Viktor Orbán won't be attending Donald Trump's inauguration

Viktor Orbán will not be attending the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on 20 January. In response to a question from Telex, the Prime Minister's press chief, Bertalan Havasi, said that on 20 January, the Prime Minister will be in Budapest, giving a speech at a conference evaluating the results of the Hungarian EU Presidency.

Donald Trump's inauguration will be held in Washington DC on 20 January, and the list of guests continues to grow. Tech leaders Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, for example, are certain to attend the ceremony. Former President Barack Obama has also confirmed his intention to attend, while his wife, Michelle Obama, has said in a statement through her office that she will not be present.

Trump's staff has invited several foreign leaders to the inauguration ceremony. The office of Argentine President Javier Milei confirmed last December that he had received an invitation. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed on 9 January at a press conference that she had been invited and planned to attend the inauguration. And former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced on X that he had been invited to the ceremony, writing that he would do all he could to get his passport back and travel to Washington. The former Brazilian president's passport was confiscated in February last year after Brazilian authorities indicted him over an alleged coup-plot. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also received an invitation, but his attendance is still uncertain.

Several far-right politicians from Europe have confirmed their attendance: Britain's Nigel Farage, France's Eric Zemmour, the Netherlands' Geert Wilders and Belgium's Tom Van Grieken are all expected to attend. However, last November, Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Prime Minister's Office said that Viktor Orbán's attendance at Donald Trump's inauguration was a hoax.