Orban Won't Back an EU Executive Candidate Until After Elections
Orban Won't Back an EU Executive Candidate Until After Elections
(Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will await the results of next week’s elections for European Parliament before he declares his support for someone to lead the bloc’s executive.
Orban has rejected Manfred Weber, his political family’s candidate to lead the European Commission, after Hungary’s ruling Fidesz was suspended from the European People’s Party over the erosion of democratic values. The premier spoke in a public radio interview on Friday.
Orban, who met President Donald Trump in the White House on Monday, said Hungary is continuing negotiations to purchase mid-range air defense missiles from the U.S., though the agreement wasn’t finalized. Orban also said he’d urged Trump to help extract natural gas from the Black Sea as soon as possible to help diversify from Russia.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andras Gergely in Budapest at agergely@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Rose at rrose10@bloomberg.net, Zoltan Simon
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