Hungary: Officials compare Germany’s Martin Schulz to Hitler

BUDAPEST, Hungary – A Hungarian government official has criticized the suggestion by Germany’s Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz that the EU should become a federal “United States of Europe” and countries that refuse should be forced to leave the bloc, saying that is the kind of “ultimatum” Hungary last received from Adolf Hitler.

Janos Lazar, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, said Thursday that Hungary does not want to give up any of the national powers it has under present EU rules.

Meanwhile, Laszlo Surjan, a Hungarian former vice-president of the European Parliament, said Schulz’s aggressiveness was unacceptable, adding “this is the voice that reminds me of Adolf Hitler.”

Hungary was on Germany’s side during World War II, but Hitler invaded the country in 1944 when Hungary was seeking an armistice with Allied forces.