BRUSSELS, Belgium – In a reaction that underscores deep ideological divides within the 27-nation bloc, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen publicly celebrated Sunday’s legislative election outcome in Hungary that brought an end to Viktor Orban’s 12-year consecutive tenure as prime minister.
Posting to the social media platform X in both English and Hungarian, von der Leyen framed the election result as a pivotal moment for the central European nation’s relationship with the European Union. “Europe’s heart is beating stronger in Hungary tonight,” she wrote. She went on to emphasize the mutual alignment between Hungary and the broader bloc, adding, “Hungary has chosen Europe. Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger.”
Orban, a right-wing nationalist who long positioned himself as an unconventional counterweight to Brussels’ mainstream policy agenda, spent years in open conflict with most other EU member states. The nationalist leader once famously described himself as a “thorn” in the side of the union, a label that accurately reflected his frequent confrontations with bloc institutions over a range of contentious issues. Most notably, Orban diverged sharply from the EU’s unified foreign policy approach toward Russia following the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Beyond foreign policy, his administration also faced repeated accusations from Brussels that it had eroded judicial independence and undermined core EU rule-of-law principles, leading to years of regulatory and funding disputes between Budapest and Brussels.