MEPs denounced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for walking out in the middle of a parliamentary debate when asked about her decision to allocate billions in EU funds to Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán last month, Politico reported.
Sophie in ‘t Veld, a Dutch MEP who is part of the Renew Europe group, declared:
The president of the European Commission — as she always does — listens to the first round of speakers, and then disappears. I find that utter disrespect to the European Parliament, and to her treaty duties.
Von der Leyen gave a speech defending the decision to allocate about 10 billion euros for Hungary ahead of a summit of EU leaders last December at which they agreed to start EU membership talks with Ukraine.
“Last May, Hungary passed a new law on justice reform, that addresses a number of recommendations. This was required for Hungary to meet the conditions for cohesion funds, this is what we requested, and this is what Hungary delivered.”
The European Commission chief noted that about 20 billion euros of EU funds remain frozen.
Von der Leyen left the parliament hall in Strasbourg less than an hour after the debate began, assigning Commission Executive Vice President Maroš Šefčovič to answer MEPs’ questions.
Greek MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis, one of the European Parliament’s vice-presidents, stated:
The fact that Ms. von der Leyen isn’t present … that’s an insult to the European Parliament.
European Council President Charles Michel was also expected to attend Wednesday’s debate, but he withdrew earlier in the week, citing back pain. He was replaced by Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Labib.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also left the hemicycle during the debate, being replaced by German MEP and deputy speaker Rainer Wieland, who was then succeeded by Marc Angel.
