Subscribe here: bit.ly/eudebates Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday slammed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after he spoke to the European Parliament for cozying up to Vladimir Putin, allowing foreign interference by Russia and China, and letting down the Hungarian people.
Strong pushback from European Commission president comes one month before grilling of future commissioners.
“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,” the European Commission president said.
“I want to ask them,” she said while looking directly at Orbán: “Would they ever blame the Hungarians for the Soviet invasion of 1956? Or the Czechs and Slovaks for the Soviet repression of 1968? Or the Lithuanians for the Soviet crackdown of 1991?” The rhetorical questions were met with applause from pro-European political groups.
In the past, the Parliament has criticized von der Leyen for being too soft when addressing rule of law and human rights issues in Hungary.
Her rebuttal of Orbán’s policies comes weeks before the team of 26 European commissioners will go before Parliament for their sign-off - and she needs MEPs’ support for her second term. In her most recent address, in unusually strong words, von der Leyen called out the Hungarian prime minister for cozying up to Putin.
At the start of Hungary’s six months at the helm of the presidency of the Council of the EU, Orbán went on self-declared “peace missions” to Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing and Washington, and claimed, without authorization, to be representing the EU.
After comments from the leaders of the Parliament’s political groups, a shocked Orbán was given a chance to respond, and said he “was surprised by what the president said.”
“I deliberately did not raise our differences, because as the Council presidency we are working on Europe’s behalf. It’s not right to talk about these differences of opinion when here we are talking about the presidency,” he said.
Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz insider who is now Orbán’s main opponent, also faced off with the prime minister during the debate. Magyar’s party, Tisza, is doing well in the polls.
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11 окт 2024
