Orbán: EU – not Russia – is the big threat

TT

Published 17.54

 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Photo: Nicolas Tucat /Pool Via AP/TT

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán claims that the EU is the real threat to Hungary, not Russia.

The move comes in the election campaign ahead of the parliamentary elections in April.

Orbán's party Fidesz is facing headwinds and the party leader is therefore choosing to raise the tone:

- We must get used to the idea that those who love freedom should not be afraid of the East, but of Brussels, Orbán told supporters, indirectly referring to Russia and the EU.

He said that the EU's "machinery oppresses" and that "the scare propaganda about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is primitive and frivolous".

Orbán also said that he wants to curtail the right of independent organizations to operate as they control journalists, judges and politicians.

The opposition Tisza party, with party leader Péter Magyar, is leading in opinion polls.