Eurocrats vs. Orbàn: Those Who Go to Collect Wool Get Shorn
In his opening speech to the European Parliament on Oct. 9, Viktor Orbán highlighted competitiveness as a key issue for Hungary’s Presidency, pointing to energy prices as 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 decarbonization has led to slowing down of productivity and the loss of jobs.
Ursula von der Leyen then rose to attack Hungary’s stance on Russia, comparing the Ukrainians to the Hungarians who fought against the Soviet occupation in 1956. She deplored that “one member state in particular” is still trying to buy fossil fuels from Russia despite the EU’s commitment to energy independence. And as usual, she criticized Hungary’s policy on migration and asylum.
After the EU President, Manfred Weber from the European People’s Party went into a long tirade against the Hungarian Prime Minister, charging him with not mentioning Ukraine because he “collaborate[s] with the aggressor”. After Weber, Iratxe Garcia Pérez spoke for the second largest group, the socialists, to accuse Orbàn, among other things, of “benefiting from billions of euros of European funds that you divert to a court of corrupt oligarchs”. Similar allegations were made by other faction leaders, except those of the Conservatives and Orbán’s own faction, the Patriots for Europe.
Viktor Orbán gave a long speech in reply, accusing Ursula von der Leyen of false statements and of being responsible for failed policies. He regretted that she had gone beyond the bounds of the role attributed by the European Treaty to the Commission, i.e., the role of neutral “Guardian of the Treaties.” Instead, she is “turning the Guardian of the Treaty into a political weapon”. As for the comparison of the 1956 Hungarian freedom fighters with Ukraine today, he called it “wrong and a desecration of the memory of the Hungarian freedom fighters.”
Turning to Manfred Weber, he said: “I have deliberately avoided Ukraine in connection with the Presidency, but if you want to talk about it, let us talk about it.”
“As the Anglo-Saxon press says, if we are 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 are pretending here that we are not. The reality is that, thanks in part to the President of the Commission, the European Union has entered this war recklessly, on the basis of miscalculations and with a flawed strategy. If we want to win, the current losing strategy must be changed. It is a badly planned and badly executed strategy. If we continue on this path, we will lose. If we want Ukraine not to lose, we need to change strategy. I suggest you consider this.”
“In every war there must be diplomacy. There must be communication, direct or indirect contacts. If we fail to do this, we will go deeper and deeper into the pit 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. There will be no solution to this conflict on the battlefield with this strategy. That is why I suggest that we should instead argue for peace, argue for a ceasefire, and make a different strategy, because we are all going to lose out on that.”
The verbatim report of the entire debate can be read here.
