In an interview with Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung on Monday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said a multi-polar world order had emerged, criticized the European Union for its "weakness" and "hypocrisy", and declared that US President Donald Trump offered an opportunity for a new balance to be created in geopolitics. He also said that he will meet Alice Weidel, co-leader and chancellor candidate of Germany's AfD, next week.

PM Orbán said Trump's return to politics was a favorable development for Hungary which had been under pressure from both Brussels and Washington before Trump's return. He criticized the EU for its economic and security policy "weaknesses", called for pragmatic cooperation with Russia, and said the sanctions were ineffective. He said Hungary could not rely solely on Europe in terms of the economy and had to nurture relations also with China and other emerging powers.

In response to a question on Trump's return, PM Orbán said "The world has changed more in ten days than it normally does in years" thanks to "the Trump tornado".

"We were the black sheep of the West. Now it is clear: what Trump is doing and what we have done in the last fifteen years is the future," he added.

PM Orbán said he hoped that the Americans would invest more in Hungary again, adding that "they have recently even fallen behind China".

He criticized the Democrats' approach to Hungary, saying that they "hated us". "We had opposing positions on issues such as migration, gender and the war in Ukraine," he said. "They supported all the organizations and media in Hungary that were against me. Trump put an end to that."

He said, "if the Europeans do not make the Americans a good offer of cooperation, they will no longer offer us security." "Sitting around and waiting is not a solution. We have to come up with ideas. Europe may be rich, but it is also weak," he added.

"We were able to enjoy the peace dividend for a long time. Under Trump, we lost it," PM Orbán said.