BUDAPEST—Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticized what he sees as a new oppressing force, the European Union, as he commemorated the 60th anniversary of the 1956 revolution against Soviet rule on Sunday.

Mr. Orban said Hungary must keep combating EU plans to welcome and assist refugees by fortifying its borders and regaining national control over migration policies.

"The task today of Europe's liberty-loving nations is to save Brussels from becoming like the Soviets—that they want to decide instead of us who and how we want to co-exist with," Mr. Orban said in a speech in front of parliament as he celebrated the spirit of the 1956 uprising, which was eventually crushed by Russian tanks. "We don't want an alliance of free European nations to be replaced by a United States of Europe."

Hungary is spearheading an informal coalition of former Soviet satellites, which joined the EU a little over a decade ago but has become increasingly vocal in calling for a looser union. The group, which includes Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, says it has grown tired of Brussels' "diktats."

"These two countries [Hungary and Poland], which are built on Christian foundations and independent within the EU, won't by any means let our traditions and freedom be taken away from us," Poland's President Andrzej Duda said in a speech during the commemorations in Budapest.

Mr. Orban says the hundreds of thousands of migrants coming mainly from Muslim countries and who have crossed into the EU in recent months threaten Hungary's Christian religious and cultural uniformity.

Mr. Orban's anti-immigration campaign has paid off at home, with his ruling Fidesz party credited with this year's peak approval ratings in October, according to Zavecz Research.

Still, the Hungarian prime minister faced a combative opposition from left-leaning parties on Sunday.

Rallying on another Budapest square, protesters lashed out at Mr. Orban, saying Hungary should play a more-constructive role inside the EU.

"Enough of the anti-EU politics and of the Orban government," Gabor Fodor, head of small Hungarian opposition party the Liberals, said earlier in the day.

Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 23, 2016 23:25 ET (03:25 GMT)

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