Hungarian MEPs Clash with EU Commission over Cybersecurity Strategy
Hungarian MEPs Clash with EU Commission over Cybersecurity Strategy
Publish Date: 2026-05-19 09:01:00
Source Domain: www.hungarianconservative.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
Europe must invest in its own artificial intelligence and cybersecurity capabilities in order to reduce dependency and protect critical infrastructure, Henna Virkkunen said during a debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
Speaking during a plenary session on EU cybersecurity and preparedness related to artificial intelligence, Virkkunen said one of the most important first steps is for member states to fully apply existing cybersecurity tools to protect public services and private companies while preparing for emerging risks.
According to the commissioner, artificial intelligence can strengthen resilience and improve the protection of critical infrastructure, but it can also pose serious risks if used maliciously. ‘New AI models operate with enormous capacity and automation, making sophisticated attacks possible,’ she said, stressing the importance of identifying and correcting vulnerabilities as quickly as possible.
Virkkunen also said the European Union must ensure that effective legal frameworks are in place to assess risks, including those affecting critical infrastructure. She added that software and hardware developers should examine vulnerabilities in their products before they are released onto the market. The commissioner said the European Commission plans to present action plans summarizing best practices across the EU in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence in order to support member states in assessing risks.
During the debate, András László argued that the European Union is moving toward ‘digital colonization’, though not as the colonizer but rather as the party being colonized. He said the lack of major European technology companies creates significant economic and security risks. ‘Digital innovation is not coming from Europe,’ he said, adding that Europe often copies the services it needs, while even those services do not run on European hardware.
László said Europe has been lagging behind for decades in areas such as data centres and artificial intelligence models, weakening the bloc’s digital sovereignty. He also criticized what he described as ideologically driven energy policies, arguing that high energy costs harm competitiveness and cybersecurity alike. ‘Without cheap energy, Europe will continue to fall behind,’ he said.
Zsuzsanna Borvendég said Europe needs its own cyber defence industry, including chip manufacturing, cloud services and artificial intelligence technologies. ‘Without these, Europe will remain small and vulnerable,’ she said. Borvendég called for close cooperation between member states but rejected what she described as ‘imperial supervision’ from Brussels, arguing that cybersecurity is fundamentally a national security issue that should remain under member-state authority. She also accused the European Commission of using cybersecurity and anti-disinformation measures as tools for ideological influence against freedom of expression.
According to Borvendég, fact-checking networks financed by the commission frequently label ‘patriotic, globalization-critical, family-oriented, pro-life and conservative opinions’ as disinformation or extremist content, reducing their visibility online. ‘This is political influence—the hacking of democracy,’ she said.
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