Viktor Orbán celebrated by Europe’s far right before Hungary election

France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders among speakers praising prime minister at Budapest event Marine Le Pen has called Viktor Orbán “an exceptional leader” and Geert Wilders hailed “a lion on a continent led by sheep” as Europe’s far-right figureheads rallied round Hungary’s prime minister before an election that polls suggest he may lose. “Hungary has become a symbol in Europe of a proud and sovereign people’s resistance against oppression,” Le Pen, the parliamentary leader of France’s National Rally (RN), told a gathering of EU-sceptical leaders in Budapest on Monday. “Hungary has achieved this status under the leadership of none other than prime minister Viktor Orbán,” said Le Pen, a frontrunner in France’s 2027 presidential vote if she wins an appeal against a conviction in a graft case. She praised Orbán’s “intelligence, courage and vision”. Wilders, the head of the far-right Dutch Freedom party (PVV), told the so-called Patriots’ Grand Assembly – named after the nationalists’ political group in the European parliament – that Orbà n had “shown what it means to stand tall”. The Hungarian prime minister “k