Dombrovskis voiced \u201cregret\u201d at Orb\u00e1n\u2019s move, which meant the work could not be legally completed, but said: \u201cWe [the EU] will not be discouraged \u2026 we will deliver [the \u20ac90bn] one way or the other\u201d.<\/p>\n
In contrast to Orb\u00e1n\u2019s pro-Kremlin views, the Latvian EU commissioner spoke of \u201caggressor Russia\u201d, while the EU Council\u2019s Portuguese president, Ant\u00f3nio Costa, spoke of Russia\u2019s \u201cwar of aggression\u201d, and told MEPs the EU would \u201csupport Ukraine as long as it takes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Leftwing, liberal, and Green MEPs let rip at Orb\u00e1n in the ensuing debate, who was using the Ukraine veto-row to campaign in Hungarian elections, due on 12 April.<\/p>\n Hs behaviour was \u201cshameful\u201d and he was doing the bidding of \u201cexternal autocrats\u201d, said the centre-left \u2018S&D\u2019 group\u2019s Spanish chair, Iratxe Garc\u00eda P\u00e9rez, referring to Russia\u2019s autocratic president Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n French liberal MEP Val\u00e9rie Hayer said it was \u201cdisgusting\u201d that Orb\u00e1n\u2019s foreign minister, P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3, was telegraphing internal EU meetings<\/a> to Moscow.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people on the far right are your enemies \u2026 yet still, you [the EU\u2019s centre-right \u2018EPP\u2019 group] work with them,\u201d said Dutch Green MEP Terry Reintke, referring to the EPP \u2018s voting with Orb\u00e1n-linked parties on migration and climate files.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen will you finally make a cut on working with these people\u201d, Reintke said.<\/p>\n A Czech MEP from Orb\u00e1n\u2019s \u2018Patriots for Europe\u2019 group, Jana Nagyov\u00e1, defended him, saying that Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3\u2019s wiretapping and EU financial pressure on Budapest ahead of the election, in which Orb\u00e1n\u2019s Fidesz party was polling behind the opposition Tisza, was illicit outside \u201cinterference\u201d in Hungarian democracy.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Spanish centre-right MEP Dolors Montserrat used Wednesday\u2019s parliament hearing to attack Spain\u2019s leftwing prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, accusing him of exploiting the Iran war for \u201cpropaganda\u201d by criticising US president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n But Garc\u00eda P\u00e9rez, from S\u00e1nchez\u2019s party, said it was the EPP which was \u201cisolated\u201d on its pro-Trump line in terms of the EU\u2019s general public, while S\u00e1nchez \u201cbecame the one who leads a clear response for the EU to defend \u2026 international law\u201d.<\/p>\n Polish rightwing MEP Patryk Jaki also said the Iran war meant the EU should scrap its climate-change laws, using an eye-watering metaphor.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260325_EP-201939B_AR2_EG_011-MEDIUM-2400x1600.jpg\")
EU parliament plenary session with EU Council president Ant\u00f3nio Costa (Source: European Parliament<\/a>) <\/p>\n