Hungarian PM Orbán blackmailed by Putin? – UPDATED

Addressing a debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, opposition Tisza Party MEP Péter Magyar said the premierships of Ferenc Gyurcsány and Viktor Orbán “were the decades of missed opportunities”, insisting that Hungary had become “the poorest and most corrupt” country in the European Union.

Responding to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech on the Hungarian EU presidency’s programme, Magyar said Orbán “had every opportunity over the last 14 years to make Hungary a land of fulfilled promises”.

“Our ancestors fought for centuries for our country’s independence and sovereignty and to make Hungary a part of Europe,” Magyar said. “An overwhelming majority of Hungarians voted to join NATO and the EU, and if they had to vote today, they’d say the same thing.”

Magyar said he was in agreement with Orbán on the need to protect the EU’s external borders and take firm action against illegal migration. He criticised Hungary’s government for “releasing 2,000 people smugglers from Hungarian prisons”. He accused “government-affiliated oligarchs” of “doing business with residency bonds” and the government of planning to build a “migrant camp” near the border with Austria.

“Why have you spent 1,309 billion forints (EUR 3.3bn) on propaganda in five years when the Hungarian state isn’t functioning and public services are falling apart?” Magyar said.

Magyar shook hands with Orbán after his speech:

Russians blackmailing Orbán?

Klára Dobrev, an MEP of the leftist opposition Democratic Coalition, said Europe “doesn’t care” about the programme of the Hungarian EU presidency because it considered it “unserious and filled with platitudes”. She insisted that the Hungarian prime minister was “growing more and more detached from reality, fighting enemies that are the figments of his own imagination and alienating Hungary’s true friends and allies”.

Dobrev said Orbán was setting up obstacles to EU policies with the intention of helping Russia and its oligarchs and aiding extortionate Russian gas and energy imports to the benefit of Russian President Putin. She called on Orbán to “reveal what the Russians are blackmailing you with”.

Orbán’s MEP Tamás Deutsch thinks Magyar has mental problems

Tamás Deutsch, an MEP of ruling Fidesz, said Magyar had “mental problems”, arguing that he had admitted to secretly recording a conversation with his wife for the purpose of blackmailing her later, and that he had “psychologically abused” her.

“Magyar’s actions are a textbook example of domestic abuse,” Deutsch said. “But he’s also in legal trouble because he has committed a crime,” Deutsch added, noting the allegation that the Tisza leader accosted an individual at a club and stole his mobile phone before throwing it in the Danube.

Deutsch said Magyar was “hiding behind his immunity to escape accountability”, calling on MEPs “not to be his accomplices”.

Csaba Dömötör, another Fidesz MEP, said the EP was “mounting a witch hunt” against Hungary while the EU’s competitiveness was weakening and the Schengen system “crumbling”.

Zsuzsanna Borvendég of the Our Homeland Movement accused the EU of “punishing” Hungary, withholding funds the country is entitled to and refusing to contribute to border protection costs. She said the EU also wanted to boycott the programme of the Hungarian EU presidency despite the fact that it had put important issues on the agenda.

UPDATE – Orbán’s reactions

Europe must be protected from European left

Europe must be protected from the European left wing, “as they think democracy only exists as long as they win and ends as soon as the right wins”, the prime minister said during a debate on the Hungarian presidency’s programme at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. In his response to MEPs’ speeches, Viktor Orbán said the debate “has long left behind common sense and the world of facts”. The EP “has become a field of cheap propaganda,” he said.