【By Observer Net, Qi Qian】"Von der Leyen should go."

On July 9 local time, Hungary's Prime Minister Orbán posted on the social media platform X, accompanied by a picture of Von der Leyen walking out of a red frame.

Screenshot of Orbán's tweet

According to Bloomberg, at the time of this post, the European Parliament will hold a vote of no confidence against EU Commission President Von der Leyen on local time 10th. Orbán insisted that Von der Leyen should be removed.

This motion of no confidence was proposed by a new Romanian parliament member, Georgi Piperea, who accused Von der Leyen's leadership of the European Commission of "failing to ensure transparency". Piperea comes from an extreme right-wing party in the European Parliament.

The report said that this is the first time in over a decade that the EU Commission president faces such a challenge. It is generally expected that the vote will not reach the threshold of two-thirds votes needed to remove Von der Leyen. However, under the current highly tense situation due to US-EU trade negotiations, this will be a symbolic challenge to the EU's top official.

It is reported that this vote of no confidence focuses on Von der Leyen's "text message incident" with the CEO of Pfizer during the pandemic.

According to The New York Times, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, when the EU's largest vaccine supplier AstraZeneca announced problems with vaccine production, Von der Leyen maintained communication with the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, for a month. Eventually, Von der Leyen finalized an agreement to obtain 1.8 billion doses of vaccines from Pfizer.

At the European Parliament debate on Monday (7th), Von der Leyen strongly defended her actions. She also warned: "Extreme parties are polarizing European society through false information, and this threat is worrying."

Screenshot of a video from a European Parliament meeting last year, where Von der Leyen clashed with Orbán

Bloomberg said that Orbán used this opportunity to intensify his attack on Von der Leyen, calling for her removal, while his government rejected the EU's economic policy recommendations. The day before (8th), the EU passed the Commission's economic policy recommendations for each country, including requiring Hungary to abandon "permanent" fiscal measures to address the budget deficit.

According to reports, after the pandemic, Hungary faced issues such as budget deficits. Last month, the Hungarian National Bank downgraded its growth forecast for this year from 1.9% to 2.9% to 0.8%. The Orbán government has launched a series of economic intervention measures, including tax cuts and salary increases. To fill the funding gap, Hungary also sold $4 billion worth of bonds last month.

However, the EU has restarted the excessive deficit procedure against Hungary, stating that if the agreed fiscal targets are not met, it could ultimately result in fines.

Regarding the EU Commission's economic policy recommendations for Hungary, the Hungarian Ministry of Economy issued a sarcastic statement. The ministry stated on the 9th that: "Unlike Brussels, the Hungarian government prioritizes families, pensioners, and Hungarian companies, rather than multinational corporations."

It is worth noting that the Orbán government has long had tensions with the EU Commission led by Von der Leyen. Previously, the two sides had conflicts on issues such as Hungary's internal affairs, aid to Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, and tariffs on China.

This is not the first time Orbán has called for Von der Leyen's removal. In June last year, Orbán called for removing Von der Leyen, saying that the EU experienced the "worst five years" in its history under her term. He said that Von der Leyen was "too inefficient." He explained that over the past five years, under Von der Leyen's leadership, the EU's green transition "completely failed," and the migration plan "was completely off track."

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7525095197115269671/

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