Ursula von der Leyen has launched an unprecedented attack on Viktor Orban, accusing the Hungarian leader of economic mismanagement and undermining the EU’s response to Ukraine.
It is one of the strongest rebukes directed towards Orban in recent years, with relationships between the state leader and the union becoming particularly strained following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Standing just metres from him, von der Leyen evoked Hungary’s history of standing up to Soviet aggression to underline her point on his close relations with Vladimir Putin.
Without naming him directly, she said: “There are still some who blame this war 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 in 1956?
“There is no European language where peace is synonymous with surrender and sovereignty is synonymous with occupation.”
Following Orban’s speech in which he made generic calls for loosening of regulation and criticised Europe’s declining share of global trade, von der Layen took the opportunity to dress down the Hungarian leader, pointing to Hungary’s taxes of target foreign companies, export restrictions, “arbitrary inspections” and public contracts awarded to a small group of beneficiaries.
She further slammed Hungary’s position on climate change saying of their energy strategy: “Instead of looking for alternative sources of energy, in particular, one member state just looked for alternative ways to buy fossil fuels from Russia.”
She was just as forthright on the country’s response to the migrant crisis, accusing Orban of releasing traffickers and convicted smugglers early as she said: “This is not fighting illegal migration in Europe, this is not protecting our union, this is just throwing problems over your neighbour’s fence.”
Orban responded with feigned dismay towards von der Leyen’s comments, rejecting any comparison between the current conflict in Ukraine and events in 1956, whilst accusing the President of the European Commission of turning the event into a “farce”.
Orban then fought back, claiming that: “We are never going to accept that European unity means that you tell us what to do and that we should keep quiet.”
The Hungarian leader is an increasingly divisive figure within Europe, having been accused of frustrating attempts to deliver aid to Ukraine and of being supportive of Putin.
Earlier this year, the European Union secured a €50billion support package for Ukraine despite Hungary’s threatening to veto the aid for weeks prior.
At the time, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters: “There is no problem with the so-called Ukraine fatigue issue. We have Orban fatigue now in Brussels.”
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