A far-right party in Hungary said Saturday the country should hold a referendum about its European Union membership.

Jobbik lawmaker and party president leader Gabor Vona told a crowd of around 3,000 supporters that the EU was trying to make an example out of Hungary, forcing it to surrender its independence and to adopt severe austerity measures.

"Hungary has to step out of this union," Vona said. "All Europe needed was our cheap labor, our markets and a place to dump its garbage."

The rally ended with Jobbik members burning an EU flag on a stage.

Jobbik spokesman Elod Novak told The Associated Press a constitutional amendment would be needed to hold the referendum on EU membership, about which it hoped to convince the government.

The EU is threatening legal action against Hungary because of a series of new laws _ passed by the two-thirds majority of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party _ seen threatening the independence of the country's central bank, its judiciary and its national data protection authority.

Vona told a crowd of around 3,000 supporters that while Jobbik did not agree with the Fidesz laws, the EU position was tantamount to a "declaration of war" against Hungary.

"This country, which was already down because of Viktor Orban, has been kicked in the head" by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Vona said.

Hungary has turned to the EU and the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance, but the lenders are setting conditions for the standby loan or other aid, including possible adjustments to state budget and changes to the central bank law to reduce political influence over the National Bank of Hungary.

Orban said Friday that while agreement on some of the IMF-EU demands was possible, in others aspects their positions were "distant."

Facing the threat of a recession and rising yields on its bonds, Orban said Hungary was planning to keep financing itself from markets but needed the IMF-EU "safety net" to reassure investors.

In a 2003 referendum on EU membership, 84 percent of Hungarian voters supported joining the bloc, which happened May 1, 2004.

Csanad Szegedi, a Jobbik politician and member of the European Parliament, said Hungarians "would not retreat another inch" to EU demands.

"Hungary is not a beneficiary of the European Union, but its sufferer," Szegedi said.