Von der Leyen's best speech?

By Georgi Gotev

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was caught by surprise by the fiery attack of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on his domestic and international track record.

Speaking at a debate on Hungary’s EU presidency program with Orbán at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen delivered probably her best speech since she was first elected commission chief in 2019.

Ahead of the debate, it was easy to imagine what Orbán would say, as he spoke first, but the forceful rebuttal by von der Leyen came as a surprise.

The speech was “out of the box”: she largely ignored the nitty-gritty of the Hungarian Presidency agenda, and instead slammed the entire track record of the Hungarian prime minister since he took power in 2010.

Hungary is putting European security at risk, von der Leyen said, taking aim at Budapest's reluctance to join EU partners in helping Ukraine against Russia's invasion, and its decisions strengthening ties with Moscow and Beijing.

Orbán was looking down, pretending to take notes, as the Commission President said:

"The world has witnessed the atrocities of Russia's war. And yet, 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. So I want to ask them: Would they ever blame the Hungarians for the Soviet invasion of 1956? Would they ever blame the Czechs and Slovaks for the Soviet repression of 1968? Would they ever blame the Lithuanians for the Soviet crackdown of 1991? We Europeans may have different histories and different languages, but there is no European language in which peace is synonymous with surrender.”

Von der Leyen attacked him on a topic that he thought was his triumph because after criticising him, EU leaders were joining his main issue – immigration policy.

“I heard your words over the weekend. You said that Hungary is ‘protecting its borders' and that ‘criminals are being locked up' in Hungary. I just wonder how this statement fits with the fact that last year, your authorities released from prison-convicted smugglers and traffickers before they did their time. This is not fighting illegal migration in Europe. This is not protecting our Union. This is just throwing problems over your neighbour's fence," von der Leyen said.

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[Edited by Alice Taylor-Braçe/Rajnish Singh]