JD Vance defends backing 'great guy' Orbán's campaign after landslide defeat

JD Vance defends backing 'great guy' Orbán's campaign after landslide defeat16 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GooglePaul KirbyEurope digital editor in BudapestReutersThe US vice-president defended last week's visit but said he was sure he could work with Péter MagyarUS Vice-President JD Vance has insisted he was right to stage a two-day campaign visit to back Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán five days before he was voted out of office by opposition party Tisza's landslide victory.Insisting Orbán was a "great guy" who did a "very good job", Vance told Fox News he was "one of the few European leaders we've seen who's been willing to stand up to the bureaucracy in Brussels". While he was sad Orbán had lost, he was sure the US would "work very well" with the new government, he said.Péter Magyar, who led Tisza to victory, had been critical of Vance's intervention, warning last week that "no foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections".However, he said on Monday the US was a "strong and important" Nato partner and if President Donald Trump or anyone else called him he would talk to them.Orbán will continue to run Hungary in a caretaker role until Magyar is sworn in, and the three party leaders with seats in parliament have been invited to meet President Tamás Sulyok on Wednesday. Sulyok has the task of convening Hungary's new parliament and recommending the next prime minister by 12 May, and Magyar has urged him to do that as soon as possible and then resign, calling him a "puppet" of Orbán's government.Magyar has suggested that he could become prime minister on 5 May, or even sooner.Sulyok's office has made clear to Hungarian media he will not resign, however he is expected to discuss with the three party leaders when to convene the National Assembly and propose a new prime minister.ReutersPéter Magyar aims to be prime minist...