display
Brussels (AP) - The long-standing dispute between the Christian Democrats in the European Parliament and the Fidesz party of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is about to be decided.
The Group of the European People's Party wants to vote this Wednesday on new rules of procedure that would allow Fidesz to be suspended.
In the event of an acceptance, Orban has threatened to leave the parliamentary group.
For years, the right-wing conservative Orban has repeatedly come into conflict with the party family EVP, to which the CDU and CSU also belong.
At party level, Fidesz's membership has been suspended since 2019, among other things because of alleged violations of EU fundamental values and verbal attacks against the then EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.
The Fidesz MEPs still belong to the group.
Now the suspension could come there too.
display
In an interview with the dpa, the Austrian MP Othmar Karas demanded that the rules of procedure be changed as planned despite Orban's threat to exit.
"For reasons of attitude, for reasons of credibility, we must not bend down in front of such a policy," said the ÖVP politician and Vice President of the EU Parliament.
Fidesz made no move to change.
"We will not allow Orban to be successful again with blackmail."
Representatives of the Nordic and Baltic EPP parties made similar statements.
A break would also be a turning point for the EPP parliamentary group leader Manfred Weber (CSU), who tried to mediate for a long time, but recently got into sharp conflict with Orban.
The EPP Group would shrink - 12 of the current 187 MEPs belong to Fidesz - but would remain the largest group in the European Parliament.
What is politically significant is which parliamentary group Fidesz would switch to.
The Hungarians could strengthen the right-wing national FCR, in which the Polish PiS sits, or the right-wing fraction ID, to which the AfD and the Italian Lega belong.
Orban has repeatedly provoked the EU with his plan for an “illiberal” democracy.
Among other things, his refugee, media, university and judicial policy are criticized.
Rule of law proceedings are underway against Hungary under Article 7 of the EU treaties - this is considered to be the toughest possible sanction against individual member states who allegedly violate EU fundamental values.
At the end of 2020, Hungary temporarily blocked the EU budget because it rejected a new rule of law mechanism.
Ultimately, a compromise was found.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210303-99-663665 / 2