HUNGARY - The EU should give up “nightmares” of United States of Europe, said Hungarian nationalist leader Viktor Orban while starting his fourth term as prime minister. He won a landslide victory in a recent parliamentary vote. Kicking off his fourth term as prime minister on Thursday, Hungary’s Viktor Orban declared the era of liberal democracy to be over.
“We have replaced a shipwrecked liberal democracy with a 21st-century Christian democracy, which guarantees people’s freedom, security,” Orban said during his acceptance speech before the lawmakers in Budapest. “It supports the traditional family model of one man and one woman, keeps anti-Semitism at bay, and gives a chance for growth,” he added.
The right-wing leader has been in power continuously since 2010 and had previously also served as the prime minister of Hungary between 1998 and 2002. He is known for his authoritarian style of rule and his skepticism towards the EU, especially the permissive migrant policy spearheaded by Berlin.