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| - Nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday backed US President Donald Trump for re-election, hailing him as good for Central Europe. The two firebrand leaders tout a close relationship. Trump, who shares Orban's anti-immigrant sentiment, last year welcomed the Hungarian to the White House and praised him despite criticism of the erosion of democracy in the EU country. Orban, in power since 2010, said Trump had called him at home on Thursday, and they discussed the November election in the US and the handling of the new coronavirus pandemic. "The US president is on particularly close, one could almost say friendly terms with all the Central Europe leaders," Orban said during his weekly public radio interview. "This is why we, or at least I am personally supporting him to win the election," he said. In 2016, Orban was the first European premier to endorse Trump, calling him a "better option" for the European Union than his then rival Hillary Clinton. Since then, while often voicing support for Trump, Orban has also forged close ties with both Moscow and Beijing, part of what he calls a "pragmatic" foreign policy. He has often been at odds with Brussels amid international criticism of government restrictions on media, academic and other freedoms, as well as its strict stand against refugees. Hungary closed its borders to foreigners this month, citing virus fears while exempting the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia -- countries of the so-called Visegrad group that often align on EU policy, especially migration. The EU has warned Budapest over the exemption, noting that discriminating among member states violates rules governing the EU's passport-free Schengen area. Hungary's near 10 million population has so far been spared the worst of the pandemic -- reporting Friday a total of 10,909 infections and 631 deaths -- but cases have surged in recent weeks. pmu/jza/bp
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