Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the European Union was sliding into oblivion, in a sweeping anti-Western speech in which he warned of a new Asia-centric "world order".
At the same time, Orban expressed his support for the candidacy of Donald Trump for the presidency of the United States, reported AFP.
"Europe has given up on protecting its own interests," Orbán said in Beili Tušnad, a town with a predominantly Hungarian population in central Romania. "The only thing Europe is doing today is to follow US foreign policy unconditionally ... even at the cost of self-destruction."
"There is a change that has not been seen for 500 years. What we are facing is actually a change in the world order," he added, pointing to China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia as becoming the "dominant center" of the world.
Orban also claimed that the US was behind the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines built to carry gas from Russia to Germany, calling it a "terrorist act carried out at the apparent behest of the Americans". He offered no evidence to support the claim.
The far-right leader's remarks come amid growing criticism from his European partners after he embarked on "peace mission" trips to Moscow and Beijing earlier this month aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. It is widely believed that Orbán has the warmest relationship with the Kremlin of all EU leaders.
Regarding Ukraine, Orbán expressed doubt that the war-torn country will become a member of NATO or the EU. "We Europeans don't have the money for that. Ukraine will return to the position of a buffer state," he said, adding that international security guarantees "will be written into an agreement between the United States and Russia."
During Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine, Orbán broke with other EU leaders by refusing to provide Kiev with weapons to defend against Russian forces and regularly delaying, diluting or blocking efforts to send financial aid to Kiev and to impose sanctions on Moscow.
Hungary currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, and Orbán has made an "oath" to "make Europe great again" and openly supported Trump's candidacy in this year's US presidential election. Orbán visited Trump twice this year at the former president's beachfront compound at Mar-a-Lago.
Orban said today that Trump's re-election bid was aimed at "returning the American people from the post-national liberal state to the nation state" and echoed many conservative claims that Trump was unfairly punished to prevent his election.
"That's why they want to put him in jail. That's why they want to take away his assets. And if that doesn't work, they want to kill him," Orbán said, referring to the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania this month.
In 2014, Orbán first announced his intentions to build an "illiberal state" in Hungary, and in 2022 he caused international outrage after speaking out against turning Europe into a "mixed-race" society. Today he reaffirmed his long-standing anti-immigration stance, saying it was not the answer to his country's aging population.
"There can be no question of population decline supplemented by migration," he said in his Saturday address. "The experience of the West shows that if the guests are more than the owners, then the home is no longer a home. This is a risk that should not be taken.''
The Hungarian prime minister has become an icon for some conservative populists because of his staunch opposition to immigration and LGBT+ rights. He is also accused of repressing the press and the judiciary in Hungary, violating the standards of the rule of law and democracy. | BGNES
