EPA Viktor Orban has hit out at Brussels chiefs including Jean-Claude Juncker in the wake of Brexit

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In a furious speech Viktor Orban said the EU’s power remains in its member states not in its institutions such as the European Commission based in Brussels. He said: “Those 27 countries who remain the part of the EU should practice self-criticism. “If we want to restore the democratic nature of the EU, we should return to the thought that the base of the European Union is its countries and not its institutions. The European Union is not in Brussels, but in the 27, or - for the time being – in its 28 European capitals, that has got a co-operation centre in Brussels.

The European Union is not in Brussels, but in its 28 European capitals Viktor Orban

“We should divide the question of the EU membership from the question of migration. It is possible to create European migration politics, in harmony with the Hungarian national interest.” A staunch EU critic, Mr Orban also said the bloc’s failure to manage the migrant crisis was to blame for Britain voting to leave the EU and warned further referendums could follow. He said: "The important question is what lessons to draw from what happened, for us Europeans who are still members of the European Union and want to stay in.

"If the EU cannot solve the migration situation then such challenges as we saw in the case of the United Kingdom will increase." Mr Orban's ruling Fidesz party has initiated a referendum of its own, to be held in September or October, on whether Hungary should reject any future mandatory quotas from Brussels to resettle migrants arriving en masse from countries such as Syria. Hungary, which built a fence on its southern border to keep out migrants, has repeatedly accused the EU of weakness in the face of the crisis, calling for tough policies like fortified borders and strict immigration procedures.

GETTY The EU is greater than its institutions argued Mr Orban

EPA Mr Orban hit out at Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker

Politicians in several other countries have proposed referendums of their own on EU membership, largely on the grounds of what they see as a failed immigration policy. He said: "Plebiscites are raised in more and more places because the European Union is seen as unable to tackle the situation. “And it criticises countries that remedy the situation on their own, instead of honouring and supporting them. That is bad politics."

Brexit: EU Summit Wed, June 29, 2016 David Cameron will today plead for 'constructive' talks with EU leaders in preparing for Britain’s exit from the EU. Play slideshow 1 of 41