Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen | Sascha Steinbach/EFE via EPA Von der Leyen ‘understands’ Central Europe, Orbán says The Hungarian PM met the Commission president-elect for the first time Thursday.

The man who once ran a "stop Brussels" campaign finally has a good word to say about the EU leadership — the upcoming one, at least.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sounded euphoric after meeting Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen for the first time in Brussels on Thursday, telling state media that backing the former German defense minister for the job had been a good call.

"With a Hungarian head and Hungarian eye looking at a German lady, I can tell the Hungarian audience that a serious lady has become the European Commission's president," Orbán said.

He added that von der Leyen "understands what is happening in Central Europe, understands what we say, and understands what is important for the Hungarians."

Von der Leyen has made an effort to reach out to Central and Eastern European leaders following her confirmation in July, meeting over the past week with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

Central European governments had backed her candidacy in an effort to torpedo a plan that would have installed Socialist Dutch politician Frans Timmermans as head of the Commission.

Orbán said on Thursday that Central Europe had been able to keep "ideological guerrillas" away and select "pragmatic" leaders.

Asked about von der Leyen's position on migration, Orbán said that the president-elect understands the differences in EU countries' perspectives on migration policy, but that she believes "it is worth going ahead with the debates where in the end, a positive outcome is expected," pointing to issues like border control, migrant returns, and assessing legal claims while migrants are outside European territory.

The prime minister, whose government was among those that opposed a proposal for carbon neutrality by 2050, also said that the EU's climate targets require a detailed plan. "If we seriously think that by 2050, there would be no CO2 emissions in Hungary, the necessary technological change for that at least in part would have to be financed commonly from European Union resources," Orbán said, noting that he opposes setting targets before a plan is put in place.

Von der Leyen also opted for a positive tone when describing her first meeting with the Hungarian leader. But unlike Orbán, she made it clear that the issue of rule of law came up during the meeting.

"Good talk with PM #Orban about my political guidelines," von der Leyen tweeted. "Agreed on need for fresh start & pragmatic solutions on #migration. Also discussed🇪🇺competitiveness + need to bring EU institutions closer to member states. #ruleoflaw is crucial, applies to all. Strong #defenseunion needed."