Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was caught by surprise by the fiery attack of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on his domestic and international track record.
Speaking at a debate on Hungary’s EU presidency program with Orbán at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen delivered probably her best speech since she was first elected commission chief in 2019.
Ahead of the debate, it was easy to imagine what Orbán would say, as he spoke first, but the forceful rebuttal by von der Leyen came as a surprise.
The speech was “out of the box”: she largely ignored the nitty-gritty of the Hungarian Presidency agenda, and instead slammed the entire track record of the Hungarian prime minister since he took power in 2010.
Hungary is putting European security at risk, von der Leyen said, taking aim at Budapest’s reluctance to join EU partners in helping Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, and its decisions strengthening ties with Moscow and Beijing.
Orbán was looking down, pretending to take notes, as the Commission President said:
“The world has witnessed the atrocities of Russia’s war. And yet, there are still some who blame this war not on the invader but on the invaded. Not on Putin’s lust for power but on Ukraine’s thirst for freedom. So I want to ask them: Would they ever blame the Hungarians for the Soviet invasion of 1956? Would they ever blame the Czechs and Slovaks for the Soviet repression of 1968? Would they ever blame the Lithuanians for the Soviet crackdown of 1991? We Europeans may have different histories and different languages, but there is no European language in which peace is synonymous with surrender.”
Von der Leyen attacked him on a topic that he thought was his triumph because after criticising him, EU leaders were joining his main issue – immigration policy.
“I heard your words over the weekend. You said that Hungary is ‘protecting its borders’ and that ‘criminals are being locked up’ in Hungary. I just wonder how this statement fits with the fact that last year, your authorities released from prison-convicted smugglers and traffickers before they did their time. This is not fighting illegal migration in Europe. This is not protecting our Union. This is just throwing problems over your neighbour’s fence,” von der Leyen said.
“One government in our Union is heading in the exact opposite direction, drifting away from the Single Market,” the Commission President said
With this, she exposed the policy of Budapest of discriminating against European companies by taxing them more than others, imposing export restrictions overnight, targeting European companies with arbitrary inspections, by blocking their permits, while “public contracts mostly go to a small group of beneficiaries.”
Worse, she destroyed his domestic narrative that this policy was in the favour of Hungarians.
“Hungary’s GDP per capita has been overtaken by its Central European neighbours,” she hammered down.
Von der Leyen also pointed to Hungary’s continued reliance on Russian energy after many countries in the 27-member EU reduced their dependency in response to Russia’s invasion.
“Instead of looking for alternative sources, one member state in particular just looked for alternative ways to buy fossil fuels from Russia. Russia has proven time and again it is simply not a reliable supplier. There can be no more excuses,” she stated.
In his response, Orbán said he was “surprised” by von der Leyen’s speech, and he rejected any parallel between Hungary’s failed 1956 uprising against Soviet oppression and Ukraine’s fight to defend its territory.
He regretted the “lack of interest” in the work of the Hungarian presidency and further repeated his call for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
His body language could not conceal that he was thunderstruck.
Further, a majority of the flurry of MEPs who took the floor criticised him for turning Hungary into a hybrid regime, undermining Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression, and collaborating with illiberal regimes in Moscow and Beijing.
One of them called him, to his face, a “useful idiot” at the service of Putin.
It seems likely that Von der Leyen’s speech will end up estranging Orbán even further from the European mainstream.
From here, there are two scenarios: Trump wins the US elections, and he gets his retribution. In such a hypothesis, the European mainstream may change in his favour.
And if Kamala Harris wins, Orbán will realise his politics is untenable. Or if he does not, the Hungarian people, whom von der Leyen addressed at the end of her speech, probably will.
The Roundup
European mayors oppose Commission plans to centralise EU funds. “We should not punish regions for the mistakes of the national governments,” one mayor said.
A new out-of-court body certified by Irish authorities to settle disputes related to the Digital Services Act (DSA) has strong ties to Meta, but argues that it is and will remain independent.
Greens, Left walk out in protest as EU legal committee clears commissioner candidates. Some Green and far-left lawmakers said the information given was not complete and the outcome ‘predetermined’.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday (10 October) presented an EU growth and investment plan for the country, a week before decisive elections on the future direction of the country.
Political groups in the European Parliament are divided over the future of the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) following the news that it could be up for revision, with consultations set to be launched by the end of the year.
European citizens’ initiative on psychedelic therapy to begin in January. “I feel like the main progress will be de-stigmatising the taboo around psychedelics,” said Théo Giubilei, the founder of PsychedelicCare.
Formerly disparate factions of the telecoms infrastructure industry have come closer together, after two firms that formerly contradicted each other joined a lobby group in a bid to unify the sector ahead of the upcoming EU telecoms legislation.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev warned police and prosecutors of widespread electoral fraud, pointing to problems in the investigations into vote-buying schemes ahead of the parliamentary elections due on 27 October.
Germany is set to slip further into recession this year, with German Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) announcing a slash to the government’s previous 2024 forecast and now expecting GDP to contract by 0.2% GDP this year.
Kosovo will represent itself in the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) after lifting an import ban on goods from Serbia and reopening a crucial border crossing point, much to the happiness of German politicians.
Look out for
- European Commission organises the online conference “Copernicus Emergency Management Service Annual Conference” in Brussels, Belgium.
- The EPC organises a conference in Brussels, Belgium on “Greek-Turkish relations: Where does public opinion stand?”
- Justice and Home Affairs Council (Justice) meeting in Luxembourg.
- European Council President Charles Michel is in Laos for the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Summit 2024.
- European Commissioner Věra Jourová speaks at the Meeting of the European Cooperation Network on elections with a joint session with candidate countries, in Brussels, Belgium.
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen participates in the Summit of Southern European Union countries (MED-9), in Paphos, Cyprus.
- European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič meets Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide, for the second EU-Norway High-Level Dialogue on Fisheries and Ocean Governance, in Brussels, Belgium.
- Commissioner Iliana Ivanova meets with the President of the European Investment Bank Nadia Calviño, in Luxembourg.
[Edited by Alice Taylor-Braçe/Rajnish Singh]
Source: euractiv.com
