{"id":474511,"date":"2026-02-17T20:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/474511\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:59:15","slug":"marco-rubios-warm-words-to-viktor-orban-reinforce-eu-fears-that-us-seeks-disunity-in-europe-us-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/474511\/","title":{"rendered":"Marco Rubio\u2019s warm words to Viktor Orb\u00e1n reinforce EU fears that US seeks disunity in Europe | US foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even before he in effect endorsed Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orb\u00e1n before of a crucial parliamentary election, Marco Rubio\u2019s itinerary for Europe promised to be provocative. After meeting with US allies at the Munich Security Conference during a particularly tense moment in transatlantic relations, the US secretary of state departed for Slovakia and Hungary \u2013 the two EU states most dependent on Russian energy and sceptical of the bloc\u2019s support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

In what bordered on an explicit political endorsement, Rubio told Orb\u00e1n that relations between Hungary<\/a> and the US had entered a \u201cgolden age\u201d \u2013 and would stay like that for as long as Orban remains in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you face financial struggles, if you face things that are impediments to growth, if you face things that threaten the stability of your country, I know that President Trump will be very interested \u2026 to finding ways to provide assistance if that moment ever were to arise, and obviously with regards to finances and the like,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n

The offer of financial support \u2013 and a nod toward extending Hungary\u2019s exemption from sanctions on purchasing Russian oil and gas \u2013 came just two months before Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Fidesz party faces a punishing parliamentary election that marks the greatest threat to his control of Hungary in 16 years.<\/p>\n

\"TrumpTrump is committed to Hungarian PM Orb\u00e1n’s success, says Rubio \u2013 video<\/p>\n

It also recalled offers made by the White House to other US rightwing allies abroad, including a $20bn bailout for Argentina\u2019s Javier Milei that is credited with helping his party win crucial midterm elections by stabilising the country\u2019s economy and currency.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially as long as you\u2019re the prime minister and the leader of this country, it\u2019s in our national interest that Hungary be successful,\u201d Rubio told Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

In Brussels, Rubio\u2019s visit to Hungary was guaranteed to reinforce fears that the US was seeking to promote chaos and disunity among its allies as tensions grow over topics from Ukraine and Greenland to trade deals and defence spending. And his remarks looked a lot like an effort to sway an election in the heart of Europe<\/a>, said analysts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an \u2018eff you\u2019 to the EU,\u201d said Theresa Fallon, the director of the Brussels-based Centre for Russia, Europe, Asia Studies. \u201cIt was really clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been a bruising few months in transatlantic relations, with Donald Trump demanding the Netherlands cede Greenland to the US on the grounds of national security. Adding insult to injury, Trump told reporters that Denmark was unable to protect the semiautonomous territory from an attack from Russia or China and that \u201ctheir defence is two dog sleds\u201d. He backed down on a threat to impose tariffs after Nato agreed to the framework of a future deal on the Arctic.<\/p>\n

And last year at the same conference last year, JD Vance<\/a> accused European leaders of censoring their citizens using \u201cugly Soviet-era words like \u2018misinformation\u2019 and \u2018disinformation\u2019\u201d because they feared that voters might \u201cexpress a different opinion, or \u2013 God forbid \u2013 vote a different way\u201d. The EU\u2019s top diplomat at the time said it seemed that the US was \u201ctrying to pick a fight with us\u201d.<\/p>\n

European diplomats in Washington DC welcomed the dispatch of Rubio rather than Vance because he is seen as a more traditional Republican who had \u2013 until recently \u2013 backed a more conventional US foreign policy. In a Trump administration<\/a> where personalities so often dictate policy, Rubio\u2019s continued presence has been seen as a rare bright spot. \u201cHe is much preferred to Vance, but they still both work for Trump,\u201d said one European diplomat.<\/p>\n

Rubio\u2019s speech in Munich was more restrained than the vice-president\u2019s a year earlier, and was met with a standing ovation by many of the European officials present. He presented a case for revitalising, rather than scrapping, the Nato alliance, which was a key fear among European officials after Trump\u2019s re-election.<\/p>\n

JD Vance and Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference in 2025. Rubio\u2019s speech this year was more restrained than Vance\u2019s last year. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Matthew Kroenig, the vice-president and senior director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, wrote that Rubio \u201cdid not repudiate anything in Vice President JD Vance\u2019s more pugnacious speech last year, but he presented the same themes in a more positive light, focusing on shared challenges facing both Europe and the United States and how allies can work together to address them\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fallon said: \u201cEverybody wanted to hear something positive. And when they slept on it, they realised, oh my gosh, no, it\u2019s the same thing, just packaged a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as one diplomat put it: \u201cThe message coming from both [Rubio and Vance] is clear: you are on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even before he in effect endorsed Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orb\u00e1n before of a crucial parliamentary election, Marco Rubio\u2019s itinerary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-474511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}