Hungary PM becomes first EU leader to endorse Trump

BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday became the first European leader to endorse US presidential candidate Donald Trump, calling him a "better option" for the bloc than his rival, Hillary Clinton.

"I am not a Donald Trump campaigner. I never thought it would occur to me that of the available options, he would be the better one for Europe and for Hungary", Orban said in an annual speech at a summer school in Baile Tusnad in Romania.

The right-wing leader said he was swayed by security proposals Trump had made in his acceptance speech as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee on Thursday night.

Depicting America as a country mired in violence, Trump had vowed to increase intelligence efforts, suspend immigration from nations "compromised by terrorism", and stop a "failed policy of nation-building and regime change" in places like Syria and Iraq.

Orban is also a fervent opponent of immigration -- particularly from Muslim nations -- and has blamed recent terror attacks in Europe on the bloc’s refugee crisis, which erupted last summer.

"Trump has made some proposals about stopping terrorism, that I as a European couldn’t have said better regarding what would be best for Europe", Orban said.

Orban stressed Europe had to create a network of national intelligence agencies that matched "the world’s best".

He also supported Trump’s push to "abandon the policy of exporting democracy".

Orban said the West’s toppling of authoritarian "but stable" regimes in Libya, Syria and Iraq had sparked chaos and unleashed the influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

"If we prioritise democracy-building rather than stability in those regions where stability is more important, then we are kindling insecurity," he said.