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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, has cancelled a planned meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in response to Orbán’s visit to Moscow this week to meet with Vladimir Putin.
Nawrocki is aligned with Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, which generally enjoys good relations with Orbán, who endorsed Nawrocki during his presidential campaign. Both Orbán and Nawrocki are also close to Donald Trump. But they hold very different positions towards Russia.
The Polish president was due to visit Hungary on 3-4 December, attending a summit of presidents of the Visegrad Group – which consists of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – in Esztergom on Wednesday, followed by a meeting with Orbán in Budapest on Thursday.
However, today, the head of the president’s foreign policy office, Marcin Przydacz, confirmed that Nawrocki would now only attend the Wednesday summit.
Prezydent Karol Nawrocki konsekwentnie opowiada się za szukaniem realnych sposobów zakończenia wojny na Ukrainie wywołanej przez Federację Rosyjską.
Odwołując się w swej polityce do dziedzictwa prezydenta Lecha Kaczyńskiego, który podkreślal, że bezpieczeństwo Europy zależy od…
— Marcin Przydacz (@marcin_przydacz) November 30, 2025
“In connection with the visit to Moscow carried out by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and its context, President Nawrocki decided to limit the program of his visit to Hungary exclusively to the summit of the presidents of the Visegrád Group in Esztergom,” wrote Przydacz.
“President Nawrocki consistently advocates for seeking ways to end the war in Ukraine caused by Russia,” added Przydacz, but also believes “that Europe’s security depends on solidarity, including in the field of energy”.
Later, speaking to broadcaster TVN, Nawrocki’s spokesman, Rafał Leśkiewicz, said that, “in view of what happened on Friday – the meeting between Prime Minister Orbán and the criminal Putin – it is obvious that the president has cancelled this visit and will not meet with Prime Minister Orbán”.
On Friday, Orbán travelled to Moscow, where he met with Putin. Afterwards, the Hungarian prime minister said he had secured supplies of Russian oil and gas, and had also reiterated Budapest’s offer to host peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Orbán’s visit was criticised by other EU leaders, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying that the Hungarian prime minister was “acting without a European mandate and he is doing so without consulting us”.
Poland’s government – a broad, pro-EU coalition ranging from left to centre right – has also regularly clashed with Orbán, both over his close ties with Russia and also his decision to offer refuge to PiS politicians fleeing justice in Poland.
Last year, Hungary granted asylum to a former PiS government minister who was facing criminal charges in Poland, prompting Warsaw to withdraw its ambassador. This month, former PiS justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro took refuge in Budapest amid efforts to bring charges against him in Poland.
Poland has withdrawn its ambassador to Hungary due to Budapest’s “hostile” decision to grant asylum to a Polish opposition politician accused of crimes while serving in the former government.
Hungary has criticised the "unprecedented and regrettable step" https://t.co/YD8p4IHAW1
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 18, 2025
While Nawrocki and PiS are aligned with Orbán and his Fidesz party on many issues, the two sides differ markedly on the question of Russia. Nawrocki and PiS regard Moscow as a perennial and major threat to Poland and Europe.
Those differences led to a break between PiS and Fidesz following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However, more recently, the two sides have once again moved closer.
In September, soon after Nawrocki had taken office, Orbán said that he believed the new Polish president could help “rebuild Polish-Hungarian cooperation”, reported news website Onet at the time. However, the cancellation of next week’s meeting between the pair appears to have damaged those hopes.
Hungary's Viktor Orbán has announced his support for conservative opposition candidate @NawrockiKn ahead of Sunday’s presidential election in Poland.
Figures from Poland's ruling coalition responded by pointing to Orbán's close relations with Putin https://t.co/xt18N6EhgY
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 29, 2025
Figures from Poland’s ruling coalition welcomed Nawrocki’s decision, but also suggested that it shows the dangers of the president’s critical rhetoric towards the EU and Ukraine.
“The president gave Orban the brush-off,” wrote foreign minister Radosław Sikorski. “A few more months and maybe they [Nawrocki and PiS] will realise that those who hate the European Union and Ukraine mostly love Putin.”
“Few things are surprising in Polish politics,” wrote interior minister Marcin Kierwiński. “But the fact that President Nawrocki listened to the voice of the prime minister and, more broadly, the government regarding Orbán’s harmful, pro-Russian policy is cause for moderate optimism.”
Prezydent dał kosza Orbanowi, ciekawe.
Jeszcze parę miesięcy i może zorientują się, że ci którzy nienawidzą Unii Europejskiej i Ukrainy przeważnie kochają Putina.— Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@sikorskiradek) November 30, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Kremlin (under CC BY 4.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
