AfD leader Alice Weidel to meet Hungary’s Orbán ahead of election

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, is to meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest next week.

Weidel, the AfD candidate for chancellor in Germany’s upcoming election, confirmed she would visit Orbán in a post on X.

“Thank you for your invitation, Prime Minister [Viktor Orbán],” wrote Weidel. “I am looking forward to meeting you.”

Orbán earlier told Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung that Weidel asked for the meeting.

The populist Hungarian leader has expressed support for the AfD and last week welcomed a controversial motion that passed in the German parliament with the far-right party’s support.

He told the newspaper: “The AfD could receive 20% of the vote. If its leader wants to speak to me, why would I say no? If [German Chancellor] Olaf Scholz called me, I would receive him too. But the danger is not acute.”

AfD spokesman Daniel Tapp said that Weidel is to travel to Budapest for meetings with Orbán between February 11 and February 12.