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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/09/ursula-von-der-leyen-attacks-viktor-orban-over-pro-russia-stance>
"Ursula von der Leyen has accused Viktor Orbán of a historic failure to support
Ukraine, economic mismanagement and making his country a “back door for foreign
interference” in her sharpest public rebuke yet to Hungary’s strongman leader.
Standing a few metres away from Orbán in the European parliament in Strasbourg,
the European Commission president pointedly criticised Orbán’s stance on
Ukraine by contrasting his record with that of Hungarian freedom fighters of
1956, who rose against Soviet oppression but were ultimately defeated by the
Red Army.
Without naming Orbán directly, she said: “There are still some who blame this
war 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
in 1956?”
She added: “There is no European language where peace is synonymous with
surrender and sovereignty is synonymous with occupation.”
Von der Leyen was speaking after Orbán set out the priorities for Hungary’s
six-month EU presidency, in an address where he sometimes offered a fairly
conventional script calling for less regulation and efforts to bolster the EU’s
single market.
This usually routine moment in the EU calendar became a boisterous session,
with singing and personal insults. Orbán’s MEPs in the far-right Patriots for
Europe group applauded him, while the mainstream pro-European parties clapped
for von der Leyen. The Hungarian leader also had to listen to a rowdy rendition
of the anti-fascist song Bella Ciao from a small group, prompting the speaker,
Roberta Metsola, to intervene to bring order: “This is not Eurovision.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
