Orbán calls Brussels ‘a bad parody’ as he pokes fun over EU’s rule of law measures against Hungary during speech – as it happened

Speaking at an event commemorating the 1956 revolution, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said that “Moscow was a tragedy, Brussels is only a bad contemporary parody”. The Hungarian leader said that the EU can be fixed.

Thousands of opposition supporters, including many young people, marched in Budapest.

Members of the European parliament said that Hungary has not fulfilled promised judicial reforms needed to unlock the €13bn slated for regional development in the country that is currently frozen.

A senior Hungarian official said that while there are still some pending issues, “we are pretty close to the end” of negotiations to unlock Hungary’s broader frozen EU funding.

Asked about the impact of the Polish election on the Hungarian ruling party’s position on the European stage, Orbán ally Judit Varga said “Fidesz’s alliances remain strong and flourishing”.

Péter Krekó, the director of the Budapest-based Political Capital research institute, said that Orbán’s foreign policy is increasingly driven by “antagonism towards western alliances”.

Daniel Berg, a vice-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and deputy mayor of Budapest’s second district, said “the spirit of ‘56 is sadly more alive today in Kyiv than in Budapest”.

Members of Momentum, a centrist opposition party, threw red paint outside Orbán’s office in protest against his relationship with the Kremlin.