Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said: "The Western world now has a patriotic, pro-peace, anti-migration and pro-family president taking office in Washington, and within a matter of hours, even the sun will shine differently over Brussels.
"A new president in America, a large patriotic group in Brussels, great enthusiasm, patriots who love their country; so the great attack can begin: I hereby launch the second phase of the operation aimed at occupying Brussels!" PM Orbán said at a conference evaluating Hungary's EU presidency in Budapest on Monday.
At the conference organized by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium and the 21st Century Institute, dubbed Successful Hungarian Presidency 2024 - Chance for the European Union, the prime minister said: "Brussels is being kept under occupation by an oligarchy coordinated by the left-liberal and transatlantic elite." "This is a regime that's not European but global; it isn't a democracy but an oligarchy, and it is federal rather than based on the sovereignty of nation states," he said.
PM Orbán referred to "a progressive liberal front stuffed with George Soros's money ... attacking us because we are sovereigntist and patriotic, too."
"They're attacking us because we insist that the rule of law should apply to Brussels," he said. "They're also attacking us because we demand that the fight against corruption should also extend to Brussels, too."
PM Orbán mentioned former justice commissioner Didier Reynders as an example, noting that Reynders had "accused Hungary of violating the rule of law for years and of corruption, and now he is being prosecuted for corruption and abuse of office."
PM Orbán said he knew their tactics. "They resort to every means possible, promising positions, scholarships, appreciation, publicity, power and money; and if need be, they make threats of fines, financial sanctions and stripping you of your voting rights."
"There will always be people thinking that this is the lesser evil; but unless that downward spiral of blackmail is ended, it will become worse," he warned.
PM Orbán mentioned Poland as an example, saying Brussels hired "new minions" to "control member states", adding that "it was actually Brussels bureaucrats that replaced Poland's conservative government with the incumbent liberal cabinet."
PM Orbán said the strength of the right wing "does not come from Brussels or from the approval of the left-liberal elite but from the authorisation of European citizens." Last year's European elections brought a right-wing majority "realistically close", he said, insisting that it could replace the incumbent "elite" in Brussels.
Hungary'S EU presidency, meanwhile, "showed the necessity for change and proved that change is possible". The situation now was better than in 2024, because "not only have right-wing forces strengthened, the flagship of Western liberal politics has also been wrecked."
PM Orbán also called Hungary's EU presidency "the start of a new era". He said the upcoming era would be recorded in history books as "one in which Donald Trump and European patriots started transforming the Western world". He said the world was witnessing the "rise of the East, of Asia", and "the world order created and dominated by the Anglo-Saxons is over."