VIDEO: Fidesz MEP’s English skills under scrutiny after awkward EP speech

Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch faced a challenging moment during a Budgetary Control Committee meeting in the European Parliament on Monday, exposing his difficulties with speaking English. The incident occurred when the committee chair, Niclas Herbst, was delayed, leaving Deutsch unexpectedly tasked with opening the session.

A rocky start

The situation visibly caught Deutsch off guard, as evidenced by his hesitant demeanour and nervous expression as he approached the microphone, 444.hu reports. Struggling to explain Herbst’s absence and his own sudden role in leading the meeting, Deutsch delivered a series of grammatically incorrect sentences. He admitted that the unexpected responsibility was “bad news” for him but attempted to reassure attendees that Herbst would arrive within 5–10 minutes.

Deutsch’s difficulties didn’t end there. Reading the agenda items proved laborious, requiring frequent assistance from the member seated next to him. His pronounced accent and frequent grammatical errors further underscored his struggle, particularly when posing questions to the participants.

Criticism and comparisons

The incident quickly sparked reactions online. Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza Party, criticised Deutsch in a Facebook post, contrasting his performance with a speech by fellow Hungarian MEP Dóra Dávid, who spoke fluent English in the same parliamentary setting. Magyar’s video juxtaposed Deutsch’s fumbling with Dávid’s confident delivery, accompanied by the caption:

“[Would you choose] Fidesz’s MEP, who has been lounging in Brussels for 15 years, struggles to even read a prepared text, let alone understand it. Or the Tisza? Your choice.”

Magyar also pointed out that the European Parliament offers free language courses for MEPs to help avoid such embarrassing moments, suggesting that Deutsch could have taken advantage of them during his long tenure in the EU Parliament.

Deutsch’s response

In response, Deutsch posted a brief, sarcastic comment on social media, seemingly poking fun at himself: “Miszter Magyar, Máj inglis ekszent indíd iz from Kelenföld. Rili szori. Dec it.” (“Mister Magyar, my English accent indeed is from Kelenföld. Really sorry. That’s it.”)

Double standards?

This episode has drawn parallels to previous political controversies. Critics noted that Fidesz’s media had heavily scrutinised Gergely Karácsony, Budapest’s mayor, for his English skills during the 2021 opposition primaries. Despite the backlash, Karácsony publicly demonstrated his improvement by delivering a speech in English later that year. Some have speculated whether Deutsch might similarly feel compelled to address his linguistic shortcomings after this incident. While fluency in English may not define a politician’s overall effectiveness, Deutsch’s difficulties have raised questions about language preparedness among long-serving MEPs.

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9 Comments

  1. Why should he learn English when Europe is flooded with millions of illegal aliens and even legal migrants who have zero intention of integrating not just linguistically but in any other way*?!?!?

    * With full blessing of those raking Deutsch over the coals for his English.

    • Uh. Because Mr. Deutsch represents Hungary in the EU Parliament? The working language in meetings is more often than not English? And he is paid handsomely for it?

      Nothing to do with refugees, migrants, etc.

  2. It is not the accent that bothers me – that´s just fine, it´s genuine.

    The big question is whether Mr. Deutsch has he ever chaired a meeting or held a non-rehearsed speech in English and in public? It is so painful to watch!

    15 years of “experience” in the EU Parliament on full display.

  3. Steiner Michael – what’s the QUALITY of your Hungarian born wife’s ENGLISH ???
    42 cities of the GLOBAL world you claimed to have LIVED – laughable CRAP – that you are “Over-flowing” – your commentary presentations.
    The subject individual of this article – is a FRAUD.
    Deutsch – his intellectual capacity – LIMITED.
    Deutsch – another political figure of the Orban led Fidesz Government of Hungary, that is factually accepted in being “toxic” in nature – as is that of the Orban led Fidesz Government – it’s Toxic Cultures.
    Quite an EMBARRASSMENT – to the image of Hungary – diabolical low standard of English – this Fidesz Politician presents.

  4. It wasn’t too bad until he got flustered when he got to the point where he discussed the agenda point of EU financial interest in combatting fraud and was nervously grasping at his neck and shortly thereafter was grabbing his nose which for Hungarians is a bad cultural signal. He stumbled a lot after that.

  5. It starts at around 3:40 in the video and then he has to mention it a second time at 4:20 and he talks about the EU financial interest but drops out the word “fraud”. Great job Deutsch Tamas!

  6. I don’t understand why they wanted him to speak English, it is very clear in the paper that he only T.alks Deutsch ahahah dad joke, sorry.
    Unsurprisingly, this is just another example of the FIDESZ political figures generally being very unskilled. I am not a politician but if i would sit there I would be able to lead the meeting.

    Unfortunaley, with FIDESZ, Hungary is always the laughing stock of the neighborhood

  7. This is typical Fidesz leader. They all have big mouth in Hungarian language, but very little substance.
    They are good at lying and thievery from the Hungarian people pockets.
    It is time Hungarians clean up this kind of trash from representing themselves. Orban and his gang need to go.
    They already stole everything it was possible during the last 15 years.

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