Jarosław Kaczyński | Radek Pietruszka/EPA Kaczyński: Hungary will point Europe ‘in right direction’ Polish conservative leader backs Orbán in pre-election Budapest visit.

Jarosław Kaczyński, Poland's de facto leader, threw his weight on Friday behind Viktor Orbán, a fellow critic of deeper EU integration, on a visit to Hungary just ahead of its general election.

Kaczyński said Prime Minister Orbán, whose Fidesz party is predicted to retain its parliamentary majority in Sunday's vote, will help point the bloc "in the right direction." The EU's strength must be based "on the strength of national states and their voluntary cooperation," he said.

"Our friendship paves a way for our nations to be independent and free to decide about our fate and internal affairs," Polish outlet Onet quoted the conservative leader as saying. "This is not a pathway against Europe, this is pointing Europe in the right direction."

Kaczyński, who leads Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), also attended the unveiling of a monument to the 96 victims of a 2010 plane crash in Russia in which a number of high-level Polish dignitaries died, including his brother, then-President Lech Kaczyński. His government has been locked in a feud with European Council President Donald Tusk — who was prime minister when the crash took place — since PiS came to power in 2015.

Both the Polish and Hungarian governments have clashed with Brussels over their brand of conservative nationalism, with critics accusing them of rolling back press freedom, undermining civil society and failing to show solidarity with other EU nations by refusing EU-mandated quotas of migrants.

Kaczyński's right-wing Polish government has also come under pressure from Brussels for its controversial changes to the legal system, which the European Commission says undermines judicial independence.

The Commission in December took the unprecedented step of invoking Article 7 against Poland, a procedure that could see the country lose its voting rights as an EU member for violating the bloc’s democratic principles. But Hungary has said it would side with Poland and veto any such sanction against Warsaw.