Friday

29th Mar 2024

Polish trolls target Orban over Tusk re-election

  • Orban more used to friendly reception in Poland (Photo: Polish prime minister's office)

Supporters of Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) are disappointed with Viktor Orban, who backed the re-election of Donald Tusk as president of the European Council on Thursday (9 March).

Some Poles vented their frustrations on the Hungarian prime minister's Facebook page, in Polish, English and Hungarian.

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"Until today Orban was a hero, now he's a traitor," one man wrote. "You left my prime minister alone … I will never forgive you," a woman added.

"They [Hungarians] never were our brothers unless for drinking vodka and during the Second World War they chose Adolf," another wrote.

Others were more vulgar and asked if Orban's butt hurt.

The hashtag #Orban was trending on Twitter on Thursday as other Poles took to the microblog to express their views about Polish-Hungarian friendship.

The Hungarian leader defended himself saying that he voted for the candidate of the centre-right EPP party, of which he is a member.

“We support the candidate of the EPP,” he said, adding that "his good friend" Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, an MEP put forward by Poland to replace Tusk, was no longer a member of the party.

PiS party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said on Friday he was disappointed with Orban.

"We realise how powerful the pressure was," he said, suggesting that Germany had forced Hungary to vote for Tusk.

Szydlo also said she was "saddened" by the fact the Visegrad countries did not back her on Tusk, but added that the quartet had other goals, which remained important.

"We have prepared together a document that we want to serve as the basis of discussions [on the future of Europe] in Rome. We will soon have another Visegrad meeting in Warsaw to discuss innovation," she

On Friday Orban gave notice to Polish prime minister Beata Szydlo about his support for Tusk, affirming that Hungary would keep on “protecting Poland”. He said, "our respect for Poland and friendship towards Kaczynski has not changed”.

The Visegrad club contains the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.

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