BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States will trigger a new right-wing surge in Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday, launching what he called an offensive to “occupy” Brussels.
The nationalist premier, a long-time Trump supporter, envisages a “golden era” for relations between the U.S. and EU member state Hungary under Trump’s presidency, despite a warning from Hungary’s central bank that the incoming president’s proposed tariffs on the EU will hurt Hungary’s economy.
“Only a few hours and even the sun will shine differently in Brussels. A new president in the U.S., a large faction of Patriots in Brussels, great enthusiasm,” Orban said before Trump’s inauguration later on Monday, which he will not attend.
“So the great attack can start. Hereby I launch the second phase of the offensive that aims to occupy Brussels,” Orban told a conference, upping his anti-Brussels rhetoric.
Orban’s Fidesz party and other right-wing parties founded the Patriots party group in the European Parliament last year. The group, led by France’s National Rally, has become the third largest in the parliament with 86 members.
New tariffs that Trump has pledged to impose on European Union imports would hit Hungary’s economic growth and boost inflation as the country is heavily reliant on its car industry, the National Bank of Hungary said in December.
Orban, who has criticised EU sanctions against Russia and kept close relations with Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, said the EU was in a crisis because it could not ensure the prosperity of its citizens, could not stop illegal migration and could not ensure its security.
“We in Hungary are the opposition to the system in Brussels. … Brussels is occupied by a left-liberal oligarchy,” Orban said. “At the European election we came close to a real chance of a new right-wing majority that can replace the Brussels elite.”
(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves; Editing by Ros Russell)
