Even before he in effect endorsed Hungary’s Viktor Orbán before a crucial parliamentary election, Marco Rubio’s itinerary for Europe promised to be provocative. After meeting 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 – the two EU states most dependent on Russian energy and sceptical of the bloc’s support for Ukraine.
In what bordered on an explicit political endorsement, Rubio told Orbán that relations between Hungary and the US had entered a “golden age” – and would stay like that for as long as Orban remains in power.
