Hungary’s agreement with the Trump administration to combat far-left terrorism has triggered a domestic backlash, mainly over the notorious 2023 Budapest Antifa attacks. Fidesz figures question whether Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s government is genuinely committed to confronting the militant network linked to those assaults, while left-wing activists who helped defeat Viktor Orbán accuse Tisza of adopting Washington’s political agenda.
At Thursday’s meeting in Washington, Foreign Minister Anita Orbán and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed memorandums on energy infrastructure and law-enforcement cooperation. Rubio hailed their shared determination to confront the ‘resurgence of far-left terrorism’. Orbán, speaking after the signing ceremony, explicitly named Antifa Ost, the Germany-based militant network whose members are accused of carrying out the February 2023 Budapest attacks against people perceived as right-wing. The new arrangement is intended to strengthen information-sharing and criminal investigations.
Over three days, Antifa Ost militants carried out a series of brutal assaults, targeting nine people apparently selected for their perceived right-wing appearance and leaving six seriously injured. One victim, László Dudog, was beaten unconscious with iron bars, leaving the left side of his face paralysed, while his fiancée was stabbed twice in the legs and kicked in the face. The attacks led to two of Hungary’s most infamous Antifa cases: Italian far-left MEP Ilaria Salis, accused of participating in the assaults but protected by parliamentary immunity, and German activist Maja T, convicted for involvement in the same attacks.
The agreement itself continues a policy championed by both Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump. In September 2025, the former Hungarian prime minister called for Antifa to be classified as a terrorist organization, citing the Budapest attacks and following Trump’s lead. Hungary designated Antifa Ost a terrorist organization that month; Washington followed with a Foreign Terrorist Organization designation in November.
Former political director to Viktor Orbán and current Fidesz MEP Balázs Orbán announced that he would formally inform the US State Department of the Tisza government’s controversial record on far-left extremism, questioning whether Rubio had received the full picture during the Washington meeting.
In October 2025, the European Parliament preserved Salis’s immunity by just one vote, 306–305, after Magyar stayed away and instructed Tisza MEPs to abstain or not vote. Balázs Orbán questioned whether the Americans had been informed of that decision, arguing that Washington deserved to know how the Hungarian government had handled cases involving the very extremist networks it now pledged to combat.
He also raised concerns over plans to transfer Maja T to Germany, questioning whether the move could lead to an early release. The German activist was sentenced to eight years in February 2026, reduced on appeal to seven years in September. Preparations for a transfer are under way, although the arrangement predates Tisza: German government records confirm that Hungarian authorities had agreed to a possible transfer after conviction under Viktor Orbán.
Political commentator Zoltán Ceglédi raised a related concern: why did Anita Orbán’s initial Hungarian-language announcement describe the counterterrorism memorandum merely as cooperation against crimes committed by ‘radical organizations’, omitting the far left and Antifa altogether? He suggested that Fidesz forward the domestic explanation to Rubio or Vice President JD Vance. Orbán did subsequently identify Antifa Ost explicitly in a Hungarian-language video published after the earlier statement.
The agreement also angered the radical left. Former MP András Jámbor, a far-left activist associated with the radical-left Szikra Movement, described the pact as a ‘slap in the face’ to left-wing campaigners who helped Tisza win. He argued that an existing 2008 counterterrorism agreement already provides for information-sharing and demanded to know why far-left violence was being singled out instead of far-right or Islamist terrorism.
Jámbor also recalled that he and Szikra had been accused of links to the Budapest assaults, allegations he rejected. He demanded an inquiry into possible political manipulation and intelligence-service involvement in the original investigations.
Hard-right Our Homeland (Mi Hazánk) leader László Toroczkai also weighed in, claiming that Rubio had ‘humiliated’ Anita Orbán by making her sign an anti-Antifa agreement despite Tisza having come to power, he said, with the support of international left-liberal forces. Pointing to Jámbor’s furious reaction, Toroczkai praised Rubio’s manoeuvre and predicted that the controversy would ultimately increase the likelihood of a split within Tisza’s support base.
There were, however, also voices speaking positively about the agreement. Former Hungarian ambassador to Washington András Simonyi, speaking to InfoRádió, called the Rubio meeting a diplomatic breakthrough and the counterterrorism memorandum ‘very important’ to national and domestic security. He also warned that radical-left movements were increasingly affecting American politics and creating difficulties for the Democrats.