Enlarge image
Viktor Orbán
Photo: ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP
The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán opened his campaign for next spring's parliamentary elections in front of tens of thousands of supporters in the center of Budapest with a fiery speech against the EU.
The institutions of the European Union would want to dictate to the citizens of Hungary and Poland how they should live, said the right-wing politician.
The "high European dignitaries" wanted to "beat the people of Hungary into liberals," he said.
When it comes to "defending the homeland, the family, the culture, the freedom of everyday life", everyone must do their part, Orbán said.
"When the time comes, stand in front of your houses and defend them!"
As in the past, Orbán also attacked billionaire George Soros.
Together with Washington, he tries to get the Hungarian left opposition to vote with the help of money, media and networks.
“But it doesn't matter what they want in Brussels, in Washington, and in the foreign-controlled media.
It will be the Hungarians who will decide their own fate, ”Orbán said.
It is about the "values: family, nation and a strong and independent Hungary".
His supporters waved the national flag and banners with slogans such as "Brussels equals dictatorship".
The rally participants were brought to Budapest in buses from all over the country, but also from Romania, Poland and Italy.
Hundreds of buses were parked on the edge of the main downtown streets.
Hungary celebrated a national holiday on Saturday.
On October 23, 1956, the popular uprising against communist rule broke out.
After a few days he was bloodily suppressed by Soviet troops.
Orbán has been ruling Hungary with the Fidesz party for almost twelve years.
Critics accuse him of dismantling democracy and the rule of law as well as corruption and nepotism.
His government is involved in numerous serious conflicts with the EU, for example over the state of the rule of law in Hungary.
Several thousand opposition supporters gathered around two kilometers from Orbán's rally.
Six parties from the left-green to the right-wing conservative want to stand together in the 2022 election.
In a self-organized primary one week earlier, the non-party bourgeois Peter Marki-Zay had been elected as the joint top candidate.
As the final speaker at the rally, Marki-Zay swore the opposition alliance to continue to show unity and said: "It all boils down to one question: Fidesz or non-Fidesz."
mmq / dpa / Reuters
