People attend a pro-government rally named a 'Peace March' as part of events marking the 69th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, in Budapest, Hungary, October 23, 2025. REUTERS/Marton Monus
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday accused the European Union of wanting to impose a "puppet" government on Hungary and presented next year's election as a choice between peace or going to war to "die for Ukraine."
As tens of thousands of his supporters filled a central square in Budapest, Orban, under threat from a centre-right pro-EU opposition party, said Brussels wanted war and intended to eventually divide up Ukraine.
"This is why they want to squeeze Ukraine into the EU at any price...to bring war into Europe, and take [EU] money to Ukraine," Orban told the rally in front of parliament.
Orban, who has opposed the EU's policy of providing military aid to Kyiv, has long cast Ukraine as a threat to Hungarians, saying its potential EU membership would destroy agriculture and put Hungarian jobs and even pensions at risk. He reiterated his stance on Thursday, saying Ukraine must not be allowed to join the bloc.
The EU is set to agree in principle to finance Ukraine for the next two years at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. It rejects suggestions providing military aid prolongs the war and says it is helping Kyiv to defend itself.
PUTIN, TRUMP SUMMIT IN BUDAPEST CANCELLED
Hungary's commemoration on Thursday of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising that was crushed by the Red Army comes at a delicate time for Orban, who has kept good ties with the Kremlin despite the rest of the EU seeking to isolate Moscow.
Orban faces elections likely in April 2026, and the new opposition Tisza party of Peter Magyar, a former government insider, leads most opinion polls. Magyar, 44, addressed tens of thousands of his supporters at a rival rally on Thursday.
Orban, a longtime Trump ally, who has campaigned on wanting peace in Ukraine for years without saying at what price, was also pinning great hopes on a summit in Budapest between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But Trump has cancelled the summit citing a lack of diplomatic progress and slapped sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies. Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian crude and it was not immediately clear how the U.S. measures would affect its oil supply.
MAGYAR'S SUPPORTERS CALL FOR CHANGE
Magyar has accused Orban of running an increasingly authoritarian and corrupt government. The government has denied such allegations but Magyar has tapped into voter frustrations with Orban, especially as the economy is barely growing after an inflation shock. He has also promised to keep Hungary firmly anchored in the European Union and NATO.
Waving the national flag, Magyar took to the podium as his supporters filled Budapest's historic Heroes' Square. They shouted: "We have had enough" and "Russians go home".
Magyar recalled 1989 when Orban rose to fame as he stood up and demanded Soviet troops get out of Hungary during a ceremony for the reburial of former prime minister Imre Nagy, who led the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising.
"That politician who demanded Russian troops should leave Hungary, now is the most loyal ally of the Kremlin," Magyar said. "He built a system in which power is centralised, the press is under control...and the country is ruled by fear."
Supporters said it was time for change.
"I am fed up with this system, which has already been in place for 15 years," said Istvan Cirkusz, who said young people were fleeing the country.
"We are sliding downwards, GDP is at rock-bottom by European comparison."
(Reporting by Krisztina Than, Anita Komuves and Krisztina Fenyo; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Keith Weir)
