In a message to Fidesz members at a closed-door event in the Hungarian capital Budapest, the Hungarian prime minister lashed out at the EU, characterising the 27-nation bloc as an oppressive force that had dragged its member states into an active war against Russia in Ukraine. “They look at the war as their own war, and they fight it as if it were their own war,” Orbán said of EU leaders, calling for a profound change in the conduct of European politics. “The leadership in Brussels must be swept away… It does not deserve another chance. There must be a change in Brussels,” Orbán said. The Hungarian premier is heading into European Parliament elections in early June facing challenges both at home and abroad, including recent high-level resignations in Hungary and an economy reliant on European funds that the European Commission has at times withheld over concerns about the rule of law. Orbán’s speech at the party event on Saturday, which lasted about 15 minutes, focused on themes that have been central to his campaigns for years: restrictions on immigration; hostility to LGBTQ+ rights; and claims that the EU seeks to impose its will on Hungary. “We must take Brussels into our own hands, push the Eurocrats aside and solve the problems ourselves,” Orbán said to loud applause. The far-right leader, who has ruled Hungary for 14 years, has been a vocal critic of the West’s provision of money and weapons to Ukraine to help it defend itself against the Russian invasion. Hungary itself has refused to supply military aid to Kyiv and has opposed EU sanctions on Russia over its aggression in Ukraine. Orbán has repeatedly accused countries supporting Ukraine of prolonging the conflict and has sought to portray his government as the only one in the EU that favours peace. However, many of his critics have accused him of serving Russian interests by deepening energy ties with Moscow and by holding up aid packages for Kyiv. Concluding his speech, Orbán unveiled his party’s “election manifesto”, which predicted a resurgence of rightwing forces in the EU. If the current EU leadership remains in place, the manifesto said, “Europe will slide into war, migration waves will destroy European nations and gender propaganda will ruin the future of our children”. Read Also: “Ukraine is no longer a sovereign state. It is a protectorate of the West” (in Portuguese)