Opposition Fidesz on Wednesday branded European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s annual State of the Union address as a public endorsement of what it called the “Brussels-Tisza pact”.

In a statement, Bertalan Havasi, the party’s communications director, said von der Leyen had “sent greetings from the Brussels centre to the Hungarian colony” and “publicly confirmed the Brussels-Tisza pact”.

He insisted that the EC president had spoken of Brussels using “financial blackmail” to help bring the Tisza government to power and keep it there, in exchange for the government “settling scores with patriotic politicians who oppose Brussels” and handing over the Hungarian economy “lock, stock, and barrel to foreign companies”.

In her address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen said that on 12 April, the Hungarian people had taken their future into their own hands, choosing democracy and Europe, and returning Hungary to the heart of the European Union.

“The fight against corruption and state capture is speeding up. There is real progress on fundamental rights. On academic freedom. And now, billions of euros of investment in Hungary have been unlocked,” the EC president said.