Gergely Karacsony

Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, was even more dismissive of the whole affair at his regular Thursday presser, saying that Putin "would not be arrested in Hungary" because the ICC's Rome Statute was never promulgated in Hungary due to it being "incompatible with the Hungarian constitution".

Critics say the cost of the campus would be higher than what the government spends each year on running all of the country's state-run universities. The contract is also classified, just like the other big Chinese project in Hungary, the construction of a new Belgrade-Budapest railway.

"I wish to have a government of experts, where not party loyalty but expertise and leadership skills would count," he tells BIRN, adding that he has no doubt that his position in the coalition as prime minister would remain solid.

The local press was full of complaints over the tightly controlled event, which Orban stressed had definitely no connection to the upcoming election in Czechia but was merely a standard state visit. Naturally, then, the two premiers refused to take questions, but treated the few journalists admitted to an hour-long chat.

Mayors of Pact of Free Cities: (from L to R) Zdenek Hrib, Rafal Trzaskowski and Gergely Karacsony. Photo: Trzaskowski Facebook page

Ten of Hungary's 23 major cities also fell to opposition parties in local elections billed as a trial run for taking on Orban as a united front in parliamentary elections in 2022.