Romanian Premier Ludovic Orban shares the same name as Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban.
But the differences end there. While their last names are identical (they are not related), their political leanings are different. Ludovic Orban is a center-right pro-business Liberal, while Viktor Orban is a populist who’s often been at odds with Europe over migration.
Nonetheless, politicians and others sometimes get the Romanian prime minister’s name wrong.
However, the prime minister probably didn’t expect his own team to slip up which it did Friday calling him Victor Orban (using the Romanian spelling of his name) in two places in government transcripts.
Still, there are some advantages of sharing the same name.
Ludovic Orban was recently called the „good” Orban of Europe in an interview with Bloomberg news agency.
The two Orbans don’t have a close relationship. The Hungarian prime minister will visit the city of Timisoara to mark 30 years since the 1989 uprising against Nicolae Ceausescu. A protest about the forced deportation of Hungarian pastor Laszlo Toekes was the spark for the bloody revolt in which 1,300 died all over the country.
Ludovic Orban will travel to the city for commemorations a day later.
Orban is a Hungarian family name. The Romanian prime minister’s father is an ethnic Hungarian.
