Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Wednesday urged Hungarians to “resist” Brussels like they did Moscow almost 70 years ago, as he marked the central European country’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising.

The nationalist premier — Moscow’s closest EU ally whose country holds the bloc’s rotating presidency — has been stoking fears of a war between the West and Russia, which he blames on the European Union and NATO.

At home, Orban, who has ruled Hungary since 2010, is under rising pressure, facing an unprecedented challenge from former-government-insider-turned-opposition leader Peter Magyar.

“Do we bow to the will of a foreign power, this time from Brussels, or do we resist it? … I propose that our response should be as clear and unequivocal as it was in 1956,” Orban told those gathered in a Budapest park.

“For us, the lesson of 1956 is that we must fight for only one thing, for Hungary and for Hungarian freedom,” he added.

– ‘Desecrates legacy’ –

The 1956 anti-Soviet uprising crushed by Moscow left about 3,000 people dead and 20,000 wounded between October 23 and November 4 and became a symbol of Hungary’s fight against repression.

At a march later Wednesday, Magyar accused Orban’s government of bowing to Russia.

“Today, our country is led by a man who… with almost every action and every word, desecrates the legacy of 1956, which is the foundation of Hungarian freedom and constitutionalism,” he told the crowd.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Orban has refused to send weapons to Kyiv and urges a speedy ceasefire without any preconditions.

He warned that under a Kyiv-proposed “victory plan”, “we Hungarians would wake up one morning to find Slavic soldiers from the East stationed on Hungarian territory again”.

In his speech, Orban also accused Brussels of wanting to impose a “puppet government” under his rival, Magyar, in Hungary.

“We know that they want to force us into war. We know they want to force their migrants on us. We know they want to hand our children over to gender activists,” he added.

Orban has had frequent run-ins with Brussels on issues ranging from the rule of law to LGBTQ rights.

– ‘New level’ –

Orban’s ravings against the EU have reached “a new level,” according to the conservative Valasz Online news site, although he has “no intention of leaving the EU”.

“He is antagonising the Hungarian electorate against the EU because his current domestic political interests demand it: he and his advisers have devised a scheme to portray the growing opposition as a puppet of a foreign power,” it added.

In the previous two years, Orban marked the 1956 uprising at ceremonies held outside the capital.

The uprising is “a cornerstone of national identity… and has an identity-building power for Hungarians, including pro-government voters,” said Zoltan Ranschburg, a senior political analyst of the liberal-leaning Republikon Institute.

Recent opinion polls show support for Magyar’s party is surging, eroding the long-time solid lead of Orban’s party, while the opposition leader has vowed to fight what he says is Orban’s corrupt “system”.

ros-jza/sbk