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Due to the pandemic, we cannot hold a meeting of the European People’s Party to exclude Fidesz. Otherwise, that decision would have been made a long time ago. “
This was stated by the parliamentary leader of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, in an interview with the Belgian newspaper De Standaard. When asked if there was a majority in the Conservative Party association for the impeachment of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party, he said: “We are getting closer to that decision, and the fact that Orban is using his veto on the financial framework Multi-year and recovery plan is a clear sign that EPP is losing support. “
When asked what went wrong after its freeze in March 2019, Fidesz has not yet left the EPP and its members are part of the EPP parliamentary group in the European Parliament, Weber said nothing had gone wrong. “We have already excluded all Fidesz members from the party structures and the party does not have the right to vote.”
I think Orban can show that he contributes to finding solutions, he added. “My message to him is: You always say that the independence of the judiciary and the media is guaranteed. [в Унгария]. So there is no need to fear the rule of law mechanism. You can still approve it. “
Instead, Orban is talking about a “new compromise” and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as interim president of the EU Council, must seek a way out of the situation. But Weber says the EPP lawmakers will not back down from the agreement between the European Parliament and the European Council.
“The renegotiation of the mechanism is out of the question. We have managed to get the member states to renew this debate and clarify their positions. Without guarantees of independent justice and the media, we cannot agree on a budget and a plan of a total of 1.8 billion euros, “he explained.
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- Manfred Weber was also asked about the blocking by the Boyko Borissov government of North Macedonia’s accession negotiations in the EU last week. “The EPP used to solve problems in the EU and now it is creating them,” said the De Standaard journalist. “No one complained when French President Emmanuel Macron blocked talks with Albania and North Macedonia. No one said: ‘Renew Europe’ (the liberals in the European Parliament) have a problem. The EPP is a stable bloc and helps the positive processes, “said the Bavarian Christian Democrat.
The conversation is also about why Europe has been silent for years about what is happening in Hungary and Poland. To which Weber replied: “That is why we have supported this mechanism, which has clear timetables: if the European Commission identifies serious problems with the rule of law in a particular country, the European Council has 1 month to decide or, exceptionally, 3 months. ” The sanctions have a qualified majority, the country in question can file a complaint with the Court of Justice, and that is exactly what I want to see, an end to the political debate on who did what and how did not respect the rule of law, there will be a ruling Independent. “
Last week EPP MEP Siegfried Muresan said the debate on Orban in the organization was complex and the situation would have to be assessed at a later stage. “The only priority now is to move forward with Plan A (approval of the EU budget 2021-2027, the pandemic support fund and the rule of law mechanism), because the more we discuss, the more complicated things get” he told the newspaper. “Yuraktiv”.
