Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, said on Saturday that Budapest would fight to defend Poland as the European Union (EU) threatens Warsaw with sanctions over its plans to extend government control over its courts.

Calling for “patriotic governance” against the EU, Orban said Poland was a victim of harassment from Brussels, in the same way, he said Hungary had been in its sights since he took power in 2010.

Orban braded EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans an inquisitor and said he was involved in an “effort to weaken patriotic governments”.

In an annual speech that was televised from Baile Tusnad, Romania, where he was attending a gathering of conservative leaders, Orban said Brussels was wrong to demand solidarity among EU states over issues such as a mandatory quota that aimed to spread hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the continent.

Poland’s ruling party on Saturday dismissed a growing wave of criticism from abroad and worries at home that an overhaul of the Supreme Court would undermine judicial independence.