state visit
Orban describes talks with Scholz as “fruitful”
Chancellor Scholz (r) receives Viktor Orban in the Federal Chancellery. photo
© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban is in Berlin. About the meeting with Olaf Scholz in the Chancellery. Both talk to each other for two hours. Apparently we didn’t always agree.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban described his talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin as “fruitful”. “I am pleased to be able to tell you that he (Scholz) is still alive. Me too,” he said after the meeting in the Chancellery, which he said lasted two hours. Both sides could be satisfied with the meeting. All difficult issues were addressed. Orban did not give any details.
There was no communication from the Chancellery about the conversation. A joint press conference, which is customary at such meetings, was not scheduled without justification. Orban spoke at an economic forum of the Eastern Committee of German Business. On Sunday he had already met the former Chancellor and CDU leader Angela Merkel and the former Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and current CDU foreign politician in the Bundestag, Armin Laschet.
Orban has been prime minister since 2010 and sat at a table with Merkel at EU summits for eleven years. Orban’s right-wing nationalist Fidesz party, like Merkel’s CDU, belonged to the European People’s Party EPP until it left in 2021. So the two know each other quite well. On Sunday, Orban also met the former Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, failed CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor and current foreign politician in the Bundestag, Armin Laschet.
Orban is seen by many as a right-wing troublemaker
The Hungarian head of government is seen by many in the EU as a right-wing troublemaker. He is repeatedly accused of violations of the rule of law, and he is currently also being criticized for alleged misuse of EU funds. The EU Commission has therefore proposed cutting Hungary payments of around 7.5 billion euros from the EU budget.
According to the German side, the focus of the talks with Scholz should be the reactions to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The right-wing Hungarian head of government has been railing against the sanctions that the EU has imposed on Russia for months. Nevertheless, his country has always voted for the punitive measures, which must be decided unanimously. A few days ago, Orban announced a referendum in Hungary on the sanctions.
Barley: Orban is the EU’s fall from grace
The Vice-President of the EU Parliament, Katarina Barley (SPD), meanwhile criticized the long-standing dealings of the European Union with Orban. “For me, that is the great fall from grace of the European Union. Viktor Orban did not get into such a position from one day to the next that he can blackmail the EU, but it has built up over twelve years,” Barley told the news portal “The Pioneers”.
“He’s been protected for too long,” she said. “Now he’s in a very comfortable position. He’s changed his country and the rules, the right to vote, freedom of the media, many other things in such a way that it’s almost impossible to vote him out.” Barley said he could blackmail the EU. “He is also the most corrupt head of government in the entire European Union and unfortunately stuffs his own and his buddies’ pockets full of European money.” According to Barley, the only way to help is to cut off his money.
A press conference with Scholz was unusually not scheduled. This is actually the rule during visits by heads of government from member states of the European Union. But there are exceptions. Today Orban is taking part in a panel discussion entitled “Storm over Europe – the Ukraine War, the Energy Crisis and Geopolitical Challenges” hosted by the magazine “Cicero”.