U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio has signed a key nuclear cooperation agreement with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó spoke about the new golden age of Hungarian-American relations on his Facebook page, emphasizing that nuclear energy is a means of maintaining lower utility prices in Hungary over the long term.

“Today, we are signing a very important agreement in the field of nuclear energy cooperation. Let us not forget that in Hungary, the means of maintaining the reduction of utility bills in the long term is nuclear energy itself,” said Rubio.

He also noted that peace in Ukraine was a major topic, as Hungary has been the only country in Europe that has supported President Donald Trump’s peace efforts from the beginning. 

“We are the only ones who did not supply weapons, we are the only ones who maintained diplomatic channels, and we are the ones who are ready to host the peace summit,” he says in his video message.

At a press conference after his meeting with Orbán, Rubio, repeating what the Hungarian government had labeled a “golden age” between the two countries, focused on Orbán’s strong leadership as the reason so many American companies are investing in Hungary, especially in the field of energy.

The U.S. secretary of state also underlined the key importance of Orbán’s personal relationship with Trump, adding that this was a key reason the U.S. is ready to help Hungary in any way, be that to overcome financial hurdles or other threats to Hungary’s stability.

“It’s in our national interest, especially as long as you’re the prime minister and the leader of this country, it’s in our national interest that Hungary be successful,” said Rubio.

On the energy front, Szijjártó additionally posted on X about approaching Croatia for alternative energy transit routes. “Since Ukraine refuses to restart oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline for political reasons, together with Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Saková we sent a letter to Croatian Economy Minister Ante Šušnjar.

“We request Croatia to enable the transport of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia via the Adria pipeline, as our sanctions exemption provides the possibility to import Russian oil by sea if pipeline deliveries are disrupted. The security of a country’s energy supply must never be an ideological issue. We therefore expect Croatia, unlike Ukraine, not to endanger the oil supply security of Hungary and Slovakia for political reasons,” he posted.