Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán visits Switzerland
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was received in the Swiss capital, Bern, on Tuesday by President Alain Berset and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis. One of the topics discussed was relations with the EU, of which Hungary will hold the presidency in the second half of 2024.
The Swiss side reaffirmed its goal of stabilising and further developing the bilateral path with the EU, according to a government statement.
Accordingly, cooperation with Hungary as a recipient country of the Swiss EU cohesion contribution was also discussed. The focus is on vocational education and training, research and innovation.
The talks with Orbán and his Hungarian delegation also covered current international issues such as the situation in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. The initiative for the meeting with the government came from the Hungarian Prime Minister.
+ The Hungarians who sought a new home in Switzerland
Orbán will take part in an event organised by the right-leaning weekly newspaper Die Weltwoche in Zurich on Wednesday. Editor-in-chief Roger Köppel, an outgoing parliamentarian for the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, regularly praises Orbán for his rebellious attitude towards the EU Commission.
Orbán, who is considered a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been criticised internationally, especially since Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in February last year, which was ordered by Putin. However, Hungary formally supports the sanctions imposed on Russia.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
More
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
More
In Switzerland four out of ten people have a migrant background – who are they?
More
Suicides in Switzerland quadruple among older people
More
French gangs target luxury cars in Switzerland
More
Renewed controversy in Switzerland over US fighter jets – explained
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.