Hungary’s Orbán Eviscerated in European Parliament Debate

Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán in a Wednesday speech to the European Parliament argued that his strong stance on traditional family values and better relations with Russia are good for the continent.

“Useful idiot” was far from the nastiest response hurled back at him in Europe’s top lawmaking body where, during a day of contentious debate, members accused Orbán of being at least an enemy of individual freedoms and European democracy, and possibly, simply a Kremlin agent.

Official European Parliament video and debate transcripts of the day’s proceedings are available here.

Moritz Körner, a German MP from the liberal FD party, tore into Orbán for trampling Hungarian freedoms and, he said, placing Russian national interest ahead of the citizens of Hungary.

He pointed to recent Orbán-ordered changes to Hungarian visa law allowing Russian citizens facing a near-total ban on entering EU territory, a back-door entrance to the world’s biggest economic bloc, by handing Hungarian work visas to any Russian national wanting one.

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“You say you are for national sovereignty, yet you invite Chinese policemen to surveil the people in your country. You say you want to stop migration, yet you let Russian spies into our Schengen system and call it a ‘national card,’” Moritz said. “Mr. Orbán, you are not a patriot. You are just a useful idiot of Russia and China. That’s the reality.”

Manfred Weber, a German who leads the European People’s Party (EPP) faction in the EU Parliament, said he was “shocked” that Orbán devoted not a “single sentence” to Ukraine in his speech.

Orbán’s July “peacemaking” tour taking him to Kyiv, Moscow, Azerbaijan, Beijing, Washington, and even Mar-a-Lago was intended to force Ukraine and the world to accept Russian aggression by legalizing Russian territorial gains inside Ukraine – terms that would make the Kremlin more than happy, Weber said.

“Your trip (to Moscow) was never a peace mission. It was a big propaganda show for the autocrats,” Weber said.

Ursula van der Leyen, a European Parliament member and current President of the European Commission, invoked fierce Hungarian resistance to the Soviet invasion in 1956, and contrasted it with Orbán’s stance on Russia and Ukraine.

“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… I want to ask them… would they ever blame the Hungarians for the Soviet invasion of 1956?” van der Leyen said.

But equally telling blows, on Hungary’s economy and freedom of speech, were landed by Orbán’s political rival Peter Magyar, a Hungarian MP and Orbán’s main domestic rival.

The regime’s ban on opposition politicians on state-controlled media will not keep the truth from Hungarian voters, he said.

“Hungary has the second-lowest minimum wage in Europe of €668… in Poland, the minimum wage has tripled since 2010. In Romania, they’ve quintupled the minimum wage. And food is 30% cheaper there. You’ve increased the national debt of our country 2 and ½ times, which is a European record. Inflation is high, VAT is the highest in Europe… while you appear weekly in the public media, the leaders of the opposition have not been allowed to do so for six months,” Magyar said.

Breaking with the EU convention to avoid naming crimes and identifying lawbreakers in debate, several MPs openly charged Orbán with fleecing Hungarian voters and EU taxpayers for personal gain.

German MP Daniel Freund (The Greens) said: “Mr. Orbán, you’re the most corrupt politician in the European Union. You and your cronies, you stole money on an insane scale. At least €14 billion that went to your country during your premiership have been lost… and the biggest trick that you have played is that you distract people from your heist with hate against minorities, with propaganda, with propaganda about gender, with so-called ‘peace initiatives.’”

Freund said Orbán’s government took EU funding intended to fix Hungarian roads and schools and spent it on the construction of a football stadium and “palaces.” And has made one of Orbán’s personal friends – former plumber Lőrinc Mészáros – a billionaire and “the richest man in Hungary,” Freund charged. He called for the parliament to halt Hungarian voting rights and for an arrest warrant for Orbán.

French member Valérie Hayer, leader of the Renew Europe Party was, arguably, even more impolite.

“Because, Mr. Orbán, what is the basis of your regime? I’ll tell you. It’s a constellation of scams. Scams that cost Hungarian and European taxpayers a fortune. For whom? For your son-in-law (István Tiborcz), who got rich thanks to bogus public contracts to light up Budapest,” Hayer said.

“Hungary has just broken a record for people leaving the country. It’s an unprecedented brain drain. And where are the Hungarians going? I’ll give you a guess. They’re going to west Europe. The place you rubbish so much. And why are they leaving? Well, they’re leaving because of arbitrary authority. Because of inflation. Because of corruption! You threaten to send buses with immigrants to Brussels. But in reality, they’re already coming – with Hungarians on board. Is that all your geopolitical vision has to offer, Mr. Orbán?” Hayer said.

Per the EU’s foundation documents, a member nation may be sanctioned for violation of EU constitutional principles and values, if one-third of the heads of states of member nations agree to consider the sanction, then two-thirds of the European Parliament approve it in a vote. Then the heads of state – including the leader of the member state slated to be sanctioned – would have to approve the sanction unanimously.

The European Parliament has condemned Orbán’s regime repeatedly for muzzling media and placing EU income streams in the hands of members of Orbán’s inner circle. The most recent censure, in January 2024, was 345 and 105 opposed.  

There has been no significant reaction to the non-binding resolutions by the European Council, not the least because acting would require Hungary’s support and EU financial support to Hungary has continued.

Orbán and his ruling Fidesz Party face national elections in Hungary in 2026. Magyar predicted a reckoning.

“Prime Minister, you and I both know it’s over. The sea of nations has risen, and whatever vile means your government resorts to, whatever threats it makes, we, together with millions of Hungarian people, are taking back our country,” Magyar said.