Guy Verhofstadt, a radical globalist Belgian MEP who formerly led the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) political grouping, has once again slandered Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, calling the Hungarian leader a “traitor” over remarks he made during a Christmas interview.
Verhofstadt, who appears to have maintained suspiciously cozy relations with the recently arrested and imprisoned Greek MEP Eva Kaili, seems to have been angered deeply by comments given during a Christmas Eve interview with Budapest-based newspaper Magyar Nemzet, where he stated: “Ukraine can only fight as long as the United States supports it with money and arms, if the Americans want peace, there will be peace.”
Days ago, when the federalist MEP caught wind of Orbán’s comments, he took to Twitter to malign the Hungarian Prime Minister, writing: “No other word for this … Orbán is a traitor!”
Orbán, in the interview, also said:
The answer to the question of whether we are on the right or wrong side of history is that we are on the Hungarian side of history. We support and help Ukraine, we have an interest in the survival of a sovereign Ukraine, and we have an interest in ensuring that Russia does not pose a security threat to Europe, but we do not have an interest in giving up all economic relations with Russia. We look at these issues through a Hungarian lens and not through the lenses of other countries.
Over the past years, Verhofstadt—and other prominent MEPs within his liberal, federalist political grouping Renew Europe, which is the successor to ALDE—has made it a habit to attack and defame Prime Minister Orbán for daring to place the interests of Hungarians over those of the Brussels-Washington axis.
In another angry Twitter outburst last month, Verhofstadt, after Orbán voiced his opposition to the EU’s €18 billion financial aid package to Ukraine, suggested that the Hungarian prime minister and Hungary leave the European Union and be replaced by Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Blackmail is Orbán’s cynical and reckless game … because we let him get away with it. Maybe we are better off with Orbán out of Europe … and Zelensky in!” Verhofstadt wrote.
In September of 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dutch MEP Sophie In’t Veld, who is also a leading member of the Renew political grouping, called on Hungary to leave the European Union after Prime Minister Orbán closed his country’s borders in an attempt to quell the spread of the virus.
It’s also worth noting that in a 2018 report by the French-language Belgian newspaper Le Soir, based on a study by anti-corruption organization Transparency International EU, Verhofstadt was found to be among the top three MEPs earning the most cash in “supplementary roles.”
The Brussels Times reported:
During the previous European Parliament legislature [Verhofstadt] earned between €920,000 and €1.42 million, in addition to the €13,000 gross monthly salary which he earned and continues to earn at the European Parliament.
