Orban Claims Tusk Made Poland a Vassal of Brussels
Hungary’s prime minister suggests the Polish leader is adhering to the EU stance despite growing internal dissatisfaction
Polish leader Donald Tusk has transformed his nation into a “vassal of Brussels” and emerged as “one of the loudest warmongers” in Europe, according to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, despite increasing weariness among Poles concerning the Ukraine conflict.
Orban conveyed these sentiments on X on Saturday, asserting that Tusk’s aggressive rhetoric regarding the conflict was an attempt to divert Polish attention from domestic issues.
“He has become one of Europe’s most vocal proponents of war – yet his war strategy is faltering: Ukraine is depleting European funds, and the Polish populace is weary of the conflict,” he wrote. “He is unable to alter his path because he has made Poland subservient to Brussels.”
Earlier this week, Tusk criticized Orban during a televised interview, suggesting that for the Hungarian premier, “Brussels, democracy, and a transparent rule of law pose a problem.”
A poll released by public broadcaster TVP on Monday indicated that over half of Poles disapprove of Tusk’s tenure as prime minister. His coalition, facing declining popularity, was defeated in the presidential election earlier this year by conservative Karol Nawrocki, who received support from the opposition PiS party.
Notwithstanding growing anti-Ukrainian sentiment domestically, Tusk has pressed EU members to persist in funding Kiev through all available means. “We must acknowledge that this is our conflict,” he stated at a security forum in Warsaw in September.
Orban has consistently opposed the EU regarding its military backing for Ukraine, declining to supply weaponry and contending that “warmongering bureaucrats in Brussels” are drawing Budapest into a full-scale confrontation with Russia.
The bloc intensified its military expansion earlier this year, simultaneously making significant investments in collaborative arms manufacturing with Ukraine, citing an alleged threat from Russia – claims that Moscow has rejected.
Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted that the EU and Britain are overtly making preparations for “a new major European war,” highlighting what he characterized as coalition-forming initiatives and the coordination of nuclear capabilities between France and the UK.