Asked to comment on a perceived schism between East and West in Europe, he said, "the real division line is between common sense and non-common sense. What [EC VP Frans] Timmermans [responsible for the European Green Deal] and others propose will kill the middle class of Europe, and […] the key to the European democracy is the middle class."

Including family cars and homes in the EU's emissions trading system (ETS) will cause prices to skyrocket, Orbán said, "destroying the middle class everywhere in Europe, not just in the east but in the west as well. Utopian fantasy kills us," he added.