Speaking at an international press conference held together with five MEPs of her Patriots for Europe party group, Kinga Gal called it a "historic moment" that they could greet Orban "in the name of the third largest group of the EP".

"It is shameful that the EC President and the majority of MEPs used this occasion for malicious political attacks, rather than holding an appropriate debate on the [Hungarian EU] presidency's programme," Gal said.

The priorities of the Hungarian presidency reflected "much-needed" common sense, and European voters' desire for change, she said.

Von der Leyen could have addressed issues Europeans are interested in such as illegal migration and the war in the neighbourhood, rather than political campaigning, she said.

The Hungarian presidency's programme contains good initiatives that could offset the mistakes of European leadership, Gal said. The protection of the external borders against illegal migration should be supported, not penalised, and its competitiveness pact could stop high energy prices from undermining competitiveness, she said.

French PfE MEP Jean-Paul Garraud said Orban had held a "responsible" speech, "he sounded the alarm bells, showed the way on migration" and had talked about the changes necessary to improve EU competitiveness. Garraud said Von der Leyen's speech was "scandalous".

Austrian MEP Harald Vilimsky expressed his outrage over the "derogatory terms" he said Orban's opponents had used against him, and slammed EP president Roberta Metsola for "failing to moderate" the speeches.

Paolo Borchia of Italy insisted that MEPs had violated house rules during the debate when they launched personal attacks against Orban. "Dozens of colleagues have hid behind their immunity here. If you commit slander in a member state, you will find yourself at court, but they engaged in personal insults."

Hermann Tertsch of Spain warned Von der Leyen against attacking a prime minister "who enjoys the support of a vast majority in his home country."

Portuguese MEP Antonio Tanger Correa said the plenary had shown that most MEPs had failed to understand "the word of their people" and that "the EU had to be put on a new path". He warned against a growing gap between the EU and its citizens, EU institutions being isolated, and losing their legitimacy for government.

Domotor: Senior EU officials 'side with those ill intent towards Hungary' in EP plenary

The plenary debate held with Prime Minister Viktor Orban's participation in the European Parliament earlier in the day was about Hungary, not about its EU presidency goals and leading EU politicians "have sided with those with an ill-intent stance towards Hungary to a degree never seen before," Csaba Domotor, an MEP of ruling Fidesz, said in Strasbourg.

Domotor held a joint press conference with other Fidesz MEPs Tamas Deutsch and Kinga Gal after the debate.

The Hungarian prime minister had detailed in his speech challenges faced by the EU that included the bloc's deteriorating competitiveness, non-tackled migration and issues concerning the Schengen system and food safety, Domotor said, regretting that "no answers" had been given to those either on the part of the European Commission or "the EP's liberal majority".

He said that "EC President Ursula Von der Leyen has grossly overstepped her role's boundaries," arguing that "times when the president of the EC would act as a guardian of treaties are long over". "Von der Leyen has joined the anti-Hungary choir, although the Commission would in fact need to take steps in the issues listed by the prime minister," Domotor said.

He said that the liberal and leftist MEPs had used the same background material prior to the debate "as those prepared for the first debate about Hungary years ago".

"They spoke about the Hungarian justice system about which topic a discussion had been held between the Hungarian government and the EC years ago and which then got jointly closed," Domotor said, adding that "many MEPs were not interested in that at all, they raised the same criticism as before."

Tamas Deutsch, commenting on the issue of the immunity of Peter Magyar, MEP and leader of the opposition Tisza Party, criticised the head of the European People's party group for being such a top-ranking politician that "he is now above [the level] to respond to a letter received from the head of a national delegation in the EP on an important issue..."

"The EP's majority that regard the Hungarian government as a friend of Putin wanted to uphold the immunity of the Hungarian opposition representative who spied to the Russian president. In their view it was worth protecting Putin's spy for the sake of the anti-Hungary actions," he said. "They will stand up for Magyar and maintain his immunity," Deutsch said.

Kinga Gal said Ursula von der Leyen's performance at the plenary session "made her unworthy of her post".

"He proposed solutions to issues that really concern EU citizens. Those include border protection, illegal migration, competitiveness, the EU's economy as well as creating peace, as Europe's peace is in danger today," Gal said.

EU Presidency - Orban: 'If attacked, I will defend my country'

Following a speech Viktor Orban gave to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, the prime minister reacted to critical speeches, saying a "political intifada" had ensued instead of a debate on the priorities of the Hungarian EU presidency. "If we're attacked, I will defend my country," he declared.

Responding to speeches by EP group leaders and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, Orban said: it was wrong for the EP president to highlight differences of opinion in the context of the work of the EU presidency as this had turned the EU executive into a political body that attacked "right-wingers and European patriots". "This isn't right," he said.

The prime minister also "decisively rejected" her attempt to draw parallels between Hungarian 1956 freedom fighters and the situation in Ukraine. "This is a mistake and dishonours the memory of Hungarian freedom fighters. There is nothing in common between the Ukrainian-Russian war and 1956," Orban said. "I reject all false and misleading historical analogies."

Orban said it was important to acknowledge that Ukraine was losing the war, adding that the EU had "entered the war in Ukraine recklessly, based on miscalculations and with a flawed strategy." "If we want to win, the current losing strategy must be changed," he said.

He called for diplomacy, communication, "and direct or indirect contacts" in service of a peaceful settlement, or else "we'll get deeper and deeper into war".

"Let's argue for a ceasefire and come up with another strategy..." he said.
 

Meanwhile, he called von der Leyen's accusation that Hungary had released people smugglers from prisons "unfair", insisting that Hungary had arrested more than 2,000 people smugglers. "So we deserve recognition, not criticism," he said.

Reacting to remarks made by Mafred Weber, the European People's Party's (EPP) group leader, Orban said: "We will never accept equating European unity with you ordering us to shut up if we don't like something."

Orban decried the denial of EP committee posts for right-wing Patriot MEPs, saying "this could never happen in Hungary". "You want to teach us about democracy? Impossible!"

Reacting to a speech by Renew Europe MEP Valerie Hayer, Orban said the Hungarian constitution gave everyone the right to live according to their own way of life, protecting the family, children, and marriage, while also stating that marriage is between a man and a woman, and the father is a man and the mother is a woman. "That's how it will stay, whether you like it or not," he added.

Orban also said Hungary's trade ties were transparent, while many other EU countries bypassed EU sanctions by covertly trading with Russia through Asia.

Addressing MEPs, the prime minister said he had intended to speak about the "competitiveness problem" and "migration problem", and the Hungarian presidency's related proposals, but "they have turned the meeting into a party political intifada". "If we are attacked, I will defend my country," Orban said.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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