Orbán’s Trojan horse in the Commission? – Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi’s controversial activity – The Weekly 81

Ever since his appointment, Hungarian Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi’s work has been surrounded with a certain amount of suspicion, which should come as no surprise considering Várhelyi’s professional record and the circumstances of his nomination. Now the suspicion is stronger than ever that the Commissioner, instead of representing the EC’s and the EU’s interests, is busy building Viktor Orbán’s Balkans support system.

Beside the recent letter sent by thirty MEPs to EC President Ursula von der Leyen asking her to investigate Várhelyi’s work as the Commissioner for enlargement, the Hungarian-nominated politician’s activity has always been surrounded with the suspicion that he might not be worthy of his office. From a certain point of view, Várhelyi’s appointment was a surprise, because the Hungarian government had originally nominated former Justice Minister and current Fidesz MEP László Trócsányi as a candidate for the EC.

However, Trócsányi failed to go through even the first hearing, since, beside his highly suspicious role as a justice minister in dismantling the rule of law in Hungary, he was finally rejected due to a conflict of interest issue.

That’s how Olivér Várhelyi got into the picture. As the head of Hungary’s permanent representation in Brussels, he had already been rather infamous for his boorish and aggressive style coupled with an utter disregard for non-partisanship in public service and openly acting as a party activist conveying Fidesz’s political messages even in his official capacity.

No wonder so few people were hopeful that Várhelyi, who had already failed to adopt a non-partisan stance even when he was representing his own country’s government, would be able to serve the EU’s interests instead of Viktor Orbán’s. Suspicions rose even higher when Várhelyi eventually got the enlargement commissioner’s post so coveted by Orbán.

The Balkans are outstandingly important for Orbán, of course, not because he is so committed to the European cause, but because he abuses Hungary’s EU membership and relative economic power compared to the Balkans countries so that Orbán’s circle could colonize the region both economically and politically.

This means that Orbán exports his own system to the countries that are supposed to adopt European political norms so they could join the community. Instead of helping them to achieve this goal however, the Hungarian government launches an all-out attack on the independent media of the Balkan states or smuggles their corrupt Prime Ministers across the border in spy movie fashion to let them escape their prison sentence, like he did with the now carefree Budapest resident Nikola Gruevski.

Olivér Várhelyi seems to be a good Orbán asset for this activity, as he favours the Orbán-backed Albania over North Macedonia that is led by a government not to Orbán’s liking.

Most recently however, Várhelyi seems to have gone even further: he is suspected to have conducted double negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina’s leaders. After presenting the European requirements in the official meeting, he invited the Bosnian Serb leaders to a closed session where he urged them to keep up their separatist efforts. This idea very neatly corresponds to Orbán’s current movements in the Balkans, since the Hungarian premier has long been actively supporting Bosnian Serb Milorad Dodik, who is widely considered as one of Europe’s most unacceptable politicians and Russia’s Trojan horse. Dodik even caused a diplomatic scandal recently when he made Chauvinistic remarks on Bosnian Muslims.

The question is how long the EU will tolerate a Commissioner who, instead of representing the European interests that he pledged to, plays a double game to carry out Viktor Orbán’s plans supporting Russia’s destabilization efforts in a region whose security, peace and integration is crucial for Europe.

No answer from the Commission yet…