Hungary’s Orbán rails against the EU and ‘the Western world’ in a speech on a national holiday

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has sought to mobilize support for his brand of right-wing populism, urging his supporters in a speech to help him “occupy Brussels” in European Union elections this summer. Orbán’s address Friday, coinciding with a national holiday commemorating Hungary’s failed 1848 revolution against Habsburg rule, railed against the EU and compared it to imperial occupiers that have dominated Hungary throughout history. Speaking from the steps of the National Museum in central Budapest, he drew a sharp contrast between his country and the “Western world,” accusing the latter of being a source of rootlessness and destruction. He predicted a political shift in Europe and the United States in 2024.