Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said yesterday that the European Union was at risk of "falling apart", claiming that only a multi-speed integration model could save the bloc.

The central idea of a multi-speed union is allowing some members to go faster — or slower — towards European integration with regard to certain policies and topics.

The nationalist leader, known for wielding veto rights in the EU and criticising Brussels, made the remarks after delivering his yearly speech at a summer university in Baile Tusnad, a town in Romania's Transylvania region, home to a sizeable ethnic Hungarian minority.

Answering a question on what he would do if he were head of the European commission, Orban said he would give rights back to nation states and start building a "Europe of concentric circles".

The first such circle would be focused on security and could include Turkiye and Ukraine, both of which have ambitions of joining the EU, said Orban, who has raised a series of objections and obstacles to Ukraine's EU integration.

The second circle would include economic integration and the Schengen free movement area, in which he says Hungary should stay.

The third would be the current eurozone, and the fourth would be a circle of "constitutional institutions" for those member states striving for an "ever closer union".

"Building this Europe made up of concentric circles is the only way to save the European Union. Otherwise, it'll fall apart, disintegrate, and start connecting to external reference points, like the British," Orban argued.

The Hungarian premier cited migration as an example, as Hungary and a few other countries have been seeking an opt-out from the bloc's common asylum policy.

Orban also reiterated his threat to veto the next long-term EU budget unless Brussels unfreezes billions of euros in bloc funding it withheld over corruption and rule-of-law concerns.

"The adoption of the new seven-year budget requires unanimity. And until we get our outstanding money, there will be no new European budget," he said, vowing not to "make any concessions on our sovereignty."

The European Commission recently presented plans for a €2tn ($2.3-tn) budget for 2028-34 that aims to boost the bloc's competitiveness and defence capabilities.