Viktor Orban walks EU tightrope as Hungary’s election race hots up

Orban may have to temper his anti-Europe rhetoric as he faces an opposition candidate cut from similar cloth, reports William Nattrass

Viktor Orban is set to face his toughest challenge to date in next year’s elections (REUTERS)

The European Union has become a “rainbow-coloured shadow of itself”, and “if it goes on like this, it will waste away like the waning moon”, if Hungary’s leader is to be believed.

In these surprisingly poetic and poignant terms, Viktor Orban took yet another swipe at Brussels during his Fidesz party’s annual conference in Budapest last weekend.

Yet after his uncontested and ceremonial re-election as party leader, the prime minister insisted that he does not want to take Hungary out of the EU. His unusual speech indicated the tricky balancing act facing the Hungarian strongman ahead of 2022 general elections, which could prove Orban’s toughest challenge to date after more than a decade in power.