{"id":12876,"date":"2026-02-15T08:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/the-dailytourist.com\/?p=12876"},"modified":"2026-02-15T08:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:23:15","slug":"rubio-begins-two-day-visit-to-slovakia-and-hungary-to-bolster-ties-with-pro-trump-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-dailytourist.com\/?p=12876","title":{"rendered":"Rubio Begins Two-Day Visit to Slovakia and Hungary to Bolster Ties with Pro-Trump Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"244\" data-end=\"608\"><b>\u00a0<\/b>U.S. Secretary of State <strong data-start=\"289\" data-end=\"330\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Marco Rubio<\/span><\/span><\/strong> is set to begin a two-day visit on Sunday to Slovakia and Hungary, aiming to strengthen ties with their conservative governments, whose leaders maintain close relations with <strong data-start=\"505\" data-end=\"546\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Donald Trump<\/span><\/span><\/strong> and have frequently clashed with other European Union states.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"610\" data-end=\"755\">Rubio will use the trip to discuss energy cooperation and bilateral issues, including NATO commitments, the U.S. State Department said last week.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"757\" data-end=\"1043\">\u201cThese are countries that are very strong with us, very cooperative with the United States, work very closely with us,\u201d Rubio told reporters before departing for Europe on Thursday, adding that the visit offered an opportunity to engage with two countries he had not previously visited.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1045\" data-end=\"1337\">Rubio, who also serves as Trump\u2019s national security adviser, will meet Slovak Prime Minister <strong data-start=\"1138\" data-end=\"1179\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Robert Fico<\/span><\/span><\/strong> in Bratislava on Sunday. Fico visited Trump in Florida last month. The trip follows Rubio\u2019s participation in the Munich Security Conference over recent days.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1339\" data-end=\"1361\">\u00a0On Monday, Rubio is expected to meet Hungarian Prime Minister <strong data-start=\"1425\" data-end=\"1466\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Viktor Orban<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, who is trailing in most opinion polls ahead of an April election that could see him voted out of office.<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1574\" data-end=\"1711\">\u201cThe President said he\u2019s very supportive of him, and so are we,\u201d Rubio said, adding that the visit was planned as a bilateral engagement.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1713\" data-end=\"2021\">Orban, one of Trump\u2019s closest allies in Europe, is viewed by parts of the American hard-right as a model for strict immigration policies and emphasis on family values and Christian conservatism. Budapest has repeatedly hosted Conservative Political Action Conference events, with another scheduled for March.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2023\" data-end=\"2060\">\u00a0Both Fico and Orban have clashed with European Union institutions over concerns about democratic backsliding. They have also maintained ties with Moscow, criticised and at times delayed EU sanctions on Russia, and opposed sending military aid to Ukraine.<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2318\" data-end=\"2619\">While many EU countries have shifted to alternative energy sources since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Slovakia and Hungary have continued importing Russian gas and oil, drawing criticism from Washington. Rubio said the issue would be discussed during the trip but provided no further details.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2621\" data-end=\"2839\">Fico has described the European Union as being in \u201cdeep crisis\u201d and has praised Trump as a potential peacemaker in Europe, though he criticised the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro earlier this year.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2841\" data-end=\"2882\">\u00a0Hungary and Slovakia have raised defence spending to NATO\u2019s minimum target of 2% of GDP, but both have diverged from Trump\u2019s call for allies to increase military spending to 5%. Fico has ruled out further increases for now, while Hungary has budgeted for 2% defence spending this year.<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"3171\" data-end=\"3483\">On nuclear cooperation, Slovakia signed an agreement with the United States last month. Fico has said U.S.-based <strong data-start=\"3284\" data-end=\"3325\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Westinghouse<\/span><\/span><\/strong> is likely to build a new nuclear power plant, while also welcoming interest from France\u2019s nuclear engineering firm <strong data-start=\"3441\" data-end=\"3482\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Framatome<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to begin a two-day visit on Sunday to Slovakia and Hungary, aiming to strengthen ties with their conservative governments, whose leaders maintain close relations with Donald Trump and have frequently clashed with other European Union states. Rubio will use the trip to discuss energy cooperation and bilateral [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rubio Begins Two-Day Visit to Slovakia and Hungary to Bolster Ties with Pro-Trump Leaders - The daily Tourist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/the-dailytourist.com\/?p=12876\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rubio Begins Two-Day Visit to Slovakia and Hungary to Bolster Ties with Pro-Trump Leaders - The daily Tourist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to begin a two-day visit on Sunday to Slovakia and Hungary, aiming to strengthen ties with their conservative governments, whose leaders maintain close relations with Donald Trump and have frequently clashed with other European Union states. 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