Index – Abroad – Orbán’s decision solved the problems of the Germans



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“Elections will take place in Germany this year and there will be a mid-term renewal of the European Parliament next January. However, Manfred Weber is running for president.”

Zoltán Gyévai, an analyst at Bruxinfo, told Index. We contacted the expert regarding Fidesz’s decision that the Hungarian ruling party would leave the European People’s Party, the EPP. According to Zoltán Gyévai, various political processes contributed to Fidesz’s departure. Different views on Fidesz have already emerged during the amendment of the internal rules of the EPP, which determine the position of the Hungarian ruling party: while the Scandinavian, Benelux, Baltic, Austrian and Polish MEPs fought for exclusion, the French, Italians and Germans supported the status quo.

However, although in the past German MPs represented the status quo and kept Fidesz inside, this has changed.

“Here, on the one hand, are the dynamics of the German elections of 2021 and, on the other, the personal ambitions of Manfred Weber, president of the PPE group. This could have turned the German position in a different direction, ”said an analyst at Bruxinfo. According to the expert, it had previously been heard in EPP circles that the German ruling party, the CDU, had asked Manfred Webert to try to neutralize the Orbán factor.

“CDU candidate Armin Laschet, the candidate for the elections, will be asked many times before the elections about the relationship of the German ruling party with Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian government. The Prime Minister’s letter also partially solved this problem, ”said Zoltán Gyévai. As the CDU tries to keep the Hungarian ruling party, which is less popular with the German population, further away, Manfred Weber must be careful in the European Parliament. In January 2022, the position on the board will be renewed and Weber is running for president.

Zoltán Gyévai said that without the support of left, liberal and green MPs, Weber’s chances of taking office against Fidesz, ending with the departure of the Hungarian ruling party, could be a turning point in the career of a German politician. .

We also asked Zoltán Gyévai about the current situation of Fidesz in the European Parliament. The expert stressed that Fidesz would only leave the political group and not the party.

The EPP can decide on party membership of the Hungarian ruling party in June, when the electorate delegates can physically meet, but then a change on the issue is expected. However, Fidesz does not yet belong to any faction, they continue as independent

– She continued. Regardless of their party membership, however, they may be part of the ECR faction of the Polish ruling party, the European Conservatives and Reformists, dominated by PiS. This is possible thanks to the rules of the skeptical right-wing EU party on certain issues. According to Gyévai, the negotiations are definitely taking place in the background, but power relations need to be clarified here as well. With the headquarters of the Fidesz representatives, the Hungarians would be the second strongest group within the ECR after the Poles, but the representatives of the other nations will also have a voice.

Despite the departure, Fidesz can bring surprises. The expert said that the Hungarian ruling party has been working for years on building a consolidation of the right, balancing central and left forces. Although the EPP was originally conceived in this, the Popular Party was not a partner in this. The question now is whether, in its new position, Fidesz will be able to promote an exciting project for the European right.

(Cover photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Manfred Weber on March 12, 2019. Photo: MTI / Prime Minister’s Press Office / Balázs Szecsődi)



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