Close associates of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban are responsible for organizing farmers' protests in Brussels during the past week, writes the American newspaper Financial Times.
The Hungarian prime minister met personally with protesters in the Belgian capital on Wednesday ahead of an EU summit on aid to Ukraine, expressing support for what he described as "the voice of the people".
The farmers, thousands of whom descended on Brussels, camped outside the EU Parliament building, where they burned pallets, piled manure and threw eggs, stones and fireworks. They have also blockaded the Belgian capital using around 1,300 tractors.
Similar demonstrations have been seen in other EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Poland. Farmers are protesting EU agricultural policies, environmental standards and rising fuel prices and highlighting the threat to their livelihoods posed by cheap Ukrainian imports.
The Financial Times wrote that Orban has been linked to a number of nationalist movements across the EU, as well as recent farmers' protests. The paper claims that France's National Rally party previously received a loan from a Hungarian bank run by Orban associates. Budapest also allegedly funded anti-immigration ads on YouTube in Poland ahead of last year's parliamentary elections in the country.