Hungary’s Orban backs Polish nationalist presidential candidate Nawrocki at CPAC

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BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban championed Polish nationalist presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki at the CPAC Hungary conference on Thursday and announced a “patriotic plan” that he said should “transform” the European Union.  

Nationalist Orban, who has been a long-time ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the United States’ most prominent conservative gathering, in Budapest.

“Long live Nawrocki,” Orban said ahead of Sunday’s second round of the Polish presidential election.

The candidate from Poland’s ruling Civic Coalition (KO), Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, leads Nawrocki in the latest polls ahead of the vote.

Trump addressed the Budapest conference in a pre-recorded video message and called Orban a “great man”. 

Orban, who early next year faces the toughest election challenge since he swept to power in 2010, has scaled up his attacks on the media and LGBTQ+ people since Trump’s inauguration in January.

On Thursday he said Trump’s reelection has “changed the world” and presented a plan to reshape the EU in a conservative fashion.

Orban again rejected EU membership for Ukraine, said he opposed joint European taxation or borrowing, and reiterated his stance on protecting national sovereignty.

“We want to take Europe back from migrants. We want a Christian culture, schools based on national principles,” Orban said in his speech.     

He also welcomed former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis as a speaker at the conference and endorsed the populist politician ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for early October.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, another Orban ally, is also scheduled to address CPAC later in the day.    

(Reporting by Anita Komuves and Krisztina ThanEditing by Bernadette Baum and Sharon Singleton)