Orban hopes for less influential Germany in EU

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wants the next German government to have less influence on the European Union, he told a party conference on Sunday, reported dpa.

"I hope that the German government currently forming will want more of a European Germany than a German Europe in which they say to others what they should do," Orban told a gathering of his right-wing nationalist Fidesz in Budapest.

As expected, delegates re-elected him leader of the party at the event.

Orban has governed Hungary as the head of Fidesz since 2010 with an almost uninterrupted two-thirds majority in parliament.

Parliamentary elections are due next spring.

Until March this year, Fidesz was a member of the European People's Party (EPP), which includes outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel Christian Democrats (CDU).

At the party conference, Orban reiterated his support for a "reorganization of the right" in Europe - siding with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of Poland's governing nationalist-conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS).

Fidesz left the EPP alliance after differences between Orban and the German camp came to a head amid concerns over democracy and the rule of law.

The EU had already initiated several proceedings against Hungary for violations of the rule of law.

Critics accuse the German conservatives of having blocked demands from other EPP members to expel Fidesz for years.