Hungary’s Orbán Declares Germany’s Populist AfD Party ‘The Future’ in Pre-Election Meeting with Leader Weidel

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared that the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party is the “future” of Germany in a meeting with chancellor candidate Alice Weidel in Budapest on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Orbán, the longest serving leader of any member state in the European Union, lavished praise on the surging AfD party as it heads towards federal elections in Germany on February 23rd. The Hungarian leader, lending his support, said that the platform of the AfD would not only benefit Germans, but Hungarians and Europe as a whole.

“The AfD is not a party whose leaders are usually received by prime ministers in every European country. But it’s high time for this to change. That’s why we’re here today, and I’m glad that Alice Weidel accepted my invitation and visited us in Budapest,” Orbán said in a press conference at the Karmelita Monastery along chancellor candidate Alice Weidel. It marked the first time that Orbán and Weidel have held talks.”

He continued: “I can tell the Hungarian public that all of the AfD’s key program points would benefit Hungary. It would be good if they could be realized, from migration to energy policy. This is the most important takeaway from today’s meeting, which I can convey as a message to the Hungarian people,” Orbán added.

The Hungarian leader noted that strong leadership in Berlin is crucial for the European Union as a whole, and that it is imperative for Germany to reverse course on the disastrous Green New Deal agenda, which Orbán cited as a chief cause for Europeans paying two to three times higher energy prices than their American counterparts. “No economic competition can be won this way,” he said.

“We need a completely new energy policy. I am convinced that energy sanctions should be lifted, discrimination against nuclear energy should be eliminated, closed energy supply lines should be reopened, and energy sources that have been phased out should be brought back into the European economy,” Orbán argued, warning that the worst may yet to come.

Weidel, whose party advocates for slashing green subsidies, cutting CO2 taxes, and increasing nuclear and coal production, agreed with the Hungarian leader, saying: “Germany has grown weak, and its leadership is also weak. Its energy policy has failed, something that began with Angela Merkel, who ruined the country.”

The AfD co-leader went on to declare that Orbán is a “role model” for her party, saying “I am grateful that Hungary is fighting against illegal migration. It is a huge mistake that Hungary is being punished for this, which also shows that the EU is on the wrong track.”

Weidel said that Orbán was right regarding the need for reforming the European Union, but she noted that this would need to come from “within” and that “strong nation-states are needed” to push back against the progressive globalist agenda being pushed by Brussels.

In addition to potentially boosting the AfD prior to the upcoming federal elections in Germany on February 23rd, the meeting in Budapest may also serve to open doors for the party internationally.

While much has been made about the “firewall” imposed by establishment parties in Berlin around cooperating with the AfD, there has also been a taboo among European populist parties against the German party. Indeed, reportedly at the insistence of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, the AfD was one of the most notable parties to be left out of the Patriots for Europe alliance in the EU Parliament founded by Orbán last year.

In Wednesday’s press conference, Orbán said that he would not deny that there have been “obstacles” to good relations with the AfD, suggesting that relations between Hungary and Germany may have suffered as a result. “That’s why I have been cautious with the AfD until now. But I thought that everything is now changing. It is completely obvious that the AfD represents the future,” he said.

Orban’s comment about Weidel not normally being received by European leaders alludes not so subtly to the publicly unspoken understanding between the legacy German governments — of all stripes — and their European allies that any sort of public engagement with the AfD would be punished by Europe’s largest economy. While Orban is perhaps the most likely to break this firewall isolating the AfD from the rest of Europe, as sovereigntists gain influence in more governments across the continent he may not be the last.

Orbán noted that with 20 per cent of the vote in Germany, the support for the AfD is nearly twice the entire population of Hungary, and therefore, he argued that having good relations with such a “significant” party should not sour relations with the German government.

Although the AfD is likely to be prevented from entering government in two weeks time, with frontrunner Fredriech Merz ruling out a coalition with the populist party, his future government will likely be tethered to either the leftist Social Democrats or the far-left Greens, likely making delivering on key issues such as migration and energy policy in any meaningful way an uphill battle. With more of the same expected from the Berlin establishment, an opening for the AfD to take power by the next election in 2029 may be on the cards.

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