Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is reveling in European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s political woes ahead of a key confidence vote in the European Parliament.
“Time to go,” Orbán wrote Wednesday in a post accompanied by an image of von der Leyen stepping out of a red frame, symbolically indicating her political departure.
The post came as the Parliament prepares to vote on Thursday on whether von der Leyen should remain at the helm of the EU executive, reflecting growing tensions around her leadership.
The confidence vote stems from frustration at von der Leyen’s undisclosed communications with the CEO of vaccine-maker Pfizer during the pandemic. Speaking in Strasbourg this week, she dismissed the accusations, warning of an “alarming threat from extremist parties trying to polarize societies through disinformation.”
In a second post on Wednesday, Orbán framed the vote as a defining moment for Europe.
“Tomorrow will be a turbulent day in the European Parliament,” he wrote. “The vote was scheduled due to the corruption scandals piling up around the President, but we all know that corruption is just the tip of the iceberg. This is about competence, results, and the future of Europe,” he added.
Orbán’s attack came just a day after the Commission issued country-specific economic recommendations, urging Hungary to adopt “permanent” fiscal measures to address a budget gap.
The Hungarian government pushed back, defending its economic strategy. “In contrast to Brussels, for the government the families and pensioners and Hungarian companies come first, not the multinationals,” Hungary’s economy ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
Budapest and Brussels have been locked in a broader dispute for years, with the EU freezing billions of euros in funds over rule-of-law concerns. With less than a year until Hungary’s next national election, Orbán has intensified his campaign against the EU — with von der Leyen and the bloc’s support for Ukraine chief among his targets.
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