By Humeyra Pamuk and Anita Komuves
BUDAPEST, April 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance lavished praise on Hungary and Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday as he arrived in Budapest to boost the veteran nationalist leader's campaign ahead of an election that many opinion polls suggest Orban will lose.
Orban, a eurosceptic nationalist in power since 2010, is facing the toughest re-election bid of his career, with independent polls indicating his Fidesz party will lose Sunday's vote to centre-right challenger Peter Magyar's Tisza party.
Vance's visit, just days before the vote, underscores how crucial President Donald Trump's MAGA movement deems Orban's re-election to be. Trump has already personally endorsed Orban, 62, as "a truly strong and powerful leader".
"The relationship and friendship between Hungary and the United States is very important to us," Vance told Orban before they entered talks behind closed doors.
"In part because we love the Hungarian people and this amazing nation and culture, but in part because the president loves you, and so do I, because you're such an important part of what has made Europe strong and prosperous."
Vance and his wife Usha were greeted at the airport in Budapest by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who said the visit illustrated "a new golden age in U.S.-Hungary relations".
Vance and Orban will discuss migration, global security, economic and energy co-operation, Szijjarto said. Bloomberg News reported that Hungarian oil company MOL would agree to buy 500,000 tons of oil from the U.S. for about $500 million.
TRUMP SUPPORT FOR LIKE-MINDED LEADERS
The rare in-person gesture of support for Orban by a top U.S. official is the latest example of Trump's efforts to prop up like-minded right-wing leaders, including in Argentina and Japan.
In a post on X ahead of Vance's arrival, Orban's rival Magyar warned against foreign interference.
"This is our country," he wrote. "Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels - it is written in Hungary's streets and squares."
Orban's self-described "illiberal democracy" mirrors key themes of Trump-era America: harsh anti-immigration policies, disdain for liberal norms, hostility toward global institutions, and attacks on the media, universities and nonprofit groups. He was the first European leader to endorse Trump during his 2016 presidential bid.
Orban has long been at loggerheads with the European Union over a range of issues, including Ukraine. He has maintained cordial ties with Moscow, refuses to send weapons to Ukraine, and says Kyiv can never join the EU.
He has also accused the EU and Ukraine of seeking to meddle in Sunday's election and says Ukraine wants to disrupt Hungary's energy supply, something Kyiv denies.
"For someone who has repeatedly claimed interference by Brussels in Hungarian domestic politics, Orban sure needs a lot of foreign assistance in his electoral campaign," said one EU diplomat.
FAR RIGHT SOURING ON TRUMP
Trump's "America First" agenda increasingly looks like "America Alone" to allies and adversaries alike, as military campaigns and a deepening rift with Europe mark the first 15 months of his second term.
Now, Europe's far-right and populist movements are souring on the Republican president despite shared positions on immigration and climate change. Some of their leaders have pushed back against his attempts to acquire Greenland from Denmark and his erratic tariff policy.
Political analysts say U.S. support for Orban, including Vance's trip, may not be enough to sway voters, as domestic issues such as the cost of living dominate the election.
The trip briefly takes Vance out of Washington, where Trump and his top aides are grappling with how to wrap up the war on Iran, now in its sixth week with no clear off-ramp in sight. The conflict has driven up gas prices, dragged down Trump's approval ratings and intensified Republican anxiety about November's midterm elections.
Vance, an isolationist who has advocated against Washington's entanglements in foreign wars, has played a role in the indirect communications with Iran to end the war. He was among a handful of Trump aides who initially expressed caution about the conflict.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Anita Komuves, Krisztina Than, Gergely Szakacs, Lili Bayer in Budapest, Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Editing by Don Durfee, Nia Williams, Alison Williams and Gareth Jones)
