Viktor Orban gave, more or less, the same speech in Hungarian as the day before, in English, to the press, about the loss of competitiveness of the EU, enlargement, the defense industry, “illusions” of the green transition, the demographic crisis of the Union… Without forgetting his favorite subject: the fight against “irregular migration Who “leads to an increase in anti-Semitism, violence against women and homophobia”he claimed. On European support for Ukraine, on the other hand, not a word.
Hungarian Prime Minister Orban gives a one-man show in Strasbourg, on the eve of his speech to the European Parliament
His speech was greeted by loud applause from the far-right benches, including the Patriots for Europe group, to which his party, Fidesz, belongs. Left-wing elected officials sang the anti-fascist song Hello beautifulwhich led the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, to recall that the plenary “is not Eurovision”.
An unprecedented charge from the President of the Commission
Viktor Orban expected tough questions from elected representatives of pro-EU political groups. What he did not seem to have anticipated was that some of the hardest blows would be dealt to him by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Called to speak after him, the German carried out a thorough dismantling of Hungarian positions and policies, including those relating to the war of aggression led by Russia in Ukraine. In the Union, we did not digest that Mr. Orban met Vladimir Putin in Moscow a few days after the start of the Hungarian presidency. “Some still place the responsibility for this war not on the invader, but on the invaded people.snapped the German. “They do not incriminate Putin’s thirst for power, but Ukraine’s thirst for freedom. So I would like to ask them this question: would they blame the Hungarians for the Soviet invasion of 1956?” she added in an implicit reference to a statement by Balazs Orban, advisor to the homonymous Prime Minister, who had qualified “irresponsible” the Ukrainian resistance, remembering what happened to his country in the middle of the last century. And to remind Viktor Orban, who presents himself as the only one in the Union to promote peace, that there is no European language in which this word “is synonymous with capitulation, and in which “sovereignty” is synonymous with occupation”.
Hungarian European Presidency: why is Hungary a mise en abyme of the Union?
In his speech, Viktor Orban made the observation, shared throughout the Union, of the loss of competitiveness of the European economy and the need to remedy it. On this subject, he was also singled out by Ursula von der Leyen, who pointed out the discrimination existing in Hungary against companies from other EU countries, the export restrictions, the administrative pitfalls, “public markets […] almost always granted to the same small group of beneficiaries”. So many elements that scare investors, added “UvdL”, “at a time when Hungary’s GDP per capita has been overtaken by its Central European neighbors”. Others pressed the same point on the Hungarian dropout during the debate. Among these, Hungarian MEP Peter Magyar. Mr. Orban’s former ally, who has become his main opponent and credible rival, took advantage of the five (5!) minutes of speaking time allocated to him by his group, the European People’s Party (EPP), to list examples of the economic failure of the Hungarian regime: failing health and education services, high VAT, low salaries, while those of ministers “increased by 30%” … “You have ruled the country for fourteen years with unlimited powers.”reminded Mr. Magyar of his compatriot, as if to better underline the latter’s responsibility.
Ursula von der Leyen also attacked Mr. Orban on his favorite ground, migration, by asking him why the Hungarian authorities had “released smugglers and traffickers from prison before they have finished serving their sentences.” Then added: “This is not fighting irregular migration and protecting the border. It’s passing a problem onto your neighbor.”before receiving a standing ovation from two thirds of the hemicycle.
guillementThis is one of the most politically charged debates I have ever attended in this Parliament.
Attacks from (almost) all sides
For Viktor Orban, the rest of the debate was appropriate. The president of the EPP (the former political family of Fidesz), the German Manfred Weber, recalled that if Hungary was at the center of Europe during its European presidency in 2011, Mr. Orban is today “alone on the sidelines. Nobody wants to talk to you.”. The leader of the Socialists and Democrats, the Spaniard Iraxte Garcia-Perez, gave him a lesson on Christian values. Frenchwoman Valérie Hayer, president of the liberal-centrist group Renew, argued that “the basis of the diet” but Viktor Orban, “It’s a constellation of scams.”a system of corruption benefiting those close to the head of government.
guillementYou threaten to send buses of migrants to Brussels. But the reality is that these buses are already leaving, but it is Hungarians who are in them.
From the radical left to the EPP, including the Greens, the S&D and Renew, interventions have multiplied, condemning the attacks carried out by the Hungarian government against the rule of law, the opposition, civil society, the press, minorities… To the right of the right, the Italian melonist Procaccini, co-president of the European Conservatives and Reformists, assured the Hungarian that his group shared with him certain priorities, such as the fight “against the internal enemy that is progressive fury”but reproached him for making a pact with the external enemy, “the Russia-China-Iran-North Korea quartet”. Only the elected representatives of the Patriots and the other far-right group, the Europe of Sovereign Nations, extolled the merits of Viktor Orban, castigating the attacks “leftists”.
Cold anger of Viktor Orban
The Hungarian Prime Minister, for his part, never departed from his apparent calm during the two opportunities offered to him to respond, but a cold anger emanated from his responses. He disputed the figures and claims. Posing as a victim of “political intifada”he denounced “absurd accusations, based on partisan lines” dictated by “the propaganda of the Hungarian left” and “the cordon sociale” built around the “Patriots”. He resorted, on several occasions, to attacks to manin particular against Mr. Weber, who would have become “anti-Hungarian”, after failing to become President of the Commission, in 2019, for having refused support from Budapest, according to Viktor Orban.
How the European Union let Hungary become illiberal
guillementI would have debated with you the program of the Hungarian presidency, but I see that you are not interested.
Viktor Orban also announced that he had been “surprised” by the exit of Ursula von der Leyen. He criticized him for using the debate on the Hungarian presidency to highlight their differences of views. “In the past, no Commission President would have spoken this way.”he defended, insisting on the fact that the Commission, guardian of the treaties, “should remain neutral..
“The fact is that Ms von der Leyen’s remarks against the Hungarian regime were of unprecedented virulence. It remains to be seen whether they will be followed by concrete actions. Dutch Green Tineke Strik asked the Member States to pursue, in the Council, the procedure of Article 7, which can go as far as depriving a Member State of the right to vote, “and prevent Orban from hacking the Union’s decision-making process”. To the Commission, she asked “to maintain the freezing of European funds intended for Hungary”until “the rule of law is truly reestablished there.. The last three months of the Hungarian presidency promise to be turbulent.
