Hungarian PM's Policy Chief: Brussels Elite Misinterprets European Voters' Will

The Brussels elite is misinterpreting European voters’ will because voters’ preferences clearly reflect a shift to the right, with right-wing parties having strengthened, and parties in the center that promised to work together with right-wing forces having received more votes, yet Brussels views the election results as if they were a reaffirmation of the past era, the prime minister’s political director said in Brussels on Thursday.

Balazs Orban, the Hungarian PM's political director (Source: Facebook)

Hungary will be the member of a coalition in Brussels that urges changes and believes that past policies have been proven wrong and they failed, so the EU needs a new direction, Balazs Orban, the Hungarian prime minister's political director, emphasized. 

Talks are under way with the participation of Hungarian ruling party MEPs, aiming to set up a large right-wing sovereigntist coalition in Europe that pursues policies based on patriotism, he said, adding that the various initiatives will be disclosed to the public in the upcoming days.

Hungary's position remains unchanged. The European right-wing sovereigntist patriotic forces must work together and the more closely and in larger numbers we can cooperate, the stronger we can represent the European people’s will in Brussels,

he underlined.

Regarding the move that the European People's Party (EPP), the socialists and the liberals formed a coalition on the appointment of the next leaders of the European Union institutions, Balazs Orban said, "this pact has been concluded. The socialists, the liberals and the left-leaning EPP have agreed that Ursula von der Leyen will continue to be the president of the European Commission for the next five-year term [...] The agreement is in fact a reaffirmation of the European Commission, which has been a pro-war coalition for the last two years. Hungary cannot support this, because it is nothing but a betrayal of the will of European voters who want change and voted for peace, he said. At Thursday's EU summit, all member state leaders will have to vote on whether to appoint Ursula von der Leyen as commission president, he added. 

Eventually, it will come out in black and white who will vote for the pro-war coalition and who will vote against it, and which of the national leaders continue to see Europe's future in the collaboration between the Left and the EPP flirting with the left wing,

Balazs Orban pointed out.

Hungary has a transparent position on this issue, he added. He also noted that in his view, Brussels and the EU bureaucracy are continually accused of failing to represent the will of the European people. "A federal, supranational superstructure is being architected which does not represent the interests of European citizens and local communities," he pointed out. The selection procedure for EU posts confirms these accusations, he opined.

We can indeed talk about a serious legitimacy problem, a democratic deficit. In the new structure, the European Commission's position on war, sanctions, competitiveness, EU foreign policy and illegal migration will not change, so  discontent among European voters is likely to grow further,

he said.

As a side remark, Balazs Orban noted that Hungary taking over the EU presidency on June 1 will initiate that the meetings of the leaders of EU member states should be scheduled to start at "normal, human time" in the future.

Cover photo: Balazs Orban, the Hungarian PM's political director (Source: Facebook)