Von der Leyen Is “serving an agenda,” not the Interests of Europe, Says PM

Support for Ukraine was debated on Wednesday at the plenary session of the European Parliament. In her speech, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, highlighted three critical points regarding Ukraine and called for the country’s accelerated admission into the EU, Mandiner reported.

In her speech, Von der Leyen said that Ukraine’s defense must be supported and that more weapons must be sent to the country. She recalled that the European Union has so far provided €50 billion in military aid to Ukraine. She went on to say that Ukraine’s defense industry should be integrated into the EU, adding that this is a central element of the “Readiness 2030” White Paper.

In her second point, the Commission President spoke about the need to end dependence on Russian fossil fuels. She announced that she would propose a ban on new Russian contracts by the end of 2027, at the latest.

We will work to ban all remaining Russian gas imports, both piped and LNG, by the end of 2027 at the latest,”

she stated. In practice, this would mean that Hungary would have to cancel its utility bill cuts, meaning if von der Leyen’s plan goes ahead, Hungarian consumers would have to pay three to four times as much for energy as they do now.

Eighty years on, we stand at another decisive moment in the history of our continent.

The war in Ukraine will eventually come to a halt.

And the way it ends will shape our continent for generations to come ↓ https://t.co/aXfcq9w8Up

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 7, 2025

In her third point, the EU politician stated that Ukraine’s accession process must be accelerated. She explained that

they are working hard with Ukraine to open the first accession negotiation cluster and that ultimately all clusters should be opened this year.

As Ursula von der Leyen put it, peace and European integration have always gone hand in hand in our history, which is why Ukraine must be brought into the EU.

The words of the President of the European Commission did not go unanswered in Hungary. Viktor Orbán called it a “scandal” in a post on X that Ukraine gets money and weapons, while European taxpayers get to pay the bill. In a video, he stressed that Hungary will not go along with the EU’s newest idea, adding that von der Leyen is not serving the interest of Member States but an agenda.

President @vonderleyen wants to pour further billions into Ukraine, pull Europe further into a losing war, and rush a bankrupt state into the EU. She’s not serving the member states – she’s serving an agenda. Hungary won’t go along with this. pic.twitter.com/Yukf3NZrVz

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) May 7, 2025

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó stated that the plan to end Russian energy imports is an attack on Hungary’s utility bill cuts, which would increase the country’s energy import costs by roughly 1.5 billion euros annually. He added that this clearly demonstrates that the European Union wants Hungary to pay the price for Ukraine’s quick admission into the EU. In a Facebook post, he wrote that for Hungary, the danger does not lie in natural gas, crude oil, or nuclear fuel coming from Russia, but in these supplies not reaching the country.

Balázs Orbán, the Prime Minister’s political director, pointed out that Russia still accounts for 19% of total EU gas imports, making it the second largest supplier after Norway (33%) and ahead of the U.S. (17%). Moreover, imports have not been significantly reduced in recent years – by mid-December 2024, Europe had imported 16.5 million tons of Russian liquefied natural gas, significantly exceeding imports in 2023.

This year, the EU has already imported six million tons of Russian LNG, worth more than €2.5 billion.

He highlighted that the Commission would make it impossible for Member States to access the cheapest and most stable sources of supply, at a time when European industry is already in crisis and high energy prices are steadily eroding the continent’s competitiveness.

Via Mandiner, Featured photo via multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/Alexis HAULOT