Hungary's Orban Attacks EU Again After His Party Is Suspended

(Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban went on a fresh offensive against European Union institutions, raising his antagonistic rhetoric just days after his party’s suspension from the bloc’s largest political family.

Orban’s Fidesz averted outright expulsion from the European People’s Party in the past week after he apologized for some of his most controversial remarks and offered to change some billboards that had alleged a sinister scheme by financier George Soros and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

The premier, who has turned Hungary into an "illiberal state" after centralizing power and silencing many critical voices, unleashed another onslaught on EU peers in an interview with public radio on Sunday. Ramping up his campaigning for European Parliament elections due in May, he claimed he was undaunted on the issues that led to the rupture with the EPP.

"I am ready to face the toughest conflicts without blinking," Orban said. "They are mad at us in Brussels because we have unmasked them. Anyone can wave their fists at us, but Hungary will not give in."

Orban signaled he would persist in holding what he describes as "information campaigns" ahead of the European elections. These have included the controversial posters that depicted Juncker and Soros, which were plastered all over Hungary.

In a speech on his pet topic of migration earlier in the weekend, Orban tried to court Italy and other western European states to help reduce his isolation.

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, Kevin Costelloe, James Amott

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