Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban kicked off his party’s campaign for the European elections with scathing attacks on the EU.
Brussels is a “bad contemporary parody”, he told Veszprem supporters. Orbán said in a speech on the anniversary of the failed 1956 Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule: “Sometimes history repeats itself. Fortunately, what was a tragedy at first is a comedy at best the second time around.”
He added: “Moscow was a tragedy. Brussels is just a bad contemporary parody.” Orbán, who has been in power for 13 years, is now considered an outsider among the 27 heads of state and government. The EU has suspended payments of billions of euros in funding to Hungary because the Commission and Member States accuse the national-conservative government of massive violations of the rule of law. This complicates Orban’s attempts to lead his country out of the economic crisis.
The Hungarian prime minister regularly criticizes EU sanctions against Russia and was the only EU head of government to attend the Chinese Silk Road summit. His Fidesz party is no longer part of the conservative EVP party family.