Orban endorses Polish conservative presidential candidate
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has endorsed right-wing Polish candidate Karol Nawrocki, backed by the conservative opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), days ahead of Poland's presidential election runoff.
This Sunday, Nawrocki will face Rafal Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw and candidate of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main ruling party.
"Long live Nawrocki," Orban said on Thursday, as quoted by Reuters, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held in Budapest.
Orban's government remains in sharp conflict with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his milieu. In December last year, Budapest granted asylum to Marcin Romanowski, who is facing charges in Poland over alleged corruption and misuse of public funds during his time as deputy minister of justice in the previous PiS government.
US President Donald Trump also addressed the CPAC participants in Budapest in a video message, calling Orban a "great man." Orban replied that Trump's reelection has "changed the world," and presented a plan to reshape the EU in a conservative fashion.
"This is not the Europe we were promised," Orban told the CPAC. "Brussels has stolen our future. Mass migration has destroyed public security, green dogmas have destroyed prosperity, and globalist governments are failing us. It's time to take Brussels."
CPAC is an annual meeting of conservative leaders and activists in the US. In recent years, it has shifted toward Trump and away from traditional conservatism. CPAC meetings are also organised in other countries.
On Tuesday, CPAC was also held for the first time in Poland, in the southeastern village of Jasionka near Rzeszow. It was attended by outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda.
On May 1, Nawrocki attended the National Day of Prayer at the White House and later met with the US president in the Oval Office. Trump has long enjoyed close relations both with PiS and Duda. (PAP)
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