AFP/EPA Viktor Orban has launched a scathing attack on European leaders

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In an astonishingly savage tirade the country’s leader Viktor Orban described the EU elite as serial “failures” and openly goaded struggling western European nations, describing them as “stagnated and incapable of change”. The hardline Prime Minister called for a radical overhaul of the European project, decrying the growing loss of sovereignty to Brussels as a disaster and “one of the greatest threats in Europe today”.

And he issued a stunning rebuke to Mrs Merkel on migration, blaming recent terror attacks on the mas influx of refugees and saying Hungary no longer looked up to its near neighbour as a paragon of stability and common sense. Mr Orban’s stunning broadside comes at a time of unparalleled acrimony amongst EU countries, who are falling out over everything from the Brexit result to how to deal with the Eurozone crisis.

REUTERS The Hungarian PM blasted Brussels over migration and federalism

REUTERS He said creeping Brussels federalism had dented democracy in Europe

At the heart of Europe’s malaise is the fast-approaching point of no return on federalism, where members will be forced to choose between the creation of a United States of Europe or a return to a loosely allied trading bloc. And the Hungary PM was clear where his nation will stand as he railed against the “undemocratic” EU Commission which he blamed for driving a wrecking ball through the life chances of hundreds of millions of young Europeans. In a speech laced with menace and reproach he had particularly scathing words for the founding nations of the EU, who he described as an “old Europe” which were being left behind by newer, more dynamic members. His stinging description of western Europe as “stagnating” will hit home hard in France, Germany and Spain, where economic growth has tanked and unemployment rocketed.

EPA He said the EU had prevented nations from dealing with migration

EPA And he argued that migration will bring more terror and chaos

In an openly divisive move he contrasted their woes with the “prosperous” east - dubbed “New Europe” - which he called “viable, full of energy, capable of renewal, and seeking answers to new challenges”. And he issued a tough warning to belligerent Brussels bureaucrats over migration, saying that other European nations would come around to Hungary’s no-nonsense way of thinking as the reality of regular terror attacks set in. He said: “We must make it clear that our problem is not in Mecca, but in Brussels. The obstacle for us is not Islam, but the bureaucrats in Brussels. “We would be able to deal with Islam if we were allowed to deal with it in the way we think we should.”

Our problem is not in Mecca, but in Brussels Hungary PM Viktor Orban

In a withering putdown he also dismissed the EU elite’s delusions of grandeur, insisting that post-Brexit the bloc had ceased to be a “global player” and was now struggling to be of significance even in its own region. Pointing to Brussels’ totally ineffectual role in the Ukraine peace process - which has been led by Russia and the US - he said that Britain’s decision to leave had “ended” the bloc’s attempts to be an international influencer. And in a scathing assessment he said: “It is unable to protect its own citizens, it is unable to protect its external borders. “It is unable to keep the community together, as Britain, the United Kingdom, has just left. “What more is needed for one to openly declare that Europe’s political leadership has failed? It is unable to achieve a single one of its goals.”

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