Hungary PM says Fidesz may drop out of EPP: radio

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday his ruling nationalist Fidesz party may drop out of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) amid a row over his government's anti-Brussels media campaign.

On Tuesday EPP group leader Manfred Weber demanded Fidesz take down billboards attacking European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker which were part of its campaign ahead of European Parliament elections in May.

Orban's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas later said the posters would be replaced next week by others touting Orban's plans to lift the birth rate and that Fidesz wanted to stay in the EPP.

Speaking to public radio, Orban said he would still prefer to reform the EPP, swinging it towards an anti-immigration platform, but also raised the prospect of Fidesz quitting the EPP, which will meet on March 20 to discuss the matter.

“The debate may end up with (Fidesz) finding its place not within but outside the People's Party,” Orban said in an interview. If we need to start something new ... then obviously the first place to hold talks will be in Poland."

Orban noted that Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party is not a member of the EPP.

He said he talked with both Juncker and Weber on Thursday and on Sunday he planned to visit Poland, a major regional ally.

Warsaw and Budapest have previously vowed to block any sanctions against either eastern European Union member state over what critics see as a backsliding on democratic standards.

Orban said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki would visit Budapest on the March 15 national holiday next week, when Orban is due to hold a memorial speech he has often laced with criticism of Brussels.

The head of the PiS party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland's de facto leader, is Orban's ally and the two have met occasionally to discuss European affairs.