A crowd of tens of thousands gathered in Hungary’s capital on Saturday in a show of support for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a week before the European Parliament election, a contest he has framed as a critical decision between peace in Europe and the onset of a world war.
The event, called a “peace march” by organizers, drew Orbán’s supporters from across Hungary and neighboring countries. They marched along the Danube River in Budapest from the iconic Chain Bridge to Margaret Island, waving flags and carrying signs with messages such as “No War.”
Orbán, the European Union’s longest-serving leader with 14 years in power, has centered his campaign for the June 9 election on the war in Ukraine.
He has portrayed his domestic and international opponents as warmongers aiming to drag Hungary into the conflict. Critics argue that his calls for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine would allow Russia to keep the territories it has occupied and encourage further aggression.
During his speech on Saturday, Orbán urged his party to “occupy Brussels” — the EU’s de facto capital — and reshape the continent’s stance on supporting Ukraine amidst Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“We can only stay out of the war if Hungarian voters support the government,” he stated on Margaret Island. “We must win the European elections in such a way that the Brussels bureaucrats, in their fear, will open the doors of the city to us and leave their offices in a hurry.”
Orbán and his Fidesz party are known for their friendly stance toward Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, within the EU.
Hungary has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine to aid in its defense against Russia’s invasion and has threatened to block EU financial aid to Kyiv and oppose sanctions against Moscow.
Fidesz appears poised to secure the most seats in the EU legislature in the upcoming election. However, a series of scandals and a severe economic crisis have provided an opening for a new political contender, Péter Magyar.
In the past three months, Magyar has gained prominence by publicly accusing Orbán’s party of corruption and converting Hungary’s media into a pro-government propaganda outlet.
He has organized numerous large protests and called for “the largest political demonstration in Hungary’s history” on the eve of the election.
Despite this, the crowd in Budapest on Saturday demonstrated that Orbán’s brand of right-wing populism — and his warnings that military support for Ukraine by the EU and the United States could lead to a new world war — still resonates with a significant portion of Hungarian society.
“I trust Viktor Orbán. Let our children have a livable country, not a bombed-out country,” said József Fehér, a Budapest resident at the demonstration. “The weapons that Europe has given to the Ukrainians could be turned back against us. And we don’t want that.”
Orbán has criticized his EU and NATO partners for supporting Ukraine, labeling them as “pro-war,” and has endorsed an election victory for former U.S. President Donald Trump.
In his address, Orbán suggested that a Trump victory in November would lead to a “transatlantic peace coalition” between him and the U.S. administration, which could potentially bring an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
