FILE PHOTO: Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, reacts to the exit polls of the second round of the presidential election, in Warsaw, Poland, June 1, 2025. REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel/File Photo
WARSAW (Reuters) -Hungary is an important partner for Poland, newly elected Polish president, Karol Nawrocki, told a Hungarian magazine in his first foreign interview, adding he would be building cooperation within the regional Visegrad Group.
The Visegrad Group, comprising Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, took a back seat after Prime Minister Donald Tusk's liberal coalition took power in 2023 from the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which had close relations with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Eurosceptic Karol Nawrocki narrowly won the Polish presidential election this month, delivering a big blow to the efforts of Donald Tusk's centrist government to cement Warsaw's pro-European orientation.
Orban on Friday said Nawrocki's victory was "fantastically good," hailing the success of an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.
"Hungary is a very important partner for Poland... We are facing serious tasks, such as building the Visegrad Group, which will be an important format for me, as well as strengthening (military alliance) NATO’s eastern flank and the Bucharest Nine," Nawrocki told Hungarian news outlet Mandiner in the interview.
"I certainly wish to meet Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is a very effective politician, as proven by his repeated election results in Hungary. And I count on good cooperation with him, just as with other countries, in the interest of the region."
It was not yet clear what Nawrocki's policy on Ukraine would be, but he reiterated that he opposed Kyiv’s plans to join the European Union.
Poland supports Ukraine strategically, because "the greatest threat to me, as an anti-communist, and in my opinion to the entire region, is the Russian Federation," he said.
He added that "Ukraine must also understand that other countries – including Poland, Hungary, and other European nations – have interests of their own."
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw and Anita Komuves in Budapest; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
