themselves to work because their leadership has made energy so expensive? …
It is not magical that the United States has lower energy costs in the United Kingdom. It’s because we’ve made smart decisions and their leadership is not. They could change course, and we hope that they will.”
He then turns to criticise the EU’s scrutiny of US social media platforms, attacking the bloc’s “bureaucracy” in Brussels.
Vance repeatedly praises Orbán on Ukraine as he acknowledges his ‘unprecedented’ Budapest visit
Praising Orbán further, Vance says he “does a good job, because he does,” and is a “very, very important partner for peace.”
He says “most of the European political capitals have not been nearly as helpful to the cause of peace between Russia and Ukraine as Viktor Orbán has.”
He repeatedly rejects EU criticism of Orbán’s Hungary as a “scandal.”
He eventually acknowledges how unusual it is for him to be here, though:
“It’s the reason why I’m here. This is unprecedented. It’s unprecedented for an American vice-president to come the week before an election.
The reason why we’re doing it is because we thought there were so much garbage happening against Viktor in this election, that we had to show that there are actually a lot of people and a lot of friends across the world who recognise that Viktor and his government are doing a good job, and they’re important partners for peace.”
Circling back to the issue of Ukraine, Vance says the US has been “disappointed by a lot of the political leadership in Europe,” who he says “do not seem particularly interested in solving this particular conflict.”
He says only some leaders have been helpful – he namechecks Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and “some of the western European capitals, … at least behind the scenes” – but says Orbán “is the one who has encouraged us to truly understand this” conflict.
He says the work will go on, but Ukraine and Russia need to decide to move, too – seemingly implying that Kyiv should make territorial concessions to end the conflict.
“What I would say to both the Russians and the Ukrainians is, you know, we’re talking about haggling at this point over a few square kilometres of territory in one direction or another. Is that worth losing hundreds of thousands of additional Russian and Ukrainian young men? Is that worth an additional months or even years of higher energy prices and economic devastation?
We think the answer is clearly no. But it takes, you know, two to tango. So while Viktor and president Trump are going to continue to work towards a peaceful settlement, fundamentally we can only open the door. The Russians and the Ukrainians have to walk through it.”
In further comments, Vance says it’s “darkly ironic that people are accusing me of engaging in some kind of foreign influence.”
Erm.
Jakub Krupa
JD Vance literally says that the Hungarians should “reject these foreign influence operations” of foreign endorsements without even a hint of realising the irony of sitting and making that comment while actively campaigning for Orbán in Budapest four days before the election.
Amazing.
Oh, you can see where this is going to go.
In his second question, the moderator tries to bait JD Vance into criticising Ukraine, as the chair asks about what he says are “Ukrainian intelligence services attempting to influence” elections in the US or Hungary.
He begins by making a reference to recent deeply controversial comments from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy who appeared to threaten to “give this person’s address to our armed forces” while speaking about Orbán in comments at a government meeting.
He says Zelenskyy’s comments were “completely scandalous,” and “preposterous.”
He then turns to the main theme of his visit, talking about what he sees as foreign interference in the Hungarian election.
He makes this argument:
“I’ve also been told that the vice-president of the United States coming and saying that Viktor Orbán is doing a good job and is a helpful statesman to the cause of peace, that’s foreign influence.
But what’s not foreign influence is when the European Union threatens billions of dollars withheld from Hungary because you guys protect your borders; that’s apparently not foreign influence.
What’s not foreign influence is when the Ukrainians shut down pipelines, causing suffering among the Hungarian people in an effort to influence an election that’s allegedly not foreign influence.
It doesn’t pass the smell test.”
He says the US “have never threatened Hungary, saying, if you don’t vote for Viktor Orbán, you are not going to get this and that.”
He goes on to say:
“We would never do that because we respect the Hungarian people enough to respect their sovereignty. The fact that so many foreign actors, whether they’re transnational organisations like the bureaucrats in Brussels or whether it’s foreign governments, are literally threatening the Hungarian people vote this way or we’re going to exact our revenge on you – that should make you very angry.”
But still, he repeats his endorsement of Orbán as he says that the defence of Hungary’s sovereignty needs “the Hungarian people … reject these foreign influence operations, vote for who they want to be their leader, reject the Brussels bureucrats.”
The event begins with JD Vance praising the MCC, as he says he is here after a personal request from Viktor Orbán to come and speak to its students.
He goes straight into his usual criticism of what he sees as left-wing elites saying “so much of the academia has tried to destroy the foundations of western civilisation,” so “you can actually have an institution that tries to build up the foundations of western civilisation.”
Jakub Krupa
Here we go.
The Budapest event with JD Vance now gets under way.
I will obviously bring you all the key lines here.
Vance’s whirlwind visit may not help Orbán to the election victory he craves — analysis
Ashifa Kassam
in Budapest
As we are still waiting for JD Vance to show up at the MCC, you may want to read this analysis from our own Ashifa Kassam who is in Budapest and following the US VP’s activities in the Hungarian capital.
