Germany's Manfred Weber get backing of Hungarian PM for European Commission chief

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban backs Germany's Manfred Weber to be the European People's Party (EPP) lead candidate to head the European Commission, national news agency MTI quoted Orban's cabinet chief Antal Rogan as saying on Thursday.

Jean-Claude Juncker will stand down next year as president of the EU executive.

Former Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb is so far Weber's only other rival for the centre-right EPP nomination to replace Juncker at the Commission. Orban, a nationalist, has clashed with the EU over immigration and other issues.