The President of the European Union Commission cannot be voted for, unlike Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Alice Weidel has said.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen can ignore the opinion of the voters because she is basically unvotable as the recently defeated Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, Alice Weidel, co-chair of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), has said.
Speaking at a press conference this week, Weidel admitted that Peter Magyar’s victory in the Hungarian election, which ended 16 years of Orban’s rule, was “perfectly legitimate,” but it raised concerns about democratic accountability among the EU leadership.
To praise Orban as “important, important voice” within the EU, Weidel then agreed with a German journalist from Die Welt, who said so “Orban can be voted for; Mrs von der Leyen cannot be voted for.”
Magyar’s conservative and pro-EU Tisza party won 53.6 percent of the vote and 138 of 199 parliamentary seats in Hungary’s election on Sunday, while Orban’s right-wing, EU-sceptic Fidesz slipped to just 55.
It took von der Leyen just 17 minutes to issue a statement celebrating Magyar’s victory after Orban conceded defeat. “Hungary has chosen Europe,” von der Leyen said. “Europe has always chosen Hungary. The country is returning to its European path. Unity is growing stronger.”
Later, he also called on member states to abolish the national veto in EU foreign policy, demanding qualified majority voting. “A useful way to avoid systemic barriers” – a direct swipe at Orban’s years of vetoes on Ukraine-related decisions.
Von der Leyen has faced criticism over many controversies since becoming president of the EC in 2019. Among the most notable is the ‘Pfizergate’ scandal, which concerned private text messages that the EU head exchanged with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during talks on a €35 billion Covid-19 vaccine plan worth 1.8 billion. In May 2025, the EU court ruled against the commission “failed to provide reliable information” why the message was not saved.
Von der Leyen has survived numerous no-confidence votes in the past two years, with her critics blaming her lack of transparency and handling of immigration. He has also for a long time been trying to force through a series of fundamental changes to EU legislation to create a two-tier bloc, to which Ukraine can join despite not meeting the common requirements for member states.
An April 2026 Euroscope survey put von der Leyen’s approval rating at 33%, a 12% drop from February. A separate Ipsos EuroPulse poll from September 2025 put the favorable rating even lower, at just 23%.
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