MUNICH, Feb 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to begin a two-day trip on Sunday, to bolster ties with Slovakia and Hungary, whose conservative leaders, often at odds with other European Union countries, have warm ties with President Donald Trump.
Rubio will use the trip to discuss energy cooperation and bilateral issues, including NATO commitments, the State Department said in an announcement last week.
"These are countries that are very strong with us, very cooperative with the United States, work very closely with us, and it's a good opportunity to go see them and two countries I've never been in," Rubio told reporters before departing for Europe on Thursday.
Rubio, who in his dual role also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, will meet in Bratislava on Sunday with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who visited Trump in Florida last month. The U.S. diplomat's trip follows his participation in the Munich Security Conference over the last few days.
WILL MEET VIKTOR ORBAN ON MONDAY
On Monday, Rubio is expected to meet with Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who is trailing in most polls ahead of an election in April when he could be voted out of power.
"The President said he's very supportive of him, and so are we," Rubio said. "But obviously we were going to do that visit as a bilateral visit."
Orban, one of Trump's closest allies in Europe, is considered by many on the American hard-right as a model for the U.S. president's tough policies on immigration and support for families and Christian conservatism. Budapest has repeatedly hosted Conservative Political Action Conference events, which bring together conservative activists and leaders, with another due in March.
TIES WITH MOSCOW AND CLASHES WITH THE EU
Both Fico and Orban have clashed with EU institutions over probes into backsliding on democratic rules.
They have also maintained ties with Moscow, criticised and at times delayed the imposition of EU sanctions on Russia and opposed sending military aid to Ukraine.
Even as other European Union countries have secured alternative energy supplies after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, including by buying U.S. natural gas, Slovakia and Hungary have also continued to buy Russian gas and oil, a practice the United States has criticised.
Rubio said this would be discussed during his brief tour, but did not give any details.
Fico, who has described the European Union as an institution that is in “deep crisis”, has showered Trump with praise saying he would bring peace back to Europe.
But Fico criticised the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January.
Hungary and Slovakia have also so far diverged from Trump on NATO spending.
They have raised defence spending to NATO's minimum threshold of 2% of GDP.
Fico has, however, refused to raise expenditure above that level for now, even though Trump has repeatedly asked all NATO members to increase their military spending to 5%. Hungary has also planned for 2% defence spending in this year's budget.
On nuclear cooperation, Slovakia signed an agreement with the United States last month and Fico has said U.S.-based Westinghouse was likely to build a new nuclear power plant.
He also said after meeting the chief of France's nuclear engineering company Framatome during the week he would welcome more companies taking part in the project.
(Reporting by Humeyra PamukAdditional reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; editing by Barbara Lewis)
