By Tamas Csonka in Budapest
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has attacked the apparent deal between leaders from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) grouping and their liberal and leftist counterparts on new nominees for top jobs in EU institutions after the European Parliament (EP) election.
European leaders held an informal summit on June 17 that failed to reach a final deal, but incumbent European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (EPP) looks set to secure another five-year term. Former Portuguese premier Antonio da Costa (Socialists and Democrats) is tipped as the next president of the European Council, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Kallas (Reform Europe) is expected to be the new high representative for foreign affairs and security.
European Council President Charles Michel said the informal meeting was not intended to seal a final deal, but decisions on splitting positions will be made when leaders return to Brussels for the June 27-28 summit.
Hungary’s radical rightwing leader said the EU talks ignored the result of the EP elections. The will of the European people has been ignored, he wrote in a Facebook post around midnight.
The results of the European elections are clear: right-wing parties have strengthened, while the left and liberals have lost ground. He accused the EPP, his former faction, of joining forces with the left and the liberals and sharing the EU posts among themselves, thus ignoring the 'will of the European people' in order to support migration and send more money and weapons to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
'We will unite the forces of the European right and fight the pro-migration and pro-war bureaucrats' he concluded.
Orban attacked in particular the apparent agreement to give von der Leyen a second term. Five years ago, the Hungarian leader endorsed Ursula von der Leyen's candidacy, but since then he has become an ardent critic of the German politician.
The European Commission under her leadership has been critical of Hungary's democratic backsliding, particularly regarding judicial independence, media freedom, and the treatment of NGOs and the disputes over the disbursement of EU funds and economic governance have also played a role in souring relations.
Orban has called von der Leyen a representative of the alleged network of US philanthropist George Soros and in the latest election campaign she was portrayed as the boss of Hungary’s opposition, with the latter portrayed as waiters.
Earlier in the day, Hungary’s leader held talks with radical rightwing allies from Italy, Poland and Slovenia. On a Facebook post during the day, Orban was seen with Morawiecki and Janez Jansa, leader of Slovenia’s opposition.
Orban met with Italian premier Giorgia Meloni to discuss the results of the EP elections, issues regarding the European right-wing, tasks before the European Council, and Hungary’s upcoming EU presidency, according to a short press release.
Hungary’s strongman also had talks with Poland’s former prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, also revolving around the future cooperation of nationalist parties.
Speaking to an Italian journalist after the meeting, Orban said the meeting with Meloni went well, as it always goes well with Italy, but he did not know what the future held for his Fidesz party, which left the EPP in 2022 before it was thrown out, and currently is not a member of any of the European Parliament groups.
Earlier, the prime minister said his delegation was ready to join the radical rightwing ECR group, in which Meloni's Brothers of Italy is the strongest party. Brothers of Italy maintained its position as Italy's strongest party in the EU elections, winning close to 29% of the vote,
Orban was hoping for a breakthrough of the radical right in the June EP election and expressed hope that the ECR and far-right Identity and Democracy group (ID) would join forces to become the second-largest faction in the EP.
'Right-wing parties must work together, we are in the hands of two women who must reach an agreement', he said earlier, referring to ECR's Meloni and ID's Marinne Le Pen.
That did not materialise as EPP remained the biggest faction with 190 seats, 14 more than five years ago, while the Socialists & Democrats finished runner-up with 136 (-3 seats) and Renew Europe third with 80 seats (-22 seats), with a combined majority of 406 mandates of the 720.
Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar also commented on the informal summit in a thread.
'Mr Prime Minister, there is rumour here in Brussels that they don't really want to unite with you for the time being.'
'The EPP, from which your party has been expelled will be the largest party in the EP represented by 13 countries. Have a good peace fight!', he gloated.
Magyar also announced that he and his party would join the EPP, based on the decision of his supporters, as this question was put up for vote. The other option was that Magyar join the Budapest local council as the head of his new Tisza party.
