Far-right Orban claims EU is at risk of 'self-destruction'

Viktor Orban has claimed the European Union is sliding toward oblivion, in a rambling anti-Western speech in which he warned of a new, Asia-oriented "world order". Hungary's nationalist prime minister also expressed support for Donald Trump's presidential bid.

- STEPHEN MCGRATH, NICOLAE DUMITRACHE

"Europe has given up defending its own interests," Mr Orban said yesterday in Baile Tusnad, a majority ethnic Hungarian town in central Romania. "All Europe is doing today is following the US's pro-Democrat foreign policy unconditionally... even at the cost of self-destruction."

"A change is coming that has not been seen for 500 years. What we are facing is in fact a world order change," he added, saying China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia were becoming the "dominant centre" of the world.

Mr Orban also alleged that the US was behind the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines built to carry gas from Russia to Germany, calling it "an act of terrorism carried out at the obvious direction of the Americans". He didn't offer any evidence to back up the claim.

The far-right leader's remarks come amid growing criticism from his European partners after he embarked on rogue "peace mission" trips to Moscow and Beijing earlier this month, aimed at brokering an end to Russia's war in Ukraine. Mr Orban is widely considered to have the warmest relations with the Kremlin of all EU leaders.