Despite tense relations with Angela Merkel, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban received the former German Chancellor for talks at his official residence in Budapest yesterday, DPA reported, BTA reported.
Merkel was in Budapest to present her memoirs, which have already been translated into Hungarian. Orban posted photos from his meeting with her on "Facebook", showing the two politicians enjoying the view of the Danube River from the hill on the right bank of the river, where the Hungarian parliament building is also located.
"Once a chancellor, always a chancellor for us. "Welcome to Hungary, Angela Merkel," Orban wrote.
It is not clear what the two discussed during the meeting, DPA notes.
Their differences of opinion reached their peak during the refugee crisis in 2015, when tens of thousands of people fled conflict regions in the Middle East, passing through Hungary to reach Western Europe. At that time, Budapest temporarily refused to allow the refugees to continue their journey, but later allowed them to do so after Merkel announced Germany's readiness to accept them. Merkel's famous phrase from that time about accepting refugees in Germany - "We can do it" - has since often been the subject of ridicule by Orban and his supporters in politics and the media.
The only positive aspect of Merkel's policy, according to a comment yesterday on the Hungarian pro-government portal "mandiner.hu" is that the then German chancellor "believed in maintaining European unity through compromise and in pragmatic relations with the Russians".
Merkel, who was German chancellor from 2005 to 2021, is promoting her memoirs, titled "Freedom: A Memoir 1954 – 2021".