Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán today denied this at the close summit of the European political community to be isolated in the EU, reports France Press.
“Let's be clear. If you have a difference of opinion with (the other 26 EU countries), that's not isolation. That's discussion, that's democracy,” Orban said at the end of the forum he hosted in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. .
But his comments caused laughter among those present, AFP noted.
Hungary's nationalist prime minister rarely agrees with his European counterparts. Orban regularly vetoes their decisions and criticizes Brussels on a number of issues – from aid to Ukraine to the rights of the LGBT community to migration, according to AFP.
“Isolated means not participating in discussions. And we continue to fight to make our arguments heard,” Orbán said. He stressed that no national leader in the European political community was boycotting the summit in Budapest, even though the meeting had been preceded by months of tension.
“We will fight again in Brussels,” the Hungarian prime minister stressed and promised “another surprise” in the nearly two months until the end of Hungary's presidency of the EU Council.
/NS/