"We are not interested in the EPP as it is today," Viktor Orbán said | Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images Orbán: New conservative group needed if EPP stays on ‘liberal’ path The prime minister’s Fidesz party was suspended from the center-right group last year.

A new conservative party grouping may be needed if the European People's Party continues on its current path, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Thursday.

The EPP — Europe's dominant center-right political family — is getting weaker and heading in a more liberal, socialist and centrist direction, Orbán said, speaking at his annual international press conference on domestic and foreign policy.

"We are not interested in the EPP as it is today. We are interested in the future EPP, and the future EPP should be different," Orbán said, adding that the question is whether his party can have an impact on the EPP from the inside, and that the answer would come in the next few weeks.

"If EPP is unable to change itself [in another] direction, I think in the future European politics will need a new European initiative which is Christian Democrat ... If we cannot reach a change inside EPP, we will initiate something new in the European politics," he said, adding that it is necessary to create a right-wing "counterbalance" to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Orbán's ruling Fidesz party was suspended from the EPP party family last March over rule-of-law concerns and Fidesz's anti-Brussels rhetoric, though the party's 13 MEPs remain in the EPP group in the European Parliament. The EPP is set to revisit the issue of Fidesz's membership over the coming weeks.

One senior ECR official said that Orbán might not only want to join the party family but “create something bigger."

In his press conference, Orbán also spoke of "dramatic changes" and "restructuring" underway in the European party landscape, pointing to the meteoric rise of Macron's La République En Marche and the traditionally dominant parties' inability to form a stable majority following last year's European Parliament election.

A senior Fidesz member told POLITICO last week that the party is seriously considering leaving the EPP.

Earlier this week, Orbán met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party leader Jarosław Kaczyński. In a tweet, PiS — Poland's ruling party, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group — wrote that the leaders discussed "common actions of our parties in the EU."

One senior ECR official said that Orbán might not only want to join the party family but “create something bigger," such as a political group that would unite PiS, Fidesz and Italy's League party. The League is currently the leading force within the European Parliament's far-right Identity & Democracy group.

Orbán told journalists that he needs to meet with German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, EPP President Donald Tusk and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz before he can address the question of Fidesz's EPP membership.

The prime minister also discussed Hungary's economic growth and climate goals, calling for wealthier EU countries to pick up the tab when it comes to financing the green transition. Asked about the situation in Iran, the prime minister said that the European position — which he described as "not clear" — ought to move closer to that of the United States and Israel.

A number of journalists were not allowed to attend Thursday's press conference, including reporters representing a popular news website and two small outlets known for their in-depth corruption investigations.

In response to questions from television channel RTL Klub on why he only holds a big press conference once a year, why some reporters could not attend and why RTL is often unable to ask questions to government officials, Orbán said that he is available to speak with some reporters all year long, but he does not engage in "unnecessary arguments" where there are obvious "bad intentions."