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My party supports the exclusion of Fidesz from the European People’s Party (EPP) and I support the exclusion of Tamás Deutsch from the EPP group
– Vladimír Bilčík, MEP of the Slovak People’s Party, responded to the request for the Index. The Index has reached out to several Popular Party politicians after Tamás Deutsch, head of the European Parliament Fidesz-KDNP delegation, apologized to Manfred Weber, leader of the Popular Party faction, for his scandalous statement last week.
The Fidesz politician had previously compared the group’s leader’s statements with the arguments of the Gestapo and ÁVO. Deutsch responded to what was said about the EU budget. Hungary and Poland have vetoed the fact that most EU member states would subject the budget for the next seven years and the adoption of an epidemic recovery fund to stricter conditions of the rule of law.
To do this, Deutsch produced the dictatorship card, on which a group of fellow MPs launched an unexpected attack. The vice president of the Austrian People’s Party, Othmar Karas, an Austrian politician, began collecting signatures demanding the expulsion of the Hungarian member of the PPE group. The Index also received a petition that can also be read on the Twitter microblog, which was signed by 37 representatives from 16 countries last week. The letter describes Deutsch’s words as shocking and embarrassing.
Tamás Deutsch’s statements are shameful. Compare the EU to the oppression of the Nazis and Communists and our defense of the rule of law with Gestapo methods. My initiative to get it out of @EPPGroup exclude, support 30 MEPs so far. pic.twitter.com/CSkvk4r004
– Othmar Karas (othmar_karas) December 2, 2020
The Hungarian representative apologized and sent his letter to the press.
“It is no coincidence that Tamás Deutsch said what he said. Driven by populist interests or deliberate hate speech ″
– Michaela Šojdrová, Czech EPP Group member, told Index. According to the politician, the petition was not in favor of Weber, but against the deliberate misinformation of the Hungarians.
Therefore, an apology is not a solution. You must withdraw your previous statement and, if you refuse to do so, you must resign your position in the party or be expelled by the political group.
Šojdrová said. Responding to our question, the MEP said that the Szájer scandal that broke out last week was not related to the attack on Deutsch or the case of the exclusion of Fidesz.
“However, it has a pretty bad message.”
– She continued.
They’re still talking to Deutsch
It is not only the members of the EPP faction from the Visegrad countries (along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Poland) who resent Fidesz. Dennis Radtke, MEP for the main German ruling party in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), also told the Index. He said he knew Deutsch well and said his apology was hardly coming from the heart.
“He doesn’t know fair play, and it wasn’t his first speech like that.”
Radtke told the Index, but did not give any other example. The German representative stressed that the fate of the Fidesz politician must be decided according to a precise legal procedure. This week there will be a meeting with Tamás Deutsch where he can also present his position. After that, the PPE group can vote on his fate, Radtke said, adding that a decision on the Hungarian politician’s case is not expected this week.
The condemnatory words of a CDU politician can be particularly sensitive not only to Deutsch but also to Fidesz. Membership of the Hungarian ruling party was suspended by the EPP in March 2019, when Fidesz was able to escape total exclusion thanks to the strong German lobby. Last spring, the deportation of Fidesz was initiated by 13 members of the EPP for considering that the government’s policy was incompatible with the values represented by the Popular Party. And the Deutsch and Weber debate suggests that the conflict will not move towards reconciliation even after a year and a half.
At our request, Radtke stated: his personal position regarding the Fidesz membership is very clear from the beginning, the Hungarian ruling party has nothing to gain from the EPP.
“What Fidesz does is not a relationship of gratitude with the Christian Democrats,” Radtke said.
According to him, the policy of the Hungarian ruling party does not correspond to the values represented by the EPP. Restrictions on freedom of the press and anti-Semitic expressions by people close to the government are incompatible with the principles of the party family. Radtke said the CDU’s position is also expected to change. The leader of the main German ruling party, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, resigned in December 2018. Although a new party chairman is expected in January 2021 They chooseRadtke said the new driver is unlikely to treat Fides with a gloved hand and may even support his exclusion.
Orbán proposes an intermediate solution
Viktor Orbán, the president of Fidesz, has just intervened: in a letter written on Sunday, he proposed to Weber a more flexible cooperation than before: one that the British Conservatives had developed with the Popular Party, even before Brexit.
It is no accident that there is a way out. For now, it seems forthat with the suspension of Fidesz membership and permanent war, everyone would simply lose. The Hungarian ruling party has been placed in a legally empty space, its representatives cannot occupy positions in the EPP and, although they can participate in the deliberations, they have had no significant voice in the internal affairs of the party since last year. At the same time, the Hungarian delegation is free to express its views, which Fidesz is making stronger and stronger, sometimes against the position represented by the EPP.
At our request, the press department of the PPE group said that the Fidesz situation would be decided at the next party political assembly, but it was not known when it might happen. “Given that more than 200 party members will have to meet in person to discuss the issue, it is unlikely that due to the epidemic situation this will happen this year,” the press department of the Popular Party faction wrote to the Index.
(Cover photo: Tamás Deutsch at the European Council preparatory meeting on November 25, 2020. Photo: Philippe BUISSIN / European Parliament)
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