Hungary

French presence in Hungary and Hungarian presence in France

• French community: 2,561 registered (2022), with double that number estimated if unregistered nationals included
• Hungarian community in France: about 30,000 people

Visits

The President of the French Republic travelled to Budapest on 13 December 2021 as part of the V4+France Summit, where he met with the Hungarian President and Prime Minister. Previously, the President of the French Republic met with his Hungarian counterpart, János Áder, in Paris on 12 December 2017, alongside the “One Planet Summit”. He met the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, in Sofia on 17 May 2018, alongside the EU-Western Balkans Summit, and received him in Paris on 11 October 2019.

On 14 February 2023 in Paris, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, met her Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó. On 10 September 2021, her predecessor Jean-Yves Le Drian met Péter Szijjártó in Budapest for bilateral consultations. They had also met as part of a “V4 + France” meeting alongside the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum on 8 October 2020.

On 15 September 2022, the Minister of State for Europe, Laurence Boone, met the Hungarian Minister of Justice responsible for European Affairs, Judit Varga. The Minister of State Clément Beaune met Ms Varga on three occasions: in November and December 2020 and July 2021. He travelled to Budapest on 12 October 2021. As Minister of State for European Affairs, Amélie de Montchalin travelled to Budapest on 9 December 2019, and met with Judit Varga in June 2020.

Ambassadors

• French Ambassador in Budapest: Claire Legras (October 2022)
• Hungarian Ambassador in Paris: Georges Habsbourg-Lorraine (March 2021)
• Chair of the France-Hungary Friendship Group of the French National Assembly: Xavier Batut
• Chair of the France-Hungary Friendship Group of the French Senate: Claude Kern
• Chair of the France-Hungary Friendship Group of the Hungarian Parliament: Katalin Csöbör

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

The French cultural network in Hungary is made up of the Institut Français in Budapest, five Alliance Française branches in Debrecen, Győr, Miskolc, Pécs and Szeged, and the Lycée Gustave Eiffel in Budapest. Linguistic cooperation is also based on the eleven French bilingual sections in Hungary, nine of which have the “FrancEducation” label. The French-language university centre (CUF) at the University of Szeged coordinates various French-language university courses and offers a double Master’s degree with the Institut d’études politiques (IEP) in Lille. French-language streams and study-abroad programmes are also available in Hungary. In addition, the PHC-Balaton Programme and the annual French-Hungarian Scientific Research Forum bring together French and Hungarian research teams.

Hungary has been an observer member of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) since 2004.