Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday compared the European Union to the former Soviet Union, saying the only difference is that the EU is “not yet hopeless”.
Orban was speaking in the western city of Veszprem on a national holiday commemorating the short-lived 1956 Hungarian uprising against Soviet influence, which Moscow crushed with overwhelming military force.
“Sometimes history repeats itself. Fortunately, what was a tragedy at first is at best a farce the second time around. Moscow was a tragedy. Brussels is a failed contemporary parody,” the populist leader told about 1,000 supporters.
“We had to dance as Moscow whistled. Brussels also whistles, but we dance as we want to, and we don’t even dance if we don’t want to,” he added.
Orban regularly clashes with the EU over issues ranging from media and judicial independence to migration and LGBTQ rights.
Last year, the European Commission froze billions of euros in funds to Hungary over its stance on rule of law and rights issues.
Orban likened the decision to withhold the funds to Soviet rebukes.
“The lecturing by comrades is unchanged, only now it’s called a conditionality procedure. The party reprimand against Hungary is now called the Brussels rule of law procedure,” he said.
In power since 2010, the nationalist leader has frequently drawn parallels between Brussels and Soviet-era Moscow.
This time, however, Orban said the EU was “not yet hopeless”.
“Moscow was beyond repair, but Brussels and the European Union can be fixed. There will still be European elections,” he said, referring to the European Parliament elections due to be held next June.
Orban has previously voiced his hope that other populist parties would have a breakthrough at the polls, forcing the EU to change its course on migration, LGBTQ affairs and other topics.
Meanwhile in Budapest, thousands demonstrated to “defend democracy” and demand better conditions for teachers, according to an AFP journalist.
Several protesters decried Orban for maintaining ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite the invasion of Ukraine.
“In my opinion, the ’56ers would spit on Orban if they saw him bowing to the Russian dictator Putin,” said Teri Magos, a 47-year-old former teacher, who is now looking for a job abroad, adding that Orban was “betraying European values and alliances”.
