Guy Verhofstadt fumes at Ursula von der Leyen over EU's £8.5bn 'dirty deal' with Hungary

Guy Verhofstadt and Ursula von der Leyen

Guy Verhofstadt, the arch-europhile MEP and outspoken Brexit critic, is on a collision course with Ursula von der Leyen after accusing the European Commission she leads of doing “dirty deals” with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The former Belgian Prime Minister warned he and his colleagues were ready to “go to court” to abolish Hungary’s voting rights in a move which is certain to cause huge ruction in Brussels.

Mr Verhofstadt’s rant came after a furious row erupted between the Commission, of which Ms von der Leyen is President, and the European Parliament over the controversial transfer of £8.5billion (€10billion) in funds to Budapest.

The assembly is ready to launch legal action over allegations that the EU’s executive arm gave into blackmail from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to get his approval to start EU membership talks with Ukraine.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter) Mr Verhofstadt, likewise a vehement opponent of right-winger Mr Orban, said: “European Parliament ready to go to Court and abolish Hungarian voting rights…. to stop the Commission doing dirty deals with Orban…

“When will @vonderleyen be Guardian of the Treaties, not friends with autocrats?”

The European Parliament decided in a 345-104 vote today, instructing its legal department to prepare the groundwork for a possible challenge at the EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECR).

MEPS want to know whether the European Commission took all measures “to protect the EU’s financial interests” in its dealings with Mr Orban. They believe that Hungary did not meet the rule of law requirements to get the money.

The vote came after a bruising debate in yesterday’s plenary during which legislators of major centre-right and centre-left groups all criticised Ms von der Leyen for making sure the money was approved just before Mr Orban unexpectedly and crucially abstained from the Ukraine vote at a summit in December.

Viktor Orban, Hungary’s right-wing prime minister

The funds were only meant to be released if Hungary had shown sufficient effort to force through some rule of law reforms on judicial independence and political interference, and during plenary, Ms von der Leyen said that the country had pushed through measures to earn the release of funds.

She said the European Commission had no option but to approve the funds and strongly denied the two issues were linked.

She said: “These are the rules we have all agreed to. We will follow them. This is what makes the rule of law stand out from arbitrary power.

Other parliamentarians disagreed, however, including parliamentary rapporteur Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield of the Greens group, who said: “Once again the Parliament is having to step in” and claimed the Commission and member states “seem happy to give a carte blanche to Viktor Orbán to continue his bullying tactics and attacks on the rule of law.”

The EU is still blocking about £17billion (€20billion) in funds over similar rule of law concerns, and the parliament does not want to see them fall prey to political brinkmanship.

On February 1, EU leaders will have another summit, hoping to approve £42.5billion (€50billion) in financial aid to Ukraine, which Mr Orban blocked at the last summit in December.

It was not the first time Mr Orban had derailed EU plans to provide funding to Ukraine. The nationalist leader is widely considered to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the bloc, and has been accused by his critics of promoting Moscow’s interests over those of his EU and NATO allies.

Mr Orban has advocated for an immediate end to the fighting and pushed for peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, though he hasn’t detailed what such a step would entail for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

He has been at odds with his fellow EU leaders, top officials and legislators for years, ranging from fights over COVID-19 recovery money to his declining respect for the Western democratic principles that are the essence of the EU.

However, as the longest-serving EU leader, he knows the EU rules inside out and has been able to extract financial concessions time and again to shore up his struggling economy.