At the FDP, they had prepared for a quiet party convention this Sunday. In Berlin-Kreuzberg, the Liberals want to elect their staff for the European elections in May. FDP secretary general Nicola Beer is in the lead. The choice of the 49-year-olds seemed to be a routine matter until recently.
Not any longer longer. Beer may be chosen, but a damper is expected.
Because the Liberals is since a SPIEGEL report on their strange connection to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbàn in some delegates in the criticism. Former FDP Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger called on Beer for clarification.
Nicola Beer is making an effort for them now. During a long-planned press conference this Friday, it is not just about the European program, but also about Beers attitude to Hungary.
The FDP politician announced to take position on the party to the allegations - at the same time she criticized the SPIEGEL: "Since a topic has arisen, to which one can take a clear position, because simply what is assumed, is wrong. Accordingly, I will use that. " According to Beer, she has "no sympathy for the illiberal democracy of Mr. Orbán or for Mr. Orbán himself". She will repeat that at the party congress.
In the course of the conversation, however, Beer relativizes her original presentation. "The SPIEGEL did not print everything that we have provided to him with information, that's his decision," said Beer. The magazine had reproduced information about a conversation that had "not taken place".
Beer refers to a passage in the article that deals with her attempts to influence Hungary. For years, the European Commission and the European Parliament have denounced violations of the rule of law in Hungary. For mid-September 2018, parliamentarians finally put a vote on a procedure under Article 7 of the EU Treaty on the agenda. The state could ultimately be deprived of membership rights, right down to voting rights in the European Council. The SPIEGEL article is specifically about a conversation Beers with the FDP MEP Nadja Hirsch in August 2018. The passage in the wording:
On 30 August, two weeks before the vote in Strasbourg, the program commission of the FDP met in Berlin for the European elections. On the sidelines, Beer has taken the FDP MEP Nadja Hirsch aside, so Hirsch describes it. Beer asked if she and her two FDP colleagues wanted to vote against Hungary for Article 7 proceedings. "Of course we agree," Hirsch replied. Beer said that MEPs should reconsider that. She believed that many misinformation in Germany was communicated about the situation in Hungary. Then she referred to her contact with the Hungarian ambassador and suggested that Hirsch listen to his arguments.Beer describes the encounter differently. "I have not addressed any MPs." She recommended Hirsch to a Hungarian diplomat as a conversation partner. "I informed Mrs. Hirsch about that," says Beer. The diplomat never answered.
In the SPIEGEL so both versions of the meeting - both the Hirsch and Beer. How does the FDP politician then come to the conclusion that SPIEGEL has reproduced information about a conversation that "did not take place"? On demand, Beer finally admits to the present representative of SPIEGEL on Friday: "You have also shown that there are two versions of this conversation."
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Viktor Orban
She has sympathy for the people of Hungary, but not for the Orbán government, explains Beer. That's a big difference. "We try there to bundle other middle-class middle-class forces", in doing so one also has to go to Hungary, speak and listen to their perspective. "That's where friendships come from, that's the way it works," says Beer.
The SPIEGEL article criticized by Beer is also about the personal contacts of the politician and her husband Jürgen Illing with former Orbán minister Zoltán Balog, a studied pastor. Last fall, the couple even got married from Balog in Budapest. (Read more about the allegations against Beer here).
In the FDP is expected that the party congress on Sunday around the list choice of the FDP deputy Nadja Hirsch could become controversial. The 40-year-old is under pressure since she made public in the newspaper DER SPIEGEL the alleged attempts to influence Beers.
In FDP circles is not excluded that Hirsch is punished on Sunday. Internally it was pointed out that Hirsch has not been uncontroversial for a long time and in November she was able to prevail in the preparation of the Bavarian Europe list only in a runoff election.
Asked whether Hirsch should expect to fly off the European list on Sunday, Nicola Beer says: "The party congress will have to decide, I can not tell you anything about that, I have no problem with Frau Hirsch."
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