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meIn the European People’s Party, or EPP for short, things go crazy. The reason, again: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. For three hours on Wednesday evening, the EPP Group MEPs spoke passionately. At first glance, this was the fate of a single Hungarian MP, but actually the basic question: do Hungarians still belong? In the end the decision was postponed. That did not bring calm. Already on Thursday it was not clear what had been voted on. The group’s leader, Manfred Weber, a man from the CSU, had to convene his presidium in the afternoon to clarify this: the next crisis meeting.
Thomas gutschker
Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.
The entire dispute was sparked by Orbán’s budget blockage. If Hungary adheres to the rule of law, an independent judiciary and free media, it should not fear the new mechanism that would otherwise allow for funding cuts, Weber argued in mid-November. The head of the Fidesz delegation to the PPE group then replied: Weber reminded him of the Gestapo and the communist secret service during the occupation. They always said that if you had nothing to hide, you had nothing to fear, said Tamás Deutsch. That was by no means the first derailment of the circle of twelve deputies. But this time she was the straw that broke the barrel.
