Page 32 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine November 2024

32 I Central Europe bne November 2024
Hungarian premier Viktor Orban accused the EU of using its institutions as "political weapons" to target Hungary. / bne IntelliNews
Orban mauled in European Parliament 'intifada'
Tamas Csonka in Budapest
Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban faced a barrage
of criticism at the European Parliament as he set out the goals of his rotating presidency of the European Union (EU). European lawmakers commented little on his proposals, and the session turned into a heated debate, dubbed by Hungary’s strongman a "political intifada".
Although the debate was originally intended to focus on the Hungarian rotating EU presidency's programme, much of the discussion centred on Orban’s national policies, particularly his challenge to the EU's values on democracy and migration.
The majority of the EP factions, the EPP,
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S&D, Renew Europe, the Greens and the far-left, all criticised Orban for issues related to corruption, the state of the rule of law in Hungary, and his foreign policy. Meanwhile, representatives from parties to the right of the political spectrum, including the Patriots for Europe (PfE), a group partly founded
by the Hungarian leader, and the far-right Sovereign Nations of Europe
(ESN), largely defended the Hungarian premier with sporadic ovations.
Orban began his address by saying the EU must change and that he was there to "sound a wake-up call". Presenting the Hungarian EU presidency's programme, he proposed adopting a new European competitiveness agreement, holding a series of Schengen summits to discuss
“Von der Leyen accused Orban of engaging in “rogue diplomacy” with his unsanctioned visits to Kyiv, Moscow, and Beijing, calling his peace
efforts a “propaganda show for autocrats””