{"id":10171,"date":"2026-02-15T16:42:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/15\/marco-rubio-visits-trump-allies-in-eastern-europe-dw-com\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T16:42:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:42:55","slug":"marco-rubio-visits-trump-allies-in-eastern-europe-dw-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/02\/15\/marco-rubio-visits-trump-allies-in-eastern-europe-dw-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Marco Rubio visits Trump allies in Eastern Europe – DW.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The United States’<\/a>\u00a0top diplomat Marco Rubio<\/a> traveled to Eastern Europe on Sunday for talks with the conservative leaders of Hungary<\/a> and Slovakia, both of whom are aligned with US President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The visit comes a day after Rubio, who is also Trump\u2019s national security advisor, urged Europeans to defend \u201cWestern civilization\u201d<\/a> in a speech at the Munich Security Conference.<\/p>\n

Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orban<\/a> and Slovakia\u2019s<\/a> Robert Fico\u00a0are often viewed as disruptive voices within the European Union<\/a> and have continued purchasing Russian<\/a> energy despite Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/g><\/svg>Unpacking Marco Rubio’s Munich Security Conference speech<\/h2>\n

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What happened during Rubio’s talks in Slovakia?<\/h2>\n

In Bratislava, Rubio first met\u00a0Slovak President Peter Pellegrini before discussions with nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who visited the White House last month.<\/p>\n

Pellegrini’s office said in a statement that the pair discussed “defense cooperation\u00a0and the fulfillment of \u200bcommitments arising from \u200cNATO<\/a> summits.”<\/p>\n

Following talks with Fico, Rubio expanded on the\u00a0warmer tone in\u00a0transatlantic ties<\/a> he\u00a0displayed in Munich, saying, “We’re not asking Europe to be a vassal of the United States.”<\/p>\n

“We want to be your partner. We want to work with Europe. We want to work with our allies,” the US diplomat added.<\/p>\n

Fico, meanwhile,\u00a0told reporters he hoped a deal for US-based\u00a0Westinghouse to build a new nuclear power plant in Slovakia would be signed in the coming year.<\/p>\n

Slovakia signed an agreement with the US on nuclear cooperation during Fico’s\u00a0Washington trip.<\/p>\n

Fico also said\u00a0Slovakia is interested \u200cin buying \u2060another \u2060four \u200bF-16 fighter \u200bjets from \u200bthe US\u00a0to\u00a0make\u00a0\u200c18 in \u200ctotal.<\/p>\n

\"US
The US firm Westinghouse has signed a deal to build a nuclear power plant in SlovakiaImage: Alex Brandon\/REUTERS<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rubio to meet Orban on Monday<\/h2>\n

On Monday, Rubio will meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom Trump has described as a “strong and powerful man.”<\/p>\n

Orban is facing a tough battle for reelection on\u00a0April 12, with recent opinion polls suggesting he may\u00a0lack\u00a0the\u00a0public support to win against opposition leader Peter Magyar’s TISZA party.<\/p>\n

The Hungarian leader is often seen as a thorn in the EU’s side,\u00a0using his veto power<\/a> and nationalist agenda to push back against deeper integration, migration and the bloc’s Russia policy.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, he used a campaign speech to declare that Brussels was more of a threat<\/a> to his country than Moscow.\u00a0He has also offered asylum to EU lawmakers<\/a>\u00a0accused of corruption.<\/p>\n

Orban’s rhetoric and politics often echo those of Trump\u00a0and he has cast himself as a European friend of the US president’s\u00a0MAGA movement.<\/p>\n

Orban has also confirmed plans to travel to Washington next week to attend the inaugural meeting of Trump’s “Board of Peace.<\/a>“<\/p>\n

\"Hungarian
Hungary’s Viktor Orban delivered his annual State of the Nation speech on Saturday nightImage: Prime Minister’s Press Office\/Handout via REUTERS<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

US seeks a boost in energy ties<\/h2>\n

Ahead of the talks, US officials said Washington intends to strengthen energy ties with its two right-wing European allies.<\/p>\n

The US State Department said the trip would focus on energy \u2060cooperation \u2060and\u00a0bilateral issues, including NATO commitments.<\/p>\n

Slovakia, along with Hungary, has\u00a0so far diverged from Trump’s demand that\u00a0all NATO members significantly increase\u00a0military spending to 5% of GDP, so far committing to the minimum threshold of 2%.<\/p>\n

Both countries depend heavily on Russian fossil fuels, leading to clashes with Brussels<\/a> over the decision to cut EU reliance on imports from Moscow.<\/p>\n

The two nations have opposed\u00a0efforts by EU states\u00a0to send military aid to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Both Orban and Fico have also clashed with Brussels\u00a0over accusations they are backsliding on democratic rules.<\/p>\n

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<\/g><\/svg>MSC chair: Trust in trans-Atlantic relations damaged<\/h2>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p><\/video><\/div>\n

Edited by: Louis Oelofse<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States’\u00a0top diplomat Marco Rubio traveled to Eastern Europe on Sunday for talks with the conservative leaders of Hungary and Slovakia, both of whom are aligned with US President Donald Trump. The visit comes a day after Rubio, who is also Trump\u2019s national security advisor, urged Europeans to defend \u201cWestern civilization\u201d in a speech […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}