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Read-out of the College meeting by European Commission President Ursula von der LEYEN on the impact of the situation in the Middle East on the European Union

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Hello, is it? Hello, hello, Jorge Gutiérrez with Euronews.

I need to ask you, of course, about the events last night in Hungary.

Viktor Orbán has been defeated after 16 years of uninterrupted power.

Péter Magyar, the winner, is promising to restore relations between Brussels and Budapest. What are your expectations for Péter Magyar?

Do you expect him, for instance, to carry out the reforms to release the frozen funds?

Do you expect him to put an end to the Russian influence inside Hungary?

And do you expect him to abide by the agreement of the €90 billion loan for Ukraine without making it conditional on the pipeline? Thank you.

So I would like to say that today Europe is Hungarian without any question.

The people of Hungary have spoken and they have reclaimed their European path.

It is a victory for fundamental freedoms, and I really want to say to the Hungarian people,

you've done it again, against all odds, like you did in the 1956 when you courageously stood up.

Like you did it in 1981, 1989, when you were the first to cut the barbed wire that was dividing our continent.

So with this result our union is stronger.

Our union is more united, it was an exceptional evening yesterday.

Of course we will start working with the government as soon as possible on the topics you mentioned and much more to make a swift and overdue progress to the benefit of the Hungarian people.

There's much work to be done as Hungary is coming back to the European path.

But I think we should also look at the lessons learned inside the European Union,

for example, I think moving to qualified majority voting in foreign policy.

Is an important way to avoid systematic blockages as we've seen in the past,

and we should use the momentum now really to move forward on that topic.

But today, of course, is a day to celebrate, so I want to recall what I once said in a speech.

To the Hungarian people, we are one family, your story is our story,

your future is our future, and we will walk with you every step of the way. Thank you President.

I see a lot of interest, of course, Marco. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Marco Bresolini, Italian newspaper La Stampa.

I would like to come back to the toolbox so that you are preparing for Member States to respond to the energy crisis.

You mentioned the possibility of relaxing state aid rules, but of course,

not all the Member States have the same fiscal space because also of the EU fiscal rules.

So are you also considering a possible relaxation of fiscal rules as well through I don't know,

an activation of the general escape clause or allowing member states to activate the national escape clause or maybe through common financing.

So we have,

what is your answer to avoid the fragmentation in in the response of the member states.

So it is very important to address the different Parts of phases of the crisis step by step.

The first most important point now when we're speaking about relief measures is what I already said that they have to be targeted temporary and timely. This is very important.

Second, you were referring to broader economic interventions.

They must be minimal to avoid undue deterioration of the public deficits without any question.

And at the moment being as we speak,

we have to state that the conditions for activating alternative measures such as the general escape clause or national escape clauses are as we speak,

currently not met.

But of course we will maintain our vital coordination role with the wider European economic interests in mind, so step by step we will see how the crisis develops,

how the situation in the Middle East develops as we speak right now, the conditions are not met. And we'll take one additional final question. Magnus. Thank you, Magnus, with Euractive.

First of all, you, you mentioned non-fossil fuel energy sources inside, inside Europe. What exactly is the Commission proposing?

And, and then secondly, if I may ask and double down on Jorge's good question before,

Magyar is now primed to be prime minister.

How certain are you that he's capable of delivering these reforms,

and what exactly does he need to deliver to unfreeze the billions and billions of EU funds currently withheld from Budapest?

And then finally, if I may ask, thirdly,

we know there's an EU mission to inspect the Druzhba pipeline that has been stalled in Kiev for quite some time now.

What are your expectations in the near future on that? Thank you.

The first part, the non-fossil fuel energy part.

It is indeed the wide range of different renewables that we have, and then nuclear,

and here I want to emphasize the new nuclear, we often call them the SMRs, the small modular reactors.

I think this is a very promising technology.

We should keep in mind that not only the United States and China.

Investing in that already, but also the UK, South Korea, Japan, and Canada are investing heavily,

so we should be alert and keep track with this very promising technology.

The benefits of the small modular reactors are clear.

They are the complexity is lower, thus the costs are lower,

and thus the industrial scale up possibilities through standardized production. Is better.

So there are clear advantages, but of course the biggest advantage is that it can provide the much needed baseload,

in a perfect combination with renewables, you have the SMRs and you have the renewables, that is the way to go forward.

On the 2nd and 3rd part of your question, first of all,

the new government has to be in place, that is important. We will be in contact immediately.

If you look at the discussions by Péter Magyar and his announcements in the public sphere during the election campaign, you can already see that he's very clear on the European path,

that he is very clear also committing himself and the new government to continue working with us on the different topics that are open for me it's very important that we work intensively with the new Hungarian government.

On funds that have to be delivered, reforms that have to be delivered,

but funds then that can be delivered because the Hungarian people deserve it. So let him be in office first.

I think this is the most important part, but as I said,

he was also very clear with his public comments on, on what he intends to do. Thank you very much. Thank you, President.

We have not a couple but 45 questions actually. Thank you, President.

And thank you for your participation, wish you a good afternoon. Thanks.

Media information
ID I-287608
Date 13/04/2026
Duration 08:20
Institution European Commission
Views 496