“We love Hungary but hate Putin”: Polish president visits Orbán ahead of Hungarian elections

Mar 23, 2026 | Politics

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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 opposition-aligned president, Karol Nawrocki, has visited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest.

The meeting between the two right-wing, Eurosceptic leaders was strongly criticised by Poland’s more liberal, EU-friendly government, which pointed to Orbán’s friendly relations with Russia. It also accused Nawrocki of supporting Orbán’s campaign for next month’s Hungarian elections

However, during his time in Budapest, Nawrocki offered no public endorsement of the Hungarian prime minister. Ahead of his visit, he also emphasised that, while Poles “love Hungary” they also “hate Putin”.

Monday marked Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day, which has been celebrated annually on 23 March since 2007 to honour the historical links between the Polish and Hungarian nations.

However, those ties have been strained in recent years due to Orbán’s friendly relations with Vladimir Putin. In Poland, by contrast, there is near-universal dislike and distrust of Russia. Meanwhile, whereas Poland has been one of Ukraine’s closest allies, Hungary has hostile relations with Kyiv.

Over the weekend, after it emerged that Nawrocki would visit Orbán on Monday, his decision was condemned by leading figures in the Polish government. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it a “fatal mistake and confirmation of a dangerous strategy to weaken the EU and strengthen Putin”.

Tusk, however, also falsely claimed that Nawrocki would appear at a summit of Orbán’s European far-right allies, such as Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini, that was taking place in Budapest today. The Polish president, in fact, did not attend that event.

Many commentators noted that, last November, Nawrocki had also been due to hold talks with Orbán during a visit to Budapest but cancelled the meeting after Orbán travelled to Moscow to meet with Putin a few days earlier.

Given that parliamentary elections are taking place next month, with Orbán’s Fidesz party trailing in the polls, Nawrocki’s visit today was also widely interpreted as a show of support for the Hungarian prime minister, who himself endorsed Nawrocki during his presidential campaign last year.

Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski criticised Nawrocki for supporting a leader who has blocked EU sanctions on Russia and whose campaign is being assisted by Russian agents.

“I’d like to know what Poland’s interest is in supporting the most corrupt and pro-Putin politician in Europe,” asked Sikorski.

 

Monday’s events in fact began with Nawrocki hosting Hungary’s president, Tamás Sulyok, an Orbán ally, in Poland. At a joint press conference, Nawrocki noted that he is aligned with the Hungarian administration in many areas, including opposition to the EU’s climate and migration policies.

However, “there are also issues on which we agree to disagree”, he added. “For Poland, Vladimir Putin and Russia pose an existential threat, just like the Bolsheviks in 1920. Poles love Hungarians and hate Vladimir Putin, who is a war criminal and nothing more.”

After Nawrocki’s remarks, there was a moment of tension when a Polish journalist asked him if he was not bothered by Orbán’s friendliness towards Putin.

The Polish president initially ignored the question but then quickly returned to the stage, angrily pointing his finger at the journalist and asking if he had not just heard the condemnation of Putin moments earlier.

On Monday afternoon, Nawrocki then flew to Budapest, where he was welcomed by Sulyok followed by a meeting with Orbán that reportedly lasted over an hour. It was, however, held behind closed doors with no press conference or media access before or afterwards, notes broadcaster RMF.

In a lengthy report about Nawrocki’s activities during Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day on the Polish presidential website, there is only a single, brief mention that he “also talked with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban”. At the time of writing, Nawrocki has made no public comment on their meeting.

Nawrocki is aligned with the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023 and generally enjoys warm relations with Fidesz.

Those close ties were temporarily frayed amid the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when the PiS government strongly supported Ukraine. However, the two parties are once again on good terms, and both are also admirers of US President Donald Trump.

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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: Grzegorz Jakubowski/KPRP

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