The EU’s Authoritarian Queen Must Go

Viktor Orbán has never been one for half-measures. When the Hungarian Prime Minister filed a no-confidence motion against Ursula von der Leyen, demanding her resignation, it was no stunt. It was the strike of a man who sees the decay in Brussels and dares to name it. He is right: Ursula von der Leyen has failed in her mandate, as she turns the European Union into something unrecognizable.

Her record is less a legacy than a ledger of failure. On economics, the German has presided over stagnation while insisting the numbers tell a brighter story. Inflation may have slowed, but the damage lingers. For millions of Europeans, every bill still lands like a blow. Surging energy costs, soaring food prices, and housing markets spiraling out of reach have reshaped life for both young and old. Tens of millions of Europeans now worry about making ends meet; one in three expects their standard of living to collapse further. From Amsterdam to Athens, the young live paycheck to paycheck, trapped between pitiful wages and merciless costs.

Housing sits at the heart of this storm. In just eight years, prices have jumped almost 50% across the Union. In Hungary, they have skyrocketed 173%. Meanwhile, salaries lag far behind. Families now spend a fifth of their disposable income on housing and utilities, with poorer households crushed under far greater burdens. In Greece, the poorest are handing over more than 60% of their income just to keep a roof overhead. Mayors warn Brussels that without radical change, affordable housing will vanish altogether. Yet von der Leyen dithers, mouthing platitudes while cities plead for concrete action. All stats here.

Her failures on energy deserve particular mention. She clung to lofty green slogans without ever preparing for their consequences. Coal was condemned, nuclear sidelined, and gas vilified, yet no credible alternative was ready to keep Europe’s lights on. Families were left with crushing bills, while industries that once formed Europe’s backbone buckled under costs they could not carry. Germany, the Union’s engine, watched its factories flee to friendlier shores. Von der Leyen may be a qualified physician, but in economics, she has practiced nothing short of surgical malpractice, cutting into Europe’s stability like a drunken surgeon.

Now the same unsteady hand has moved from Europe’s economy to its internet, where the sexagenarian seeks to operate on the very flow of information itself. In her latest speech, she rolled out a series of measures with grand titles including “European Democracy Shield,” the “Global Health Resilience Initiative”, and the “Media Resilience Program”. They were billed as safeguards, but in truth they are shackles.

The “Centre for Democratic Resilience” is the most brazen: a government office tasked with deciding what citizens may say and share online. A Europe once proud of its pamphleteers and polemicists is being reduced to a classroom where only approved answers pass the test. The “Media Resilience Program” promises to support independent journalism, but the catch is clear. Outlets that echo Brussels’ line will thrive on subsidies while those that dissent will be defunded. A press that relies on government cheques cannot hold government accountable: it becomes a mouthpiece, not a watchdog. The very idea that independence can be bought by the state would be comical if it were not so concerning.

Her plan to ban young people under sixteen from social media is cut from the same cloth. She compared it to restrictions on alcohol and cigarettes, as though words and ideas were poisons that must be kept from the young. In truth, it is a clumsy attempt to control the next generation before they can form independent habits of thought. To cut young people off from the platforms where so much modern debate now happens is to deny them a political apprenticeship. It is to train them for obedience rather than engagement.

This obsession with control has become her defining legacy. She bungled the pandemic response with opaque contracts and questionable deals. She mishandled energy, leaving nations scrambling when supplies ran thin. And now she wants to decide what Europeans can read, write, and share. Every new restriction arrives wrapped in reassuring rhetoric: prohibition was sold as moral uplift, and The Patriot Act as a defense against terror, but both became permanent instruments of control.

Europe deserves better. It deserves leaders who trust citizens rather than patronize them. Leaders who protect free expression rather than police it. The continent’s history is rich with rebel thinkers who sharpened Europe by defying its rulers. Voltaire, Luther, Orwell — none of them would have survived under von der Leyen’s Brussels. Ursula von der Leyen must go. The sooner she leaves, the sooner Europe can begin the Herculean task of restoring trust in its institutions, rebuilding faith in its future, and reclaiming freedom for its people. The work will be arduous, but if she stays, it will be much harder.