Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sought to rally support for his brand of right-wing populism in a holiday speech on Friday, appealing to his audience to help him “occupy Brussels” in this summer’s European Union elections.
Prime Minister Orbán’s speech, timed to coincide with a national holiday commemorating Hungary’s failed 1848 revolution against Habsburg rule, slammed the EU and, like other speeches in recent years, compared to the imperial occupiers who have ruled Hungary throughout history.
Speaking on the steps of the National Museum in central Budapest, the nationalist leader sharply contrasted his country with the “Western world”, accusing the latter of rootlessness and destruction.
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“They are starting wars, destroying the world, redrawing borders and eating everything like locusts,” he told the crowd. Many of them traveled by bus to Budapest for the event. “We Hungarians live differently and want to live differently.”
He spoke less than three months before EU elections, which are expected to see the rise of far-right parties across the continent that share many key positions with Orbán.
His comments on the national holiday often took on the tone of a campaign speech, featuring opposition to immigration and LGBTQ+ rights, and a commitment to national pride and sovereignty.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gives a speech on the steps of the National Museum in Budapest, Hungary, on March 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
“Brussels is not the first empire to look to Hungary,” Prime Minister Orbán said, referring to the EU’s de facto capital. “The people of Europe today are afraid that Brussels will take away their freedoms. … If we want to protect Hungary’s freedom and sovereignty, we have no choice but to occupy Brussels.”
In Hungary, Mr Orbán’s ally Katalin Novak resigned in February amid outrage over his decision to pardon a convicted accomplice in a child sex abuse case at a state-run orphanage. Political tensions are rising.
The scandal also led to the resignation of the former justice minister and put unprecedented political pressure on Orbán’s government, which has led Hungary since 2010.
Hungary’s position among its partners and allies has also faced tension in recent months. On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador David Pressman, in a speech reflecting on Hungary’s 25th anniversary of NATO membership, highlighted concerns about Hungary’s credibility as an ally in the military alliance, saying the Orbán government has no plans to resolve differences. “There seems to be little interest in constructive dialogue.” With your partner.
In a speech in Budapest, Mr. Pressman criticized Hungary’s recent obstruction of Sweden’s accession to NATO and accused Mr. Orbán of pursuing dangerous relationships with Russia and China.
Pressman said Orbán’s government is “making policy choices that increasingly isolate the United States from its friends and allies, while labeling and treating the United States as an ‘enemy’.”
While Prime Minister Orban is hoping for success from conservative European forces this summer, he has also forged close ties with some on the American right, including former President Donald Trump.
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The Hungarian leader visited the United States last week, met with President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, and publicly called for Trump’s victory over President Joe Biden in the November election.
Prime Minister Orbán said in a speech on Friday that support for Trump shows that American voters are “rebellious” and that there will be a political shift in favor of conservatives in Europe and the United States in 2024. That’s what I expected.
“This year is going to be a turning point,” he said. “At the beginning of this year we were still isolated, but by the end of the year we will be in the majority.”
