Olivier Varhelyi did not get the green light from MEPs during the hearing in the Brussels Parliament. The candidate for the role of Hungarian commissioner will now have to submit to further written questions from parliamentarians which he will have to answer by Monday. So far he is the only one of the sixteen commissioners examined not to have obtained immediate approval.
Varhelyi’s hearing
For over three hours, Varhelyi was questioned on topics of his future mandate by the deputies of the Agriculture and Environment commissions, the ones responsible for his portfolio, but it was above all the topic of the right to abortion and women’s reproductive health where they concentrated many of the deputies’ questions.
To questions on the topic, coming mainly from socialists, greens, leftists and liberals, the outgoing commissioner responded by defending women’s rights, while underlining that abortion “is not a competence of the European Union” but a matter that falls to the states members. “Why do you think I’m not an ally to women? I spend my life with four women,” he said, referring to his three daughters and his wife.
In Hungary, abortion is legal from the 1950s until the twelfth week of pregnancy in most cases. But Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in power since 2010, is supporting ‘pro-life’ measures and has introduced the obligation for a woman who wants an abortion to listen to the heartbeat of the fetus before terminating the pregnancy.
The criticisms
“The designated commissioner Oliver Varhelyi has not convinced us”, said the coordinator of the Greens in the Environment Committee, Green MEP Sara Matthieu, in a statement. “How can we support a Health Commissioner who is not capable of criticizing a Member State (Hungary) that has chosen Russian-Chinese vaccines instead of those approved by the EU, nor of explaining how to guarantee women unhindered access to ‘sexual and reproductive activity?”, asked the coordinator of the liberals of Renew Europe, Pascal Canfin, on social media.
If after sending the written responses Varhelyi does not obtain the green light from two thirds of the coordinators, a simple majority vote of all members of the parliamentary commission will take place.
Orban in the crosshairs
Varhelyi, the outgoing commissioner and considered a moderate, ended up under the crossfire of the deputies probably also because, through him, they wanted to target Orbán. Political conflict has reignited between Budapest and Brussels since Hungary took over the leadership of the EU for its six-month presidency, with the Hungarian leader undertaking several personal initiatives that have infuriated the allies, such as the mission to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin and talk about the war in Ukraine, or the trip to Georgia immediately after the disputed national elections.
