The cat is out of the bag: it says a lot about the leftist-liberal camp that on their online platforms, they are visibly pleased at the thought of the Trump–Putin peace summit being called off, Daniel Deak posted on social media, emphasizing that Hungary’s vital national interest lies in achieving peace as soon as possible. That is why, he noted, Peter Szijjarto is meeting with the U.S. State Secretary in Washington to continue the preparations for the Budapest Peace Summit.
"There will be a Peace Summit — and it will be in Budapest," the analyst stated.
As also reported by Magyar Nemzet, in an interview with CNN, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade welcomed the fact that the American and Russian presidents had once again spoken with each other the previous week. This, he said, offers hope for an in-person meeting in Budapest, even if there are still questions about its timing. Peter Szijjarto also noted:
From the very first moment that this summit was announced to take place, I was pretty sure that there would be leaks, fake news statements on a daily basis, claiming that it will not happen, because I know that there are many counter-interested.
From the very beginning, the Hungarian left has taken issue with the planned Budapest peace summit. They cannot stomach the idea that Viktor Orban would host both Trump and Putin, and that Hungary’s capital will serve as the venue for a peace summit. Left-wing political commentators, propagandists, and even former Free Democrats ( SZDSZ) politician Gabor Horn have strained to explain why the meeting supposedly does not matter. Dora Onodi-Molnar, a former Nepszabadsag propagandist, said on ATV: "It does not matter who the host is. Of course, it matters symbolically, because holding it in Budapest means
spitting in the face of Europe’s alliance-based political loyalty."
In the program Tukor (Mirror), left-wing commentator Reka Kinga Papp declared that, in her view, Hungary has no real political significance for the United States:
Hungary’s importance is the same as it was in Hollywood films of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s — a strange, distant place where the mysterious villain, Bela Lugosi, and such horror figures, will always speak Hungarian. It's not really on the political map.
Eszter Galgoczi, an analyst at the 21 Research Center, added that experts and the independent media have always said that Viktor Orban’s relationship with Donald Trump may not be as close as he suggests, and that Hungary will not gain any real advantage from it.
Once again, Viktor Orban has managed to take center stage.
Former state secretary of the Free Democrats and current head of the Republikon Institute, Gabor Horn, also vented his outrage:
I don’t know about others, but I felt a deep sense of shame when I heard that in Budapest, as Orban’s guest, the two good friends, Trump and war criminal Putin, will meet to talk about peace, of course, without the presence of Zelensky, who represents the Ukrainian people, the true victims of this war.
