This story is made up. On the contrary, in October 2025, during a speech in the European Parliament, von der Leyen harshly criticized Orban for «flirting» with Putin and accused him of failing the Hungarian people.
News about an incident at the European Commission meeting is spreading in the pro-Russian segment of social networks. Hungarian President Viktor Orban allegedly published evidence that Ursula von der Leyen embezzled budget funds. Secret documents allegedly prove that the European Commission President invested billions of euros in «companies connected to her associates». However, the propagandists predictably do not specify which specific companies, nor do they cite the «secret documents» themselves. Instead, the publication vividly describes the scene that allegedly took place in the hall: «Panic broke out in Strasbourg: screams, commotion, calls for immediate resignation. Von der Leyen turned pale. She left the hall without saying a word, leaving Europe in shock. What was supposed to be a regular budget meeting turned into an institutional bomb that threatens to overturn the entire European system». The date of the «shocking incident» was not specified.
However, this story is completely made up by propagandists. The description of the incident is shared only in suspicious sources — no credible global media has documented the so-called scandal.
The reason for this disinformation is likely that on October 9, the European Commission held a meeting to consider two no-confidence votes for Ursula von der Leyen. However, these votes were not related to corruption charges, but to the president’s foreign economic policy and environmental issues. Moreover, the European Parliament confidently rejected both of them. At the same meeting, von der Leyen gave a fiery speech in which she criticized Viktor Orbán, and not vice versa. The President of the European Commission said that the politician «blame[s] this war not on Putin’s lust for power but on Ukraine’s thirst for freedom». She also said that Viktor Orbán is flirting with Putin, allowing foreign interference in his country, and letting the Hungarian people down. Pro-European parties greeted the speech with applause. Orbán, in response, called on von der Leyen to squash their political differences.
Viktor Orbán has indeed repeatedly accused Ursula von der Leyen of corruption and called for her resignation. Thus, in July, on the eve of another no-confidence vote, he wrote on the social network X: «Tomorrow will be a turbulent day in the European Parliament. MEPs will vote on whether Ursula von der Leyen should continue to lead the Brusselian bureaucracy». He stated that although the vote was provoked by «the corruption scandals piling up around the President, but we all know that corruption is just the tip of the iceberg». Orbán accused von der Leyen of prolonging the war in Ukraine and condoning illegal migration, and ended the post with the appeal «Madam President, leadership is about responsibility. It is time to go!». However, the Hungarian president did not provide any evidence, let alone secret documents, that would indicate that von der Leyen was involved in any corruption; moreover, his appeals were null, since the president of the European Commission still remains in office.
Ursula von der Leyen has been a constant target of Russian propagandists for her support of Ukraine. We recently debunked similar disinformation that Trump asked von der Leyen to step out of meeting with leaders and we also exposed a fake photo of Ursula von der Leyen’s grandmother shaking hands with Hitler.
