PM Orban: Hungary will block any punitive EU action on Poland

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday said that Hungary sees a strong Poland as a vital component of a central European caucus within the European Union, and so will block any action to suspend Poland's voting rights in the EU. Orban said Poland, under fire from Brussels for its transformation of the judiciary, was being criticized unfairly and unjustly. He spelled out that Hungary would not subscribe to an attempt to invoke the EU's Article 7 sanction process. "We need to make it clear to the EU that it is pointless even to start proceedings against Poland as there is no chance of seeing it through - because Hungary will be there and form an insurmountable road block," Orban said. (Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Kevin Liffey)