Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he was ready to travel to Brussels to “occupy” the European Union capital to “protect Hungary’s freedom and sovereignty” ahead of European Parliament elections, Reuters reported.

Orban, a nationalist who has been in power for 14 years, hopes his Fidesz party will take advantage of the rise of the far right in Europe as Hungary prepares to take over the EU presidency in the second half of this year.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Budapest to mark Hungary’s National Day, which commemorates the 1848 Revolution against the Habsburg Monarchy, Orbán said the European Parliament elections were an opportunity

“If we want to protect Hungary’s freedom and sovereignty, we have no choice but to occupy Brussels,” Orbán told a crowd of around 1,000 supporters.

“We will march in Brussels and bring new changes to the European Union itself,” he said.

Orbán has been at odds with the European Union for years on a wide range of issues, most recently his stance on the war in Ukraine and maintaining close ties with Russia despite the conflict in the neighboring country.

In his speech on Friday, he accused the EU’s actions of having a negative impact on farmers and the middle class, harming companies and “above all, [aduc] Europe is at war.” He also accused the EU of “turning against the Europeans”.

His comments came after the European Parliament announced earlier this week that it would take the Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen to court over its decision to unfreeze some of the EU funds earmarked for Hungary.

Viktor Orban argues with both the EU and the USA

The commission has blocked billions of euros in funds that were supposed to be allocated to Hungary due to the deterioration of the rule of law under Orbán.

But last December, the European Commission decided to unblock more than 10 billion euros of funds in a move that many saw as a concession to Orban from using his veto power to block the start of EU accession talks with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.

The Hungarian prime minister’s new comments on Friday also come just days after his government launched a veritable war of words with the United States after President Joe Biden said Orbán wanted to install a “dictatorship” in Hungary .

“Nothing compels us to accept such lies from anyone, not even the president of the United States,” Péter Szijjártó, Orbán’s foreign minister, said on Tuesday, adding that David Pressman, the US ambassador to Budapest, had been summoned to the Hungarian ministry. foreign minister and that he was asked to present a statement in which Viktor Orbán said that he does not believe that democracy works.

Two days later, Budapest’s foreign minister called the Democratic Party administration in Washington “pro-war, pro-gender (without reference to gender identity politics) and pro-immigration”, blaming US criticism of Hungary on ideological differences.

Ambassador Pressman, an outspoken critic of the Orbán government and himself a favorite target of Budapest attacks, confirmed that he had been summoned “as a matter of urgency”, ironically saying in a US embassy press release that he welcomed “the opportunity to discuss the state of Hungarian democracy”.