Hungary PM Orban tells US conservatives global right must unite

Right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Thursday that "globalists can all go to hell," as he invited American conservatives to join hands in a worldwide fight against progressives.

The nationalist leader was guest of honor at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas, where his tub-thumping speech was greeted with wild applause.

"We have seen what kind of future the globalist ruling class has to offer, but we have a different future in mind. The globalists can all go to hell," he told a cheering crowd.

"We must take back the institutions in Washington and in Brussels. We must find friends and allies in one another. We must coordinate the movement of our troops because we face the same challenge."

CPAC, an annual gathering of conservative activists from around the United States, is also expected to hear from former US president Donald Trump, who has spoken admiringly of Orban.

Orban's authoritarian populism jibes with the crowd at CPAC, but goes down less well at NATO and in Europe, where his support for Russia's President Vladimir Putin puts him at odds with other leaders.

His appearance Thursday comes after he provoked a storm with a speech European politicians slammed as "openly racist."

Orban sparked fury after he warned against mixing with "non-Europeans" in Romania's Transylvania region, home to a Hungarian community.

"We do not want to become peoples of mixed race," Orban said.

Orban, known for his anti-migrant policy, has made similar remarks in the past but without using the Hungarian term for "race," according to experts.

Speaking in English in Dallas, he avoided the word, but returned to a familiar theme invoking Europe's religious heritage.

"If you separate the Western civilization from its Judeo-Christian heritage, the worst things in history happen," he told the audience.

"The horrors of Nazism and communism happened because some Western states in continental Europe abandoned their Christian values."