An activist and municipal councilor for a Hungarian opposition party disrupted a news conference in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was outlining his plans for Hungary’s six-month presidency of the European Union.
The activist, Márton Gyekiczki, interrupted Orbán as he was speaking about his opposition to immigration, running toward the podium where Orbán sat and throwing a stack of what appeared to be banknotes at the prime minister.
“How much did you sell out the country for? How much did you sell out the country for, Mr. Prime Minister?” Gyekiczki yelled as the papers scattered. “He sold out to Putin, he sold out to Xi Jinping!” — referring to the leaders of Russia and China.
The disruption occurred as Orbán was scheduled to address the European Parliament on Wednesday during Hungary’s six-month rotating presidency of the bloc. His government has long been at odds with the EU over what it perceives as his curtailing of democratic rights and has increasingly faced criticism for his close relations with Russia and China.
Gyekiczki, the activist, who was subdued by a security guard and escorted out of the room, is a member of Hungary’s Democratic Coalition party and a local council member in a Budapest suburb.
The president of that party, former Prime Minister Ference Gyurcsány, later posted on social media that he was “proud” of Gyekiczki’s actions.
“We will say it everywhere and always: Hungary has a traitorous government!” he wrote.
Orbán is anticipated to receive a mixed reception in the EU parliament on Wednesday. Many lawmakers have advocated for his government to be stripped of EU funds due to what they consider rule-of-law and corruption violations.
Two years ago, the parliament declared that Hungary under Orbán had become “a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy,” excluding it from the community of democracies.
However, Orbán successfully formed the Patriots for Europe group within the parliament this year, uniting far-right parties from across the continent to form the third-largest group in the EU legislature.
During the news conference on Tuesday, Orbán expressed concern over what he sees as a declining EU economy and lagging competitiveness compared to Russia and China, stating that he viewed this as “the most serious challenge we have to face.”
He also argued against recently adopted EU tariffs on Chinese-produced electric vehicles and criticized immigration, which he said was leading to the destruction of the EU’s visa-free Schengen area as countries like Germany, Austria, Italy, and Slovenia have introduced temporary border checks along their frontiers.
“These individual attempts will actually break up the Schengen system,” Orbán said, adding that he proposed a regular “Schengen Summit” for member countries to meet and discuss border policy.
“We need a big, joint decision,” he said.
Responding to the disruption by the activist, Orbán offered “a word of explanation for Hungarian political culture.”
“When a Hungarian politician tells another one that he is a scoundrel, all it means in our culture is that ‘I disagree with you,’” he said.