THE Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met them yesterday, Wednesday, evening in Brussels angry farmers, siding with “the people” when pitted against the other 26 European leaders over aid to Ukraine.

“It is Europe’s mistake not to take the voice of the people seriously,” he says in a video he posted on his social media account.

In the images, he can be seen walking between the tractors after nightfall and shaking the hand of a protester.

A thousand tractors and other agricultural machinery blocked Brussels streets around the site of the Twenty-seven summit today, amid farm-world anger over European politics and imports from Ukraine.

“The European Commission must represent the interests of European farmers vis-a-vis Ukrainians and not the other way around,” Viktor Orbán repeated in a message broadcast by his party, Fidesz, in which he opposes the “unfair” competition of Ukrainian products .

“The solution to this problem is to change the officials in Brussels” on the occasion of the European elections in June, he added.

Tractor

The nationalist leader had already stated earlier this week that the mobilization of farmers shows “to what extent Ukraine is a serious problem for Europe, regardless of the war”.

“We have to be very prudent because Ukraine is a huge country.” And its approach to the EU, and indeed its accession, “will have a huge impact, devastating for the European economies, especially in the agricultural sector”, he said in an interview with Le Point magazine.

Last week, the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), a think tank linked to the Hungarian government, said it was “proud to participate” in organizing a farmers’ demonstration in front of the European Parliament.

European Parliament

The Hungarian leader, the only one among the Twenty-Seven to maintain close relations with Moscow after the start of the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, has since December blocked economic aid essential to that country.

The outcome of today’s meeting is predicted to be very uncertain, as the negotiations between the EU and Budapest have so far not allowed a field of understanding to be found.