EU chaos as country’s leader branded ‘Russia’s useful idiot’ | World | News
A German MEP has launched a blistering attack on Hungarian leader Viktor Orban.
The Hungarian prime minister has been a leading critic of the West’s support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Budapest has refused to allow weapons to be delivered across its border with Ukraine and has regularly sought to obstruct further aid packages from being approved by the EU.
Orban’s apparent close relationship with Vladimir Putin has been a cause of growing concern among European leaders and officials.
On Wednesday, the Hungarian prime minister laid out his plans for his country’s six-month presidency of the European Union at the parliament.
This afforded MEPs the opportunity to grill him on a number of key issues – chief among them his relations with Russia and China.
Moritz Körner, a German MEP from the Free Democratic Party, tore into Orban, calling him Putin’s “useful idiot”.
“You say you want democracy and you brag about your majorities in the Hungarian parliament,” he said.
“Yet since years you only rule by emergency decrees. Are you so afraid of democracy, Mr Orban?
“You say you are for national sovereignty, yet you invite Chinese policemen to surveil the people in your country.
“You say you want to stop migration, yet you let Russian spies into our Schengen system and call it national card. That is what you are doing.
“Mr Orban, you are not a patriot. You are just a useful idiot of Russia and China. That’s the reality.”
The Hungarian prime minister faced further criticism from the president of the European Commission.
Ursula von der Leyen questioned why Hungary was not carrying out additional security checks on Russians entering the EU via Hungary.
“How can it be that the Hungarian government invites Russian nationals into our union without additional security checks?”, she asked to loud applause.
“This makes the new Hungarian visa scheme a security risk not only for Hungary but for all member states.”
