European Union officials have slammed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's recent comments widely viewed as racist, arguing on Saturday they have no place in the bloc.

During a visit to Romania last weekend, Orban said: "There is the world in which the European peoples mix with the arrivals from outside Europe. That is a mixed-race world."

In contrast, he said, there is the Carpathian Basin, for example, where European peoples such as Hungarians, Romanians, Slovaks mix with each other. "We are ready to mix with each other, but we don't want to become mixed-race."

Orban has tried to put his remarks into context since last weekend.

In an interview that appeared on the Slovakian news website akutality.sk, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reiterated the point that the union is based on mutual values.

"Discriminating on the basis of race is a blow to these values," she said, without ever specifically mentioning the Hungarian prime minister or saying she was commenting on any kind of racist utterance.

"The European Union is built on equality, tolerance, justice and fairness," she told the publication, arguing that all members are requried to uphold those values.

But the leaders of the various political groups represented in the European Parliament were more direct in a Saturday statement, specifically addressing Orban and his comments.

"We, the leaders of the political groups of the European Parliament, strongly condemn the recent openly racist declaration by Prime Minister Orban about not wanting to become 'peoples of mixed race,'" a statement published on Saturday said. "Such unacceptable statements, which clearly constitute a breach of our values, also enshrined in the EU treaties, have no place in our societies."

"Racism and discrimination, in all forms, must be unequivocally condemned and effectively tackled at all levels," the Conference of Presidents of the EU Parliament, which includes the President of the Parliament as well as the leaders of the political groups, stresses in its statement.

Orban's Fidesz party no longer belongs to any political group in the parliament, after having long been part of the Christian Democratic European People’s Party (EPP).

Already in 2018, the parliament initiated proceedings under Article 7 of the EU treaties against Hungary because it sees democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the country under threat. However, the procedure, which could end in the withdrawal of voting rights in the Council of Ministers, is stalled in the Council of EU states.

The declaration calls on the EU states to ensure progress. In addition, the European Commission and the Council of EU States should condemn Orban's statements in the strongest possible terms.