Von der Leyen immune to democracy – AfD leader

The EU Commission president cannot be voted out, unlike Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Alice Weidel has said

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen can ignore voters’ opinions as she essentially cannot be voted out like recently defeated Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Alice Weidel, co-chair of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has said.

Speaking at a press conference this week, Weidel acknowledged that Peter Magyar’s landslide victory in the Hungarian election, which ended 16 years of Orban’s rule, was “absolutely legitimate,” but raised concerns about democratic accountability among the EU leadership.

Praising Orban as “an important, critical voice” within the EU, Weidel then agreed with a German journalist from Die Welt, who said that “Orban could be voted out; Ms. von der Leyen cannot be voted out.”

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Magyar’s conservative and pro-EU Tisza party secured 53.6% of the vote and 138 of 199 parliamentary seats in the Hungarian election on Sunday, while Orban’s far-right and EU-skeptic Fidesz collapsed to just 55. During his tenure, Orban clashed with Brussels over immigration and sanctions on Russia, and opposed EU support for Ukraine.

It took von der Leyen only 17 minutes to issue a statement celebrating Magyar’s victory after Orban conceded defeat. “Hungary has chosen Europe,” von der Leyen said. “Europe has always chosen Hungary. A country reclaims its European path. The Union grows stronger.”

Later, she also called on member states to scrap the national veto in EU foreign policy, claiming qualified majority voting was “an important way to avoid systemic blockages” – a direct swipe at years of Orban’s vetoes on Ukraine-related decisions.

Von der Leyen has faced criticism over numerous controversies since becoming EC president in 2019. Among the most notable is the ‘Pfizergate’ scandal, which centered on personal text messages the EU chief exchanged with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during negotiations over a €35 billion deal for 1.8 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses. In May 2025, an EU court ruled the commission had “failed to provide credible explanations” for why the messages were not retained.

Von der Leyen has survived multiple no-confidence votes in the past two years, with her critics lambasting her over a lack of transparency and handling of the immigration issue. She has also long been attempting to force through a series of fundamental changes to EU rules in order to create a two-tier bloc, into which Ukraine could be integrated despite not meeting the usual requirements for member states.

An April 2026 Polling Europe Euroscope survey placed von der Leyen’s approval rating at 33%, a 12% drop from February. A separate Ipsos EuroPulse poll from September 2025 put her positive rating even lower, at just 23%.