Hungary to support Poland amid European 'inquisition': PM Orban

[July 22, 2017]    BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday that Budapest would fight to defend Poland as the European Union threatens Warsaw with sanctions over its plans to extend government control over its courts.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban listens during a news conference in Budapest, Hungary, July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

Poland is moving ahead with an overhaul of its supreme court despite street protests and the threat of EU sanctions.

"The inquisition offensive against Poland can never succeed because Hungary will use all legal options in the European Union to show solidarity with the Poles," Orban said in a televised speech in Baile Tusnad, Romania.

Like Polish leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Orban has locked horns with Brussels for years over a perceived disrespect for democratic freedoms and has increasingly posed as a freedom fighter against EU overreach.

(Reporting by Marton Dunai; editing by David Clarke)

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