Billboards appeared in Hungary on Monday denigrating European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, making her a personal target for the first time in a campaign similar to the one launched against her predecessor that angered Brussels, Reuters reports.
The billboards were installed overnight to launch the campaign for next June’s European Parliament elections. The billboards show von der Leyen with Alex Soros, son of Hungarian-born liberal financier George Soros, who is a constant target of hostility from Orban’s Fidesz party.
The slogan reads, “Let’s not dance to their tunes.” Soros is Jewish, and some critics see his central role in Fidesz propaganda as evidence of anti-Semitism, which Fidesz categorically denies.
In 2019, similar billboards depicting von der Leyen’s predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker alongside the elder Soros drew a rebuke from Brussels. Fidesz took them down after the European Parliament’s main centre-right group EPP threatened to expel the Hungarian party. Two years later, Fidesz withdrew from the EPP.
Orbán, whose government is trying to unblock billions of euros in EU funds suspended by Brussels because of Fidesz’s policies, said on Saturday that Hungary “must say ‘no’ to the current Brussels-built model of Europe.”
On Friday, Orbán sent out a poll to Hungarians asking whether the EU should give Ukraine more funds or grant it membership.
