In the European Parliament’s debate on the programme of the Hungarian presidency, there were strong accusations that Hungary is letting in Russian workers.

Left-wing EU politicians attacked Hungary with familiar accusations. Ursula von der Leyen participated as part of the attacks, writes Magyar Nemzet. The president of the European Commission said:

– How is it possible that the Hungarian government invites Russian citizens and lets them into the EU without security checks? This makes the new Hungarian visa system a security risk, not only for Hungary, but for all member states.

Viktor Orbán gave a quick response to the accusations. He also uploaded a short video about this on his social media page.

– The chairman of the committee mentioned how many Russians work in Hungary. It’s a case of hypocrisy. In Hungary, we issued three thousand permits last year, a total of seven thousand people are working. Mrs von der Leyen is a German woman. What about in Germany? Three hundred thousand jobs in Germany.

– Three hundred thousand Russians, and you accuse me?

Orbán also pointed out that there are 100,000 Russians working in Spain, and 60,000 in France.

– And you criticise Hungary, with our number of seven thousand. Is that fair?

Statistician Dániel Deák a quick analysis on Facebook after the EP debate.

“For today’s debate in the European Parliament, the entire left-liberal side was well prepared, hoping to humiliate Viktor Orbán, who is quietly travelling home. Klára Dobrev and Péter Magyar joined forces with their foreign colleagues and also railed against Hungary in the EU Parliament.”

Klára Dobrev is a member of the European Parliament, representing the socialist party Demokratikus Koalíció (Democratic Coalition). Péter Magyar is party leader of Tisza, which challenged Orbán’s Fidesz party in the spring elections to the EU Parliament. Magyar is also a member of the European Parliament.

It was announced today that Hungary has signed an agreement with the Russian company Gazprom for the supply of gas.

Hungary and Gazprom will sign a gas agreement later on Thursday, according to Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

The deal will allow the Turkstream gas pipeline to be fully utilised (NTB-Reuters)

Hungary maintains a pragmatic relationship with Russia, although Orbán has also been critical of the invasion of Ukraine. But the government in Budapest is also highly critical of various EU sanctions targeting Russian oil and gas exports.

This is not being well received in Brussels.