According to an absolute majority of Hungarians, our country traditionally belongs to the West in terms of values, so we must strive towards our Western partners in the future as well. A relative majority of voters of the government party (37%) also support Hungary's Western orientation, however, compared to a year ago, 9 percentage points fewer agree with this, and one in four voters of the Fidesz-KP party (25%) disagree. According to recent research by Policy Solutions.
According to the survey, a quarter of Hungarians believe that it would be in our country's interest to move closer to Russia and away from the European Union. However, it is important to emphasize that a relative majority of Hungarian society (43%) still rejects close cooperation with the Russians.
According to research conducted a year ago, this is the most important goal of Hungarian foreign policy.
- – Protecting national sovereignty (35%).
- Cooperation with our Western allies (29%).
- Deepening relations with neighboring countries (29%) is considered by Hungarians.
Respondents prefer at least foreign policy objectives that have less direct political or economic benefit to our country:
For 41% of those surveyed, maintaining a close partnership with Austria is a top priority, a significant increase of 11 percentage points compared to 2023. Germany, last year’s leader, came in second this time, and the United States again in third place.
In the research, they asked about 19 countries individually. According to this, most people (84 percent) would maintain close cooperation with Austria, but Germany (80 percent) and Croatia (79 percent) also received a very good rating. They are followed by the Visegrad countries. The last places in 2024 are Ukraine (39 percent), Russia (48 percent), South Korea (52 percent) and China (59 percent).
In the case of Ukraine, a significant decline can be detected. In 2023, 53 percent of Hungarians would maintain a close partnership with the neighboring country, but in 2024, 14 percentage points fewer would agree.
