A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Vice President JD Vance accused the European Union of election interference today on a trip to Hungary to show support for its prime minister, Viktor Orban, who faces a serious challenger in a national election this Sunday. Orban is a nationalist, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin and is trailing in the polls by double digits. NPR's Rob Schmitz was at a press conference earlier and joins us live from another venue where JD Vance will speak from. Rob, what did Vice President Vance say this morning?
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Well, just to set the scene here, you know, he arrives to Budapest and he was whisked away to a centuries-old monastery where Orban now has his office. And he takes the podium, Vice President Vance, and he comes out swinging. He blames the European Union for interfering in Hungary's election. And that is a very big accusation. Here was his explanation.
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JD VANCE: The bureaucrats in Brussels have tried to destroy the economy of Hungary, they have tried to make Hungary less energy independent, they have tried to drive up costs for Hungarian consumers. And they've done it all because they hate this guy.
SCHMITZ: So, A, for context here, Hungary is a member of the European Union. And Orban routinely rails against the EU, even though the EU has sent billions and billions to Hungary to improve its economy.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So if the EU has sent billions and billions to Hungary, why did Vance say that it was trying to destroy Hungary's economy?
SCHMITZ: So the EU began freezing funding to Hungary in 2022 after it gave warning after warning to Viktor Orban for his methodical dismantling of democratic checks and balances inside his country, including judicial independence, the free press, civil society. These actions by Orban's government violate the principles that EU members have to abide to, to be members. So for four years now, the EU has frozen billions to Hungary because of this.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, Orban is a friend of Vladimir Putin. And he's also criticized Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Did he and Vance discuss Ukraine at all?
SCHMITZ: Yeah, they did. Orban called on a Hungarian journalist, who actually asked Vance about what she called Ukrainian interference in the U.S. election. Then she went on to say that the Ukrainians had helped the Democrats in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Here's how Vance answered that one.
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VANCE: We're certainly aware that there are elements within the Ukrainian intelligence services that tried to put their thumb on the scale of American elections, on Hungarian elections.
MARTÍNEZ: Thumb on the scale of American elections. Rob, any idea what he's talking about?
SCHMITZ: Yeah. No idea. I mean, he did not elaborate. And when he was asked by two reporters from Reuters and The Washington Post who had traveled with him - they got a couple of questions for him - they did not ask any follow-up questions about it. They asked about the war in Iran instead.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Rob Schmitz joining us live from Budapest, where VP Vance is on an official visit. Rob, thanks a lot.
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SCHMITZ: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF VANILLA BEACH'S "SUNSET DRIVER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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