For Trump it’s MAGA, but Hungary’s Orbán is becoming MEGA in charge of the European Union for six months

BRUSSELS (AP) — Hungary’s populist government announced Tuesday that its next European Union presidency will be held under the slogan “Make Europe Great Again,” but downplayed any parallels with donald trumpin MAGA movement in the United States.

“This is a reference to an active presidency,” said Hungarian Minister for European Affairs János Bóka, outlining Budapest’s program and ambitions for its six months at the helm of the world’s largest trading bloc, starting on 1 July.

“In fact, it manifests the expectation that together we will be stronger than we are individually, but that we must be able to remain who we are when we come together,” he told reporters.

Asked about the similarities to the former US president’s Make America Great Again slogan, Bóka insisted it was centered on Europe, saying: “I don’t know if Donald Trump ever wanted to make Europe great again.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who leads a strongly nationalist government, is an ally of Trump and is considered closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin among the 27 EU leaders. He tried to portray himself as a peacemaker in the war in Ukraine.

In February, Orbán said: “We cannot get involved in another country’s elections, but we would really like President Donald Trump to return to the presidency and make peace here in the eastern half of Europe.” It was a reference to the US elections in November.

Even then, Orbán used Trump’s popular slogan to describe his plans for Hungary’s EU presidency. “Make Europe great again!” he said. “MAGA there, MEGA here.”

In recent years, Hungary has become an exception in the EU and NATO. The European Commission has frozen billions of euros in funds for Budapest due to concerns about the government’s democratic backsliding.

Orbán diluted EU sanctions against Russia and opted out of NATO plans to provide more support to Ukraine. Earlier this year, EU lawmakers even called for the presidency to be taken out of their government’s hands.

Hungary’s Prime Minister took to social media on Monday complain about how the leaders of the EU’s main parties appeared to be securing themselves the bloc’s top jobs despite far-right gains in France and Germany in the EU parliament elections earlier this month.

“The will of the European people has been ignored,” Orbán wrote in X. The centrist parties, which maintained their majority in parliament, “do not care about the results of the European elections, and they do not care about the will of the European people. ”

The EU presidency rotates among its member countries. The role has little real power, but it allows countries to put national priorities at the top of Europe’s agenda. Spain, for example, used its term last year to push for greater recognition from Catalan and other regional languages.

Bóka said Hungary’s presidency will focus on economic competitiveness and growth, boosting the defense industry, more efficient border controls, a “merit-based” EU enlargement policy and a “farmer-oriented agricultural policy”, among other questions.

“The Hungarian presidency does not promise a miracle. It promises the opportunity for progress in some areas and change in others. So let’s make Europe great again,” he said.