(Bloomberg) -- Ursula von der Leyen issued a withering rebuke of Prime Minister Viktor Orban as years of frustration over the Hungarian leader’s pro-Russian policies led up to a face-to-face confrontation in the European Parliament.
The chief of the European Union executive systematically picked apart Orban’s tenure after the five-term premier presented his government’s EU presidency priorities to lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday.
Von der Leyen, who has overseen the freezing of much of Hungary’s EU funding over charges of graft and the erosion of the rule of law, lasered in on Orban’s pro-Russia record. She called him out for doubling down on economic links with Moscow even after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, as well as Orban’s efforts to torpedo EU support to Kyiv.
“Instead of looking for alternative sources, one member state in particular just looked for alternative ways to buy fossil fuels from Russia,” she said. “Russia has proven time and again, it is simply not a reliable supplier. So there can be no more excuses.”
She also skewered a program to grant visas to Russian nationals under simplified procedures, saying it amounted to a “backdoor for foreign interference.”
“There are still some who blame this war not on the invader but on the invaded,” von der Leyen said, stopping short of naming Orban. “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?
Von der Leyen’s words came after Orban’s chief political adviser apologized last month for saying that what Hungary learned from its uprising was that it’s futile to take up arms against Russia and that Ukraine should have surrendered on day one of the invasion. The comments were widely criticized in Hungary and Orban also distanced himself from the historical comparison.
Orban, who had sought to focus on less politically charged topics such as boosting economic competitiveness, accused von der Leyen of playing partisan politics.
“I would have been pleased to debate the presidential program but I see you’re not interested,” Orban told the chamber, dismissing the criticism as “political propaganda.”
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