BUDAPEST: Hungarian prime minister Peter Magyar said Friday that the country was striving to be a reliable EU partner, as he sought to rebuild trust with allies after Viktor Orban's 16-year rule.
His speech, given on the national day commemorating the 70th anniversary of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, which was brutally crushed by Moscow with tanks, was in stark contrast to Kremlin-friendly nationalist Orban, who frequently used such addresses to attack Brussels and compare the EU to the Soviet Union.
"Hungary is not a 'ferry country', it cannot drift endlessly between East and West. In 1956, the Hungarian people made a clear choice: we belong to a free, democratic Europe," Magyar told a crowd in front of the parliament waving a sea of national flags.
"We want to be reliable allies who sit at the shared table with our heads held high, not fortune-seekers who isolate themselves through blackmail and pursuing a separate path," he added.
Hungary hosted EU leaders, prime ministers and other foreign dignitaries from over 40 countries for the commemoration.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed a ceremonial session of the parliament boycotted by the opposition, including Orban's Fidesz party.
In the crowd outside, Magyar's supporters said they felt the pro-EU turn was long overdue.
"Hungary never turned its back on the EU -- it was our (previous) government that did. We have finally regained our country, so that our room for manoeuvre remains within the right parameters, just as we had hoped it would be," Attila Rothi, a 56-year-old stock trader, told AFP.
"We belong there, and so we must find our place within that community, even if that involves offering criticism (of the EU). And I believe Magyar is doing just that," said Veronika, 68, a retiree, who refused to give her last name.
She cited as examples financing for Ukraine and migration policy, where Magyar is seen following his predecessor's hardline policies.
"But let us be constructive, and not hostile," she added.