Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has likened the European unification project to Adolf Hitler’s plans for world domination. There have been attempts to restore the empire since the end of the Roman Empire, the right-wing populist said Friday in the Hungarian city of Veszprem.
“Byzantium, Charlemagne, Otto (the German Emperor, ed.), Napoleon and Hitler, they all dreamed of European unity, each on a different basis. Today is no different,” said Orban. “Independent national existence and the idea of the empire are present at the same time, the national culture and the European values, sovereignty and, as they say in Brussels, an ever closer union.”
Hungary joined the EU in 2004. Orban, who has ruled his country in an almost authoritarian manner since 2010, has repeatedly opposed obligations arising from EU membership, for example on asylum policy or on the rule of law. At the same time, the country still receives significant EU support. Some of these funds have been frozen due to concerns about the rule of law and the fight against corruption in the country. Orban, in turn, repeatedly rails against “Brussels bureaucrats” and compares the EU to the former Soviet Union.
“This person is sick,” Hungarian opposition leader Ferenc Gyurcsány said of the government leader’s statements. To mention Hitler along with the European idea is “a sick, disgusting idea,” Gyurcsány wrote on his Facebook page.
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