Is Viktor Orban A Peace-Maker?

 By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, has spent the past few weeks travelling to various capitals on a “peace mission” to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. European Union and NATO members are not happy about it.

Leader of the right-wing populist Fidesz party, he has been Hungary’s prime minister since 2010. He has backed nationalist, Euroskeptic policies and rejected any redistribution of refugees across the EU.

His government has clashed with EU officials and other member states over what they consider domestic democratic backsliding and, more recently, the bloc’s military support for Ukraine.

Budapest has frequently deployed its veto in key votes, stalling policies when all others were ready to proceed. It has had billions of euros of EU funds initially withheld due to what Brussels deemed rule of law violations.

Nor do his cordial relations with Donald Trump endear him to other EU leaders. Orban met with Trump last March and showed up again July 11 at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, following the NATO summit in Washington. The meeting was part of Orban’s self-proclaimed “peace mission” to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“We discussed ways to make peace. The good news of the day: he’s going to solve it!”  Orban wrote on X, following the meeting. The Hungarian leader described Trump as a “president of peace,” while Trump referred to Orban as a “fantastic leader.”

The prime minister has also openly supported Trump’s candidacy in this year’s American presidential election, expressing hope that the Republican would be able to bring an end to the Ukraine war.

Orban, who is widely considered to have the warmest relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin among all EU leaders, and who has frequently delayed sanctions on Kremlin officials and EU military aid packages for Ukraine, made an unannounced visit to Kyiv July 2, where he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Hungary has viewed its current six-month stint holding the rotating European Council presidency as a peace mission. “You cannot make peace from a comfortable armchair in Brussels,” argued Orban.

“A cease-fire connected to a deadline would give a chance to speed up peace talks,” he suggested to Zelensky. This didn’t go over too well, of course. But Orban then moved on to Moscow. Putin indicated he wanted to take the opportunity to “discuss the nuances that have developed” over the conflict with Orban.

Putin wasn’t budging, though. He demanded that Ukraine pull its troops out of four eastern regions claimed but not fully controlled by Moscow. “We are talking about the full withdrawal of all troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and from the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions,” Putin told Orban. 

Orban remained hopeful. “Even if the rotating EU Presidency has no mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU, we cannot sit back and wait for the war to miraculously end. We will serve as an important tool in making the first steps towards peace. This is what our peace mission is about.”

Most EU members don’t agree. EU President Ursula von der Leyen warned that “appeasement will not stop Putin. Only unity and determination will pave the path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”

The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, was more blunt, saying Orban does not represent the EU. Borrell’s incoming replacement, outgoing Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, insisted that Orban “in no way represents the EU or the EU’s positions.” She added that he “is exploiting the EU presidency to sow confusion.”

Still unfazed, Orban then flew to Beijing for talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Calling it “peace mission 3.0,” he described China as a stabilizing force amid global turmoil and praised its “constructive and important” peace initiatives.”

Xi, for his part, used Orban’s visit to call on the international community to “create conditions and provide assistance for the two sides to resume direct dialogue and negotiations.” China presents itself as a neutral party in the war, but strategic relations with Russia have strengthened since the invasion.

“Believe me: the next two or three months will be much more brutal than we think,” Orban predicted. He insisted that he is “not arguing about who is right and who is wrong” and his “aim is peace and a cease-fire.”