Here is her take on the events of the last 24 hours:
“Vance’s visit thrusts the US administration into a hard-fought campaign in which most polls suggest Orbán is facing the possibility of losing his 16-year grip on power.
As Hungarians grapple with economic stagnation, deteriorating public services and rampant corruption, Orbán is facing an unprecedented challenge from Péter Magyar, a former top member of Orbán’s Fidesz party. …
The day laid bare the shared playbook between Orbán and the Maga movement as the leaders railed against Brussels, migration, Ukraine and praised what Vance described as ‘the values of western civilisation.’
Even as the visit made headlines across the globe, analysts doubted it would do much to shift the election result.”
For his speech in Budapest – about to start any moment now – JD Vance will be welcomed at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium by its chair, Balázs Orbán, who also just happens to be the political director in Viktor Orbán’s office (otherwise, no relation).
The discussion will be chaired by the MCC’s director general, Zoltán Szalai.
To give you a taste of what’s likely coming, a panel directly preceding JD Vance’s “fireside chat” in Budapest is all about how Orbán is this great strategist and visionary and the only European leader who really wants to end the war in Ukraine.
But in reality, Ukraine and Hungary are actually locked in an increasingly bitter dispute about all sorts of things, with Orbán actively using Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his political campaigning, and his government actively blocking EU funding for Kyiv and further sanctions on Russia.
Just yesterday, it emerged that Orbán offered to go to great lengths to help Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian leader “I am at your service” in an October call, prompting further scrutiny of Budapest’s ties to the Kremlin just as JD Vance arrived in the city.
Ukraine ‘ready to respond in kind’ if Russia agrees to ceasefire, Zelenskyy says after Iran deal news
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to the Iran ceasefire news by saying that he remains keen to end the Russian invasion on his country with a deal, too.
He said:
“A ceasefire is the right decision that leads to ending the war. It means saving lives, abandoning the destruction of cities and villages, and allowing power plants and other infrastructure to operate normally – and thus provides the time and conditions necessary for diplomacy to deliver results. Ukraine has always called for a ceasefire in the war waged by Russia here in Europe against our state and our people, and we support the ceasefire in the Middle East and the Gulf that paves the way for diplomatic efforts.
Ukraine tells Russia once again: we are ready to respond in kind if the Russians stop their strikes.”
He added that Ukraine had been involved in the Middle East and the Gulf too, “helping protect lives.”
He said:
“Ukrainian expert military teams will continue to work in the region to help further develop security capabilities. The situation in this region has global implications – any threats to security and stability in the Middle East and the Gulf amplify challenges for the economy and the cost of living in every country.”
In Budapest, it’s less than 30 minutes before JD Vance is expected at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium for his “fireside chat.”
(There is probably something to be said here about why an 11am chat with no fire in sight is called a “fireside chat,” but let’s not get distracted.)
I will bring you the latest on his speech when it begins.
Spain ‘will not applaud those who set world on fire because they show up with bucket,’ Sánchez responds to Trump’s ceasefire
Sam Jones
in Madrid
In one particularly punchy response to the Middle East ceasefire news, Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has been perhaps the most outspoken western critic of Trump’s war in Iran, has said his administration “will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket”.
He said:
“Ceasefires are always good news – especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost.
“The Spanish government will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket. What’s needed now are diplomacy, international legality, and PEACE.”
For more Middle East news, follow our live blog here:
Morning opening: And now breathe
Jakub Krupa
US vice-president JD Vance continues his stay in Budapest, where he is expected to address the conservative Mathias Corvinus Collegium this morning on the back of his yesterday’s “not-at-all endorsement” of the embattled prime minister Viktor Orbán, five days out from the key election on Sunday.
His comments yesterday caused quite a stir after he repeatedly blasted the European Union for allegedly interfering with the vote, before repeatedly endorsing Orbán, openly campaigning for him and thus effectively interfering with the election on his own.
Erm. Make it make sense.
Let’s see what he says today.
Elsewhere, European leaders woke up this morning to much-welcome news that, after all, Donald Trump did not follow through on his earlier threat that “a whole civilisation will die” as he struck a provisional ceasefire deal with Iran.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, just welcomed the news saying the agreement will “bring much-needed de-escalation” and a chance for “negotiations for an enduring solution to this conflict [to] continue.”
France’s Emmanuel Macron said the deal was “a very good thing,” and something to build on.
“We expect, in the coming days and weeks, that it will be fully respected throughout the region and will allow negotiations to take place,” Macron said, adding he would want Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire, too.
Finland’s influential president, Alexander Stubb, also praised the move, saying he “continues to support all the efforts to end the war and to build this ceasefire into a more permanent arrangement in the strait of Hormuz and in the whole Middle East.”
But their relief may not last long as Nato’s Mark Rutte is travelling to Washington today to meet with Trump, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth after their last week’s frustrations with the alliance.
Let’s see if we hear more complaints about it, or if Rutte’s unique, at time bordering on sycophancy, style of communications helps him get Trump to change his rhetoric once again.
Lots for us to monitor and cover. I will bring you all the latest.
It’s Wednesday, 8 April 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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