Viktor Orban has been criticised for choosing “Make Europe Great Again” as the slogan for the Hungarian presidency of the EU.
Pro-EU politicians have spoken out against the nationalist prime minister who had channelled Donald Trump’s motto for Budapest’s six-month term of chairing intergovernmental talks, which begins on July 1.
Daniel Freund, a green member of the European Parliament and staunch critic of Mr Orban, was not impressed.
“Call me old-fashioned but referencing the slogan of a former US president who supported the lynching of politicians and the overthrow of a democratic system is not really what I want to see from a Presidency of the Council of the EU,” he said.
“To truly make Europe great again, you need to reform it in exactly the opposite way of Orbán,” said Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister.
Mr Verhofstadt, who is also the European Parliament’s former Brexit pointman and an arch-federalist, said the bloc needed to do away with national vetoes on EU foreign policy like sanctions.
Mr Orban, an ally of Mr Trump, has repeatedly blocked aid to Ukraine and delayed sanctions on Russia until concessions can be extracted from the bloc.
The European Commission has frozen billions of euros in funding to Hungary over accusations that Mr Orban has eroded democratic standards.
The European Parliament has called on Brussels to do more to bring Mr Orban to heel.
Janos Boka, the EU affairs minister of Hungary, unveiled the provocative slogan at a press conference in Brussels.
“I’m not sure if President Trump ever wanted to make Europe great again,” he said when asked about the choice of motto.
“This is a reference to an active presidency,” he claimed.
Mr Orban has repeatedly backed Mr Trump to win the US presidential elections in November and claimed he will end the war in Ukraine.
“We can’t get involved in another country’s elections, but we would really like President Donald Trump to return to the presidency and make peace here in the eastern half of Europe,” he said in February.
“Make Europe great again!” he added. “MAGA there, MEGA here.”
Hungary has said it will focus on defence, energy cooperation, migration and the enlargement of the EU to countries in the Western Balkans during its presidency.
There are fears in Brussels that Budapest will try to use the presidency for its own ends, rather than act as an honest broker to find consensus, as it is meant to do.
The incoming presidency, which will see Hungarian diplomats chair important meetings, also unveiled the Rubik’s cube as its logo.
The puzzle was invented by a Hungarian and was described as “the essence of Hungarian genius” by Budapest’s Europe minister.
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