The Belgian MEP's frequent outbursts do not attract the amount of attention they used to, but are damaging to the EP's reputation regardless.Continue reading
Leading liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt went to Twitter to rant about the Hungarian government again because of its stance on Brussels sanctions against Russia. The Belgian politician posted saying it was scandalous how the Hungarian government is telling its citizens that the European Union is killing them while siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he called a ‘terrorist.’ He even added that no money and no voting rights should be given for those who ‘destroy the EU.’
However, the biggest problem with Verhofstadt’s tweet was not that he openly tried to smear the Hungarian government as he often does, but the fact that he got the content and the creator of the poster completely wrong.
Scandalous: the Hungarian government telling its citizens the EU is killing them… while actively siding with terrorist Putin.
How far will we let this go?
No EU money and no voting rights #EUCO for those who destroy the EU ! #Art7 pic.twitter.com/5kGGqIPNUU
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) October 19, 2022
The Belgian politician posted a picture that is in fact a parody of the Hungarian government’s official poster which was actually made by a small joke political party, the Hungarian Two Tailed Dog Party. It was Zoltán Kovács, Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations, who corrected Verhofstadt on Twitter by saying that it was not an official government poster and it is not saying at all what the Belgian politician claims that it is saying.
BTW, somebody played you for a fool. That’s not even a gov’t sponsored poster. It’s the product of the spoof political party, The Two-Tailed Dog Party @ketfarkukutya
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) October 19, 2022
Later, Guy Verhofstadt recognized his mistake and corrected his post by adding a picture of the real poster.
The Hungarian government announced a few weeks ago that they are launching a national consultation about the EU sanctions against Russia. According to the government, this is a unique move in Europe because the EU has failed to ask its citizens so far about whether they want the sanctions or not.
Featured photo via Claude Truong-Ngoc / Wikimedia Commons