The European Commission’s chief spokesperson, Eric Mamer, declined to directly criticise a new Hungarian government campaign which includes billboards depicting commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Open Society Foundations chair Alex Soros with the slogan “Let’s not dance to their tune”.
The campaign has renewed concerns that the government of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán is using antisemitic narratives for political gain at home.
At the commission’s daily press briefing today, Mamer faced a multitude of questions on both the billboards and a related questionnaire the Hungarian government is mailing to each citizen with leading questions criticising Brussels.
But the spokesperson said that the commission will not be drawn into a debate over the questions. “We have no interest in losing time with that sort of issue in the current international context,” he said.
And when it comes to the billboards, he said:I showed the pictures to the president. She didn’t bat an eyebrow… completely unfazed, ok? Let’s be clear: we know this is not the first time, it’s probably not the last time, we have business to do. We have crises to manage, we have policies to implement, Hungary is part of the European Union… It sits at the table.”
I showed the pictures to the president. She didn’t bat an eyebrow… completely unfazed, ok? Let’s be clear: we know this is not the first time, it’s probably not the last time, we have business to do. We have crises to manage, we have policies to implement, Hungary is part of the European Union… It sits at the table.”
Mamer also said generally that antisemitism is not tolerated in the EU, but did not directly address the issue of whether the billboards are antisemitic.
The commission’s response differs from its approach in 2019, when the Hungarian government ran a similar campaign targeting then-commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Hungarian-American businessman George Soros.
Back in 2019, the commission said that “it is shocking that such a ludicrous conspiracy theory has reached the mainstream to the extent it has. There is no conspiracy. Hungarians deserve facts not fiction”.
Hungary’s ruling party unveiled billboards vilifying European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen on Monday, the first time it has made her a personal target in a campaign similar to one against her predecessor that angered Brussels.
The billboards, erected overnight to launch a campaign for next June’s European parliamentary election, depict Von der Leyen alongside Alex Soros, the son of liberal Hungarian-born financier George Soros, a perennial target of hostility from Orban’s Fidesz Party.
The slogan reads: “Let’s not dance to their tunes”. Soros is Jewish and some critics view the central role he plays in Fidesz propaganda as evidence of anti-Semitism, which Fidesz strongly denies.
Similar billboards showing Von der Leyen’s predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker alongside the elder Soros drew a rebuke from Brussels in 2019. Fidesz took them down after the European Parliament’s main centre-right EPP group threatened to expel the Hungarian party. Fidesz left the EPP two years later.
Orban, whose government has been trying to unblock billions of euros in EU funds suspended by Brussels over Fidesz’s policies, said on Saturday that Hungary “must say no to the current Europe model built in Brussels”.
Hungary is expected to be a major focus of the next EU summit in mid-December, as the EU country most sympathetic to Russia and sceptical of plans to offer Ukraine a path to join the bloc, expected to be the summit’s top issue.
Orban sent out a survey on Friday to Hungarians asking whether the EU should allocate more funds to Ukraine or grant it membership.
PHOTO Magyarország Kormánya/Government of Hungary/Facebook
