Members of the European People’s Party (EPP) yesterday formally requested the expulsion of FIDESZ party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban from the group. Twelve EPP member parties from nine EU countries spoke in favor of ending or suspending FIDESZ membership, as EPP leader Joseph Daul told AFP. The question will be debated at a meeting on March 20, the day before the EU summit with Brexit as its main theme.
The upcoming debate required a quorum of at least seven EPP members from five countries. As the debate goes out, he could not anticipate, said Daul. The decision lies with all EPP members. The Fidesz party must have the opportunity to comment.
ÖVP not for committee
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. The ÖVP and the German Union parties CDU and CSU are not among them. The head of the ÖVP delegation in the EU Parliament and ÖVP top candidate in the EU election, Othmar Karas, had called for a suspension of the Orban party.
FIDESZ has been controversial within the EPP for some time. Most recently, a polemical poster campaign by the national-conservative Hungarian government against EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker angered 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.
„Would Orban receive with open arms“
FPÖ MEP Harald Vilimsky would welcome a move by Fidesz from the EPP to the right-wing populist faction „Europe of Nations and Freedom“ (ENF). „I would welcome Viktor Orban with open arms,“ Vilimsky told the daily Die Presse.
There was a lot going on in the European Parliament, and there are many unanswered questions, Vilimsky continues. However, the FPÖ MEP continued in an interview with the „Press“: „I am convinced that everyone will meet under one roof after the election at the latest.“ The principle of „size matters“ also applies in the European Parliament. In order to be able to participate, as many mandataries as possible from as many member states as possible are needed, says Vilimsky.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn (ÖVP) emphasized to the daily newspaper „Kurier“ (Tuesday edition) whether the EPP should not be more demarcated and exclude nationalists such as Orban: „In principle I have always advocated for it as Vice-President of the EPP that it is better to involve and positively influence someone than to exclude – at least as long as there is a chance. But if someone, like Orban, consistently does not respect the values of his own party family and thus of the EU, the sentence applies here as well: Travelers should not be stopped. „
