Orbán speech draws unusual response in the EU

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso indirectly stated to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on March 16 that Orbán lacks understanding of what democracy is. Papers in Western Europe quote from Orbán’s anti-EU speech delivered on March 15.

EC President Barroso responded through a spokesperson to a statement by Orbán, who hinted a comparison the EU to the USSR. EU news portal EurActive quotes spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen who was asked to comment Orbán's speech, in which the Hungarian prime minister compared the European Union to the Hapsburg Empire and the former Soviet Union

The spokesperson quoted what Barroso thinks about those who have such views: "Those who compare the EU to the USSR show a complete lack of understanding of what democracy is and show a lack of respect for those who have fought for freedom and democracy," she said, reading from a statement.

The statement appears as an unprecedented verbal exchange, albeit indirect, between the Commission president and the prime minister of a member country.

Addressing tens of thousands of supporters on Hungary's national day, commemorating the 1848-49 uprising against Habsburg rule, the prime minister accused eurocrats of illegitimate interference in the country.

"We do not need the unsolicited assistance of foreigners wanting to guide our hands," Orbán declared in a reference to Brussels' demands for legal and constitutional changes regulating Hungary's central bank, data protection laws, and the retirement age for judges on the supreme court.

Drawing a clear parallel between Soviet domination of Hungary until 1989 and the behavior of the European authorities, Orbán said: "We are more than familiar with the character of unsolicited comradely assistance, even if it comes wearing a finely tailored suit and not a uniform with shoulder patches."

The Guardian of Britain reminds its readers that Orbán enjoys the strongest democratic mandate in the EU, after a landslide election victory in 2010 that gave his Fidesz party a two-thirds majority in parliament. He has used the mandate to draft and rush through a new Hungarian constitution, crack down on media pluralism, and has been accused of authoritarianism and breaking the laws of the EU, which Hungary joined in 2004.

This week, EU finance ministers said they would withhold EUR half a billion in funding for Hungary from next year because it was failing to get its budget deficit under control and violating EU rules on fiscal rigor.

The European commission is also threatening to take Hungary to court for breaching EU law, insisting the country amend its legislation to guarantee the independence of the central bank. The Commission is also worried about media censorship and control and at moves to force judges to retire, a policy seen as enabling Orbán to rid himself of opponents in key institutions of power.