Hungary’s first European Commission nominee failed on substance. Now, his replacement faces criticism over style.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this week proposed Olivér Várhelyi, currently Hungary’s ambassador to the EU, as his pick for the new Commission after the European Parliament rejected his first candidate.

The Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee blocked László Trócsányi, a former justice minister, on the grounds that conflicts of interest would have prevented him from carrying out the duties of a commissioner.

Click Here: Fjallraven Kanken Art Spring Landscape Backpacks

EU diplomats as well as current and former Hungarian officials describe Várhelyi, a career diplomat and former Commission official, as highly intelligent and extremely knowledgeable on EU issues. But multiple former Hungarian officials also describe an abrasive leadership style that has included screaming, yelling and swearing at staffers. Várhelyi also adopts a more combative approach in ambassadors’ meetings than colleagues from other countries, according to multiple diplomats.

Such behavior would not sit easily with the way Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has publicly stated she wants her team to operate. In her mission letters to her nominees, von der Leyen wrote of an “open, inclusive and cooperative way of working that I will instil throughout the Commission, as well as in our relationships with others.”

“I believe that we need to speak and listen more to one another, starting from within the Commission,” von der Leyen wrote. She stressed that her College of Commissioners should operate as “one team” and that there could be “no room for doubt about our behaviour or our integrity.”

Von der Leyen has not yet officially designated Várhelyi as her nominee to replace Trócsányi, who had been in line to take responsibility for EU enlargement and relations with the bloc’s neighbors.

Hungary’s Diplomatic Mission to the EU declined multiple requests for comment for this story. A press officer said that due to the ambassador’s “busy schedule,” he was unable to respond to questions that set out the allegations from former officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe their experiences of working with Várhelyi.

One former Hungarian official said Várhelyi “speaks incredibly rudely with subordinates.” The ex-official described a pattern of behavior that included swearing, yelling, and creating an atmosphere of “emotional terror” for some Hungarian civil servants.

Another former Hungarian official said that Várhelyi has a tendency to scream and swear at staffers in the Hungarian Permanent Representation to the EU, adding that the ambassador “has an appetite to humiliate them.”

While the working environment at the Hungarian Permanent Representation on Rue de Trèves is “generally good,” the former official said, “the 30 minutes one spends with him [in meetings], depending on his mood swings, can get very nasty.”

A third former Hungarian official said that Várhelyi is a “ruthless” diplomat who has a reputation for “looking” for conflict, including with Hungarian colleagues, and thriving on it.

A fourth former Hungarian official noted that “he is not an easy personality.”

However, one current Hungarian official dismissed complaints about Várhelyi’s treatment of subordinates as “exaggerated” and said that the longtime diplomat does not swear at his staffers.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the ambassador is a “very sharp” and “very focused” diplomat who is highly demanding of his staffers and keeps his aides — and himself — under pressure in order to get the best results.

“It’s not simple to prep with him,” the official said, adding that nevertheless “we can live” with Várhelyi’s management style.

A second current Hungarian official, meanwhile, described his working relationship with Várhelyi as “friendly, cordial and collegial.”

High-flyer

A lawyer by training, Várhelyi began his career in the country’s ministry for industry and trade, before joining the foreign affairs ministry in 1996.

Várhelyi climbed the ranks at the ministry, working at Hungary’s Mission to the EU ahead of Budapest joining the bloc and later serving as head of the mission’s legal service, deputy permanent representative, and ultimately permanent representative in Brussels. He also spent some time working at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Internal Market and Services.

And while he is known for his in-depth knowledge of EU policy files, Várhelyi is far from popular among fellow EU diplomats, showing little appetite for the give-and-take that is common in Brussels meetings.

“He is extremely smart and sharp, and quite ruthless,” said one senior EU diplomat.

In ambassadors’ meetings “he treats with arrogance even his colleagues, he’s often condescending,” said another EU diplomat, noting that “he talks very badly about the European Parliament and the Commission, even in front of the Commission [officials].”

Despite being a civil servant, his reputation is that of a loyal proponent of the Hungarian leadership’s priorities.

The ambassador is known in Brussels as a “smart guy” who is “very close to Orbán,” said a third EU diplomat.

That closeness to the Hungarian prime minister, a controversial figure in Brussels and across Europe due to his championing of “illiberal democracy,” is also likely to come under scrutiny if Várhelyi gets as far as the confirmation process in the European Parliament.

Neighborly relations

Given strong criticism from EU institutions over the rule of law in Hungary and Orbán’s cultivation of relations with Moscow, Várhelyi would face the challenge of convincing legislators that he could be a credible judge of democratic standards in the western Balkans and a neutral interlocutor with countries that have difficult ties with Russia.

Budapest insists that complaints about the state of rule of law in Hungary are unjustified and that criticism of its record are driven by liberal politicians who dislike the government’s hard-line anti-migration policies.

If confirmed as commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement, the ambassador would be in charge of the EU’s relationship with the western Balkans, Turkey and the so-called Eastern Partnership countries of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan. His tasks would also include managing relations with southern neighbors, such Libya, Algeria and Tunisia, and working with them toward a partnership on effective migration management.

But Hungary’s government has a troubled relationship with Ukraine partly due to its warm relations with Moscow and because Budapest vetoed meetings of a NATO-Ukraine Commission, to the consternation of the alliance’s other members.

Formally, the veto was due to concerns over a language law that Orbán’s government argued undermines the rights of Hungarian-speaking minorities in western Ukraine. But critics have suggested that the government in Budapest might be undermining Ukraine’s western integration efforts due to Orbán’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The potential selection of Várhelyi as enlargement commissioner will amount to the manifestation of Moscow’s interests in the region,” said Attila Ara-Kovács, an opposition Hungarian member of the European Parliament representing the Democratic Coalition.

Relations with western Balkan countries would also not be straightforward.

Hungary last year granted political asylum to former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, an Orbán ally who was supposed to start a jail term in his home country for corruption. Orbán also spoke out against an EU-backed deal that ended a long-running dispute between Skopje and Athens, resulting in Macedonia changing its name to North Macedonia.

The decision of businesspeople close to the Orbán government to invest in Balkan media assets has also raised eyebrows in the region.

In her original mission letter to Hungary’s first candidate, Trócsányi, von der Leyen asked him to “work on speeding up structural and institutional reforms, with a strong focus on the fundamentals of the rule of law, economic development and public administration reforms” in the western Balkans.

Democracy advocates in the region have questioned whether a candidate linked to Orbán’s government, which has been accused of eroding the rule of law, is suited for that role.

However, some of the EU’s neighbors would welcome Hungary taking the neighborhood and enlargement portfolio.

Turkey would not be unhappy. The two countries’ leaders get along and have pledged to strengthen bilateral cooperation and trade.

And some of Orbán’s allies in the Balkans welcomed the news that a Hungarian would become the enlargement commissioner, taking over from Austria’s Johannes Hahn.

“It is important that this is someone from the region, someone with a balanced approach, someone who is an honest friend of the region,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said following the Trócsányi nomination.

His enthusiasm was echoed by nationalist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who has a close relationship with Budapest. “I think that it is very important that he comes from Hungary, as they have a sensibility toward the Balkans,” he told reporters.

Even in Brussels, some diplomats believe Várhelyi’s knowledge of the brief could be an asset.

Várhelyi “has a good understanding of enlargement and neighborhood policy,” said an EU diplomat.

Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.