Orban told not to take European leaders for 'stupid'

(BRUSSELS) - Hungarian premier Viktor Orban was warned Tuesday not to take Europe's leaders for 'stupid" by saying one thing in Budapest, and another in Brussels.

"Prime Minister Orban is an efficient man," said the newly-named president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, after meeting the Hungarian leader.

"He is an efficient man by taking on board in Brussels the European rhetoric and to blame the same rhetoric when he is in Budapest as a kind of inadmissible approach," added the German Socialist MEP.

"So the Europeans should take into account that he is a clever man as a party leader but he should take into account that the European leaders are not stupid," Schulz said.

Orban was in Brussels for high-level talks to settle a row with the European Union over controversial new laws that have snarled Budapest's bid for much-needed credit and set off EU legal action.

The European Commission launched legal action against his government on January 17 over new legislation seen as threatening the independence of three key institutions -- the central bank, judiciary and data protection authority.