Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview with public radio on Friday that members of the Tisza Party "are not ashamed to be working against their own country but are proud of it.
In connection with recent remarks made by a Tisza Party MEP in a European Parliament committee meeting, PM Orbán said Hungarian voters had elected MEPs "to represent Hungary's interests in Brussels and, if necessary, to fight for Hungary".
He said that as prime minister, he fought for the interests of the Hungarians and had succeeded in securing half of the EU funds due to Hungary.
PM Orbán said Tisza members were "happy if things go badly in Hungary" because they saw this as beneficial to the opposition.
Referring to Ferenc Gyurcsany's infamous "lies" speech, the former prime minister made in Oszod, PM Orbán insisted that Tisza was trying to explain that "it's the right thing ... to work against their own country".
Politics, he added, "is not about power but about the country" and serving the people.
"Anyone capable of doing anything for power and money can't ever be trusted," PM Orbán added.