Eurocrats against Orbán: they went to beat and were beaten

What follows is my English translation of a short article originally in Italian, first published on Movisol.org on 21st October 2024 and then on ComeDonChisciotte.org the day after, on 22nd October 2024. (All emphasis mine).

After his verbal assault at the plenary meeting of the European Parliament on 9 October, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán accused EU leaders of plotting regime change in his country. “The European Commission and the leaders of the EPP (European People's Party) group, von der Leyen and Manfred Weber, are trying to oust Hungary's sovereign government”, Orbán said when interviewed on Kossuth Radio's “Good Morning, Hungary!” programme.

According to Orbán, Brussels and its allies want to replace his government with a coalition involving Klara Dobrev of the Progressives and Péter Magyar of the Tisza Party, who, he noted, have already formed an alliance behind the scenes. Indeed, the two politicians, both members of the European Parliament, took the floor during the debate in Strasbourg to attack Orbán after the latter's response to the speech by Ursula von der Leyen and the group leaders. The Hungarian Prime Minister “warned that that coalition is ready to implement Brussels” demands: to involve Hungary in the war with Ukraine, to support the EU's migration policies, which would open Hungary's borders to migrants, and to repeal the family and child protection laws, “his spokesman tweeted, mentioning, in addition, the economic and trade conflicts that Brussels wants to drag Hungary into” (https://x.com/zoltanspox/status/1844625389852950683).

The Hungarian government has been targeted and sabotaged by the EU Commission and EU coalition leaders since it assumed the rotating presidency of the EU Council in July. Eurocrats deserted the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Budapest and shouted at Orbán as the Hungarian premier visited Kiev, Moscow, Beijing and Washington to sound out the possibilities of a ceasefire in Ukraine. Then, when Orbán appeared at the plenary of the new European Parliament to present the programme of his presidency, as usual, instead of debating the substance, Ursula von der Leyen and her majority leaders conducted a full-scale assault on the Hungarian Prime Minister, managing to avoid a debate on the issues. However, they could not prevent Orbán from responding in tone, blow after blow, often turning the accusations against his critics.

In his opening speech, the Prime Minister of Budapest named competitiveness as the number one priority for his presidency, stressing that energy prices are a key obstacle. “As a result of moving away from Russian energy sources, the EU has lost significant GDP growth”, he said. “We should not fall into the illusion that the green transition in itself offers a solution to the problem”, he argued, adding that decarbonisation has led to a slowdown in productivity and job losses.

At the end of her speech, from the left side of the hemicycle a group started singing “Bella Ciao”.

Von der Leyen then took the floor, attacking Hungary's position on the Ukrainian conflict and comparing the Ukrainians to the Hungarians who rose up against Soviet occupation in 1956. He deplored that “one member state in particular” is still trying to buy fossil fuels from Russia despite the EU's commitment to be energy independent. On the topic of migration, he condemned Hungary's decision to release convicted human traffickers and questioned its visa policies, such as inviting Russian citizens into the EU without further screening, warning that this “makes Hungary a security risk, not only for Hungary but for all member states”. He urged Budapest to “serve the cause of European unity” rather than move away from “shared values”.

After von der Leyen, Manfred Weber of the European People's Party launched into a lengthy tirade, accusing Orbán of not mentioning Ukraine because he “collaborates with the aggressor”. After Weber, Iratzke Garcia Perez spoke on behalf of the second largest group, the Socialists, accusing Orbán, among other things, of “benefiting from billions of euros of European funds that she diverts to a court of corrupt oligarchs”. Similar accusations were made by other group leaders, with the exception of the conservatives and Orbán's own party group, the Patriots for Europe.

In a lengthy speech, Orbán responded by accusing von der Leyen of perjury and of being responsible for failed policies. He regretted that she had overstepped the limits of the role attributed by the European Treaty to the Commission, namely that of neutral “guardian of the Treaties”. whereas she is “turning the guardian of the Treaties into a political weapon”. The comparison between the Hungarian freedom fighters of 1956 and the Ukraine of today is “wrong and a desecration of the memory of the Hungarian freedom fighters”.

Responding to Manfred Weber, “I deliberately avoided Ukraine (...) but if you want to talk about it, let's talk about it”, Orbán said. “As the Anglo-Saxon press says, if we want to win, we must first have the courage to admit that we are losing. Because the fact is that we are losing on the Ukrainian front. And you here pretend that we are not. The reality is that the European Union entered this war recklessly, based on wrong calculations and with a wrong strategy. If we want to win, the current losing strategy must be changed. It is a poorly planned and poorly executed strategy. If we continue on this path, we will lose. If we want Ukraine not to lose, we have to change strategy. I suggest you consider it”.

“In every war there must be diplomacy. There must be communication, direct or indirect contact. If we fail to do this, we will go deeper and deeper into the abyss of war. More and more desperate situations will arise, more and more people will die, hundreds of thousands are dying as we speak, thousands are dying in Ukraine. With this strategy there will be no solution to the conflict on the battlefield. That is why I suggest we support peace, the ceasefire, and adopt a different strategy, because otherwise we will all lose out”.

To read the full report of the debate: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-10-2024-10-09-ITM-002_IT.html

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