Orbán and sizeable delegation arrive in Washington

According to Flightradar data, the plane carrying Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and those travelling with him landed in Washington shortly after 8 pm Hungarian time.

The Hungarian Prime Minister is in D.C. to meet with Donald Trump and this time, he took along a sizeable delegation. The group includes several ministers – among them Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy, Minister of Culture and Innovation Balázs Hankó, as well as Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár, and Minister of Energy Csaba Lantos. Several executives from major companies, journalists, and representatives of research institutes are also part of the delegation, and some pro-government influencers with the biggest following have also made the trip.

As Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said, the central topics of discussion during the Trump-Orbán meeting are expected to be the advancement of the process of peace in Ukraine, as well as a comprehensive US-Hungarian economic and energy cooperation package, which, according to Szijjártó is expected to contribute to Hungary's energy security and bring new investors into the country.

Although the Foreign Minister didn’t mention it this time, Szijjártó told Telex a few days ago, that the US sanctions against Russia, and their effect on Hungary’s oil and gas imports from Russia will also be on the agenda.

Orbán and Trump already discussed Hungary's dependence on Russian energy over the phone in September, and it seemed that the Hungarian Prime Minister had managed to convince the US president not to punish Hungary for not weaning itself off Russian energy imports. Afterwards, however, Matt Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, speaking in an interview with Fox News said that countries such as Hungary, Turkey, and Slovakia, which continue to purchase Russian oil and gas, must develop plans as soon as possible and implement measures to become independent of Russian energy sources.

The Hungarian delegation's plane made a stopover in Iceland en route to Washington D.C., and Szijjártó shared a short video from outside the jet. In it, he said that agreements worth a total of HUF 100 billion, with seven major American companies would be announced later this year, adding that these are going to create hundreds of jobs in Hungary.

The Iceland stopover was necessary because the delegation travelled aboard a plane rented from budget airline Wizz Air, and as one of our readers, who is knowledgeable about air traffic control explained, the aircraft probably doesn't have an ETOPS certification, which is required to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. They continued their journey after refueling in Keflavík.

It is unclear why the delegation travelled with the plane of a no frills airline, especially since the Hungarian Defense Forces’ airplanes, specifically purchased for this purpose have been regularly used in the past by both Orbán and Szijjártó, as well as other government politicians.

According to some opinions, it may be connected to the “luxury scandal” which was a major topic over the summer, after it was discovered that the Foreign Minister has used rented private jets for some of his official trips instead of the Defense Forces' planes, as well as the fact that the Prime Minister was found to have used a private jet to get to his holiday destination in Croatia and to then from there travel to a football game of the national soccer team in Dublin, only to return to Budapest the same night. Members of the government, including the Prime Minister have given contradictory answers about who paid for the Prime Minister's trips.

In his post preceding the Washington visit, the Foreign Minister emphasized that under President Trump's presidency, relations between the two countries have improved and that “Washington now views Hungary as a friend.” He also noted that the Hungarian delegation is staying at Blair House, next to the White House, which is customarily used for official state visits.