The European Union faces its toughest year in two decades, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned on Friday, as his country gets ready to take over as leader of the 27-nation bloc.

“The EU is in trouble. There’s no reason to avoid that phrase,” Mr Orban told reporters during a visit to Lithuania.

“The upcoming year of the EU will be probably the most difficult in the last two decades because of the economic crisis, because of some uncertainties, because of amendments of the (EU) treaty, because of closer cooperation on economic policy,” Mr Orban said.

“I think all the challenges make next year the most difficult one in the last 20 years,” he added, speaking alongside his Lithuanian opposite number Andrius Kubilius, who like Mr Orban is from the centre-right.

Both Lithuania and Hungary are among the 10 ex-communist nations to have joined the EU since 2004, in a wave of expansion that has seen the bloc nearly double and reach far behind the former Iron Curtain.

Lithuania and Hungary were battered by the economic crisis, but are inching into recovery. Mr Orban said that 2011 would also be a crucial year for the EU’s newcomers.

Hungary takes the reins of the bloc from Belgium on January 1, before giving way six months later to Poland, which as the largest ex-communist entrant has growing clout in the EU.

“That creates a good chance for central Europe,” Mr Orban said.

Hungary will be the third ex-communist state to take the helm, after Slovenia in the first half of 2008. The second was the Czech Republic in the same period of 2009.