The Fidesz party of the Hungarian Prime Minister Orban threatens the expulsion from the European People’s Party: Twelve EPP member parties have submitted applications for an exclusion – in March to be debated.
Several members of the European People’s Party (EPP) have formally requested the expulsion of the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban from the group. Twelve EPP parties from nine EU states spoke out in favor of ending or suspending Fidesz membership, EPP leader Joseph Daul told AFP. The issue will be debated at a meeting on March 20, the day before the EU summit with Brexit as its main theme.
Outcome of the debate unclear
The debate required a quorum of at least seven EPP members from five countries. He can not anticipate how the decision will turn out, said Daul. This is up to all EPP members.
Two parties each from Belgium, Portugal and Sweden spoke out against Fidesz, as well as one each from Finland, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway. „We tried for ten years with Dialog – unsuccessful,“ said the Swedish EPP MEP Anna Corazza-Bildt the ARD European magazine. „Orban has turned away from us even more – Orban behaves like a Marine Le Pen, like right-wing extremists or the AfD.“
CDU and CSU as well as Les Républicains from France did not explicitly position themselves against Orban
Quarrel after poster campaign
Fidesz has been controversial within the EPP for a long time. Most recently, a poster campaign by the national-conservative Hungarian government against EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker outraged several EPP members.
Budapest accuses Juncker of wanting to oblige EU countries to seek refuge and weaken national border protection. Another target of the campaign is Hungarian Jewish billionaire George Soros from Hungary.
Merkel and Weber defend Juncker
Chancellor Angela Merkel had defended Juncker at the end of February against the attacks of the Hungarian government. Manfred Weber (CSU), the EVP’s top candidate for the European elections in May, also stood behind Juncker. However, Orban has already announced another campaign aimed at the vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans.
