BUDAPEST, April 16, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The United States has lifted sanctions on the head of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's cabinet, a US Treasury statement said Tuesday, with Hungary's nationalist government hailing the move as a "sign that the winds have changed".
 
Orban, who has ruled the central European country since returning to power in 2010, has cultivated warm ties with his "dear friend" President Donald Trump.
 
In January, Washington announced sanctions against Antal Rogan -- a minister who oversees Hungary's intelligence services and government communications -- for alleged involvement in corruption.
 
Rogan was accused of having "orchestrated schemes designed to control several strategic sectors of the Hungarian economy and to divert proceeds from those sectors to himself and to reward loyalists from his political party".
 
"This systemic corruption Antal Rogan represents is affecting Hungary's decision-making on issues that impact the security of the United States of America and our allies," US ambassador to Hungary David Pressman said at the time.
 
Orban's government called the sanctions a "personal revenge of the ambassador sent by the failed US administration to Hungary". Pressman stepped down in January before Trump took office.
 
A statement posted on the US treasury website said Rogan had been "deleted" from the sanctions list. And Hungary hailed the move as "a clear sign that the winds have changed in Washington".
 
The measure "confirms a shift in US policy with President Trump's return, undoing what Hungary sees as unjust actions taken out of spite," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs wrote in a post on X.
 
Under President Joe Biden's administration, US relations with Hungary were frosty, with Washington frequently criticising Budapest over democratic backsliding.