Hungary's Fidesz Suspended from EPP
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban pictured giving a speech to the European People’s Party. (Wikimedia Commons)
The European Parliament's centre-right European People's Party (EPP) voted 190 to 3 to indefinitely suspend Hungary's nationalist Fidesz party, following a heated debate during an assembly in Brussels that lasted for over three hours on March 20.
“The suspension entails: no attendance at any party meeting, no voting rights, [and] no right to propose candidates for posts,” effective immediately, tweeted EPP President Joseph Daul.
Hungarian Prime Minister and leader of the Fidesz party Viktor Orbán expressed his satisfaction with the outcome. “Fidesz wishes to remain a member of the EPP. A good decision has been taken. We can organize a strong campaign and we can continue to support [Manfred] Weber as Spitzenkandidat,” he said. The EPP nominated Weber to run for President of the European Commission, a post chosen through the Spitzenkandidat process.
A state secretary in Orbán’s office, Balázs Orbán, declared Fidesz the winner of the “battle in the European People's Party,” and described how the compromise would benefit the EPP. “The pro-migration branch of the EPP and the leftist parties backed by [US billionaire] George Soros failed to get Fidesz expelled,” which allowed the block to maintain its unity, he told Hungarian national channel M1.
Secretary Orbán’s comments came hours after PM Orbán’s Chief of Staff Gergely Gulyás told Hungarian state media that Fidesz would withdraw from the EPP if its membership was suspended. However, according to Gulyás, the party would voluntarily refrain from withdrawing if a council is set up to examine the depth of the suspension.
Gulyás has previously stated that Fidesz wants to see a “strong, united Christian democratic EPP that opposes illegal immigration,” and that Fidesz accepts no compromise when it comes to defending these values.
PM Orbán has been at odds with the EPP due to his escalating attacks on pro-European Union conservatives months before European Parliament elections in May. In a row over an anti-EU billboard campaign Orbán launched in Hungary, he labelled his critics in the EPP as “useful idiots” that serve the needs of political opponents. Orbán apologized for his comments a week before the vote to suspend Fidesz' EPP membership.
In order to regain its membership status, Fidesz will have to re-establish trust by proving that it acts in compliance with EPP values. The process will be monitored and reported back to the EPP by a three-member independent group consisting of former European Council Chief Herman van Rompuy, former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, and former European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering.
Some European leaders saw the EPP’s decision as inadequate. While speaking to reporters after the European Council summit, French President Emmanuel Macron called the EPP’s decision a result of “clan mentality” that was good news for Orbán but “not for the European project.” “Nothing would change [for Fidesz after the EPP vote]," he said, then added that he felt sympathy for Juncker and "all of those who felt insulted and had asked for something clear."