In Strasbourg we saw him Viktor Orban which we all expected. In an explosion of megalomania, the Prime Minister of Hungary said that he follows the example of Mario Draghi and Emmanuel Macron and came to the European Parliament to explain to us “why Europe must change”. Although no one has assigned him such a role.

Viktor Orban also stated that “the European asylum system does not work”, keeping silent that he is doing everything he can to make the European asylum system not work. In his view, the only solution is to create hotspots for migrants outside Europe. In addition, the Hungarian Prime Minister proposes the regular organization of summits in the Schengen Zone with the aim of combating “illegal immigration”, on the model of the informal summits of the Eurozone during the financial crisis.

For half an hour, Viktor Orbán spoke at the Strasbourg Plenary, presenting himself as a reformer of the EU from the perspective of Eurosceptics, with an emphasis on competitiveness and the fight against bureaucracy. But not for a second was Ukraine or Russia mentioned. With the exception of a criticism of Brussels that “the move away from Russian energy is jeopardizing Europe’s GDP”. For this reason – and for many other reasons – he received strong criticism from almost all political groups, but also from the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

“Peace does not mean surrender”

“There is no European language in which peace is synonymous with tradition,” emphasized the president of the European Commission. As for the competitiveness part, Ursula von der Leyen said that “a government in the EU is moving away from the single market”, to put the question directly to the Budapest government: “How can European businesses trust it when it targets them and government procurement going to a very small percentage of businesses?’

A barrage of criticism from most political groups followed. “In the Europe you want, only those who agree with you can fit in, the rest have no place and this is a danger for Democracy,” says the head of the European Socialists, Irace García Peres. “From Europe you only want its checks” complains the co-president of the group Renew Europe Valerie Heyer. “It was a mistake that you took over the presidency of the Council and this is proven every day,” says the head of the European Left, Martin Sirdevan.

The strongest criticism, however, came from the president of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber. “Corruption is killing Hungary’s future,” warned the head of the European Center Right, then compared Hungary’s current presidency with that of 2011: “In 2011 you had 44 high-level meetings, today nobody really wants to talk to you. In 2011, the Hungarian presidency closed 103 pieces of legislation, today it has closed none.”

Visibly angry, Viktor Orbán accused Weber of “personal insults” due to bitterness because the German politician did not become president of the Commission in 2018. And even more: “I was surprised by what I heard from the president of the Commission,” he said in his rejoinder. Hungarian Prime Minister, arguing that the European Commission should act as a neutral actor and “leave political discussions”. In other words, the Hungarian prime minister spoke of “lies of the Left” and claimed that he personally is experiencing “a political intifada”.

And accolades for the “savior” Orban

Of course, there was no lack of approval from the benches of the Hungarian pro-government MEPs, as well as those of the new political group “Patriots for Europe”, which is led by the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz. After the end of Orban’s speech, many applauded emphatically. At the same time, and probably from the seats of the Left, Bella Ciao was heard in the room for a few seconds, but the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzola, immediately intervened, saying that “this is not Eurovision”.

Towards the end of the debate, more and more Eurosceptics and ethno-populists took the floor, in the so-called Catch-the-eye process, to congratulate Viktor Orbán. An indicative comment: “You are our savior because you keep the immigrants away,” declared Austrian Harald Wilimsky from the far-right FPÖ party. “It was one of the most politically charged debates I have ever attended,” commented, at the end of the meeting, the vice-president of the Commission, Maros Sefcović.