Věra Jourová, the vice president of the European Commission in charge of values of transparency, publicly excoriated Hungary's anti-EU campaign, calling it misleading and replete with "verifiable lies."
ADVERTISEMENT"This billboard campaign is outrageous and scandalous. And this campaign is offending my boss Ursula von der Leyen, it's offending me as well, and I think most, if not all, the members of the College" of Commissioners, Jourová said on Tuesday afternoon, in reply to a question from Euronews.
"It does not show something which we call in European diplomatic jargon sincere cooperation."
The billboards, which began appearing on the streets of Hungary in mid-November, feature von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, standing next to Alexander Soros, the 38-year-old son of billionaire George Soros and current chair of the Open Society Foundations (OSF).
A capitalised text reads: "Let's not dance to the tune they whistle!"
Although the Soros family and the OSF, which supports civil society organisations around the world through grants, have been maligned by the Hungarian government in the past, the state-led campaign is the first time von der Leyen has been personally targeted.
The billboards are meant to promote a non-binding national consultation that asks Hungarian citizens for their opinion on a selection of EU policies. Participants are asked to choose between two possible responses, one against and one in favour.
The survey, whose language is heavily incendiary and deceptive, has been mailed to Hungarian households with a 10 January deadline. An online version is also available.
Asked about the content of the consultation, Věra Jourová described the questions and answers as "verifiable lies."
"For instance, Brussels wanting to 'abolish public support for utility costs.' It’s a lie. Brussels wanting to 'abolish the Hungarian windfall tax.' It’s a lie, it's for member states to decide," Jourová said, debunking the questionnaire.
"For instance, something juicy: Brussels' 'alleged support for Palestinian organisations (is) reaching Hamas.' It’s (a) pure lie. We have clarified exactly what we are doing, what kind of control we are undertaking to be absolutely sure that our money does not go into (the) hands of Hamas," she added, referring to the Commission's urgent review into development funds for the Palestinian territories that found no leakage.
"I could continue. Yes, there are lies. The campaign is trying to mislead the Hungarian citizens and we have to sharply disagree with that."
Jourová's comments represent the fiercest denunciation to date of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's latest attempt to undermine the EU's decision-making.
Last month, a spokesperson from the Commission said that President von der Leyen, upon being shown the billboards, had been left "unfazed."
The president "has full trust in the capacity of the Hungarian public to make up its own mind based on objective, factual information as to what we do," the spokesperson said.
"Let's be clear. We know this is not the first time. It's probably not the last time. We have business to do. We have crises to manage. We have policies to implement."
Nevertheless, the billboards and the consultation have raised the temperature of the showdown between Brussels and Budapest at a critical time as Viktor Orbán is threatening to halt the bloc's support for Ukraine and prevent accession talks.
Orbán's opposition push has seen multiple attacks against the Commission's credibility and von der Leyen's authority, with increasing ferocity.
"Rather than analysing the European structures at length, just think about your daily experience of the press – of how often it seems to the public that Europe is being run by the Commission and its President," the PM said in a recent speech.
ADVERTISEMENT"We think of her and we read her words as if a leader of Europe was speaking – when in fact she is our employee, our paid employee, whose job it is to carry out what we decide."
The tensions are set to come to a boil later this week during a two-day EU summit.