Friday

29th Mar 2024

EPP suspends Orban's Fidesz party

  • Viktor Orban will not now participate in the traditional gathering of EPP national leaders ahead of the EU summit on Thursday (Photo: European Parliament)

The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) on Wednesday (20 March) suspended its Hungarian member, prime minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz party, and set up a committee to keep the party under surveillance and monitor if Fidesz should be expelled in the future.

The suspension was a joint decision of the EPP and Fidesz, according to a text set out by the EPP party's presidency and overwhelmingly adopted by 190 votes against three in the centre-right party's political assembly.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"The EPP decided today to suspend the membership of the Fidesz inside the EPP family," EPP leader Manfred Weber told reporters after the three-hour meeting that he described as "very intensive".

"Fidesz will have no say anymore in the future of the EPP political approach," he added.

The suspension means that Fidesz, which has been accused of violating EU values, will no longer vote in the party, will not be allowed to participate in meetings, or nominate candidates for party positions.

And as an immediate repercussion, Orban will not participate in the traditional gathering of EPP national leaders forum, including chancellor Angela Merkel, ahead of the EU summit on Thursday.

EPP also decided to set up an "evaluation committee" which will examine whether Fidesz has fulfilled the conditions set out for the Hungarian party after the European elections.

It will be led by former EU council president Herman Van Rompuy, and include former European Parliament president Hans-Gert Pottering and former Austrian prime minister Wolfgang Schussel.

Schussel was himself shunned by the EU in 2000 for forming a government coalition with the far-right Freedom party (FPO). Back then, a three-member committee was set out to investigate the Austrian government and to decide on EU sanctions.

The EPP's conditions for Orban include: withdrawing the government campaign targeting EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker (a fellow EPP member), refraining from damaging fellow parties' election campaigns, and legal certainty for the Budapest-based Central European University.

The committee will also monitor the respect for the rule of law and 'EPP values' that the party adopted last November in a resolution, including on the importance of rule of law, independent media, a vibrant civil society, strong EU institutions, and an independent judiciary.

"Exclusion of Fidesz is on the table," Weber added, saying the committee will have the "final judgement" on what to do with Fidesz.

Weber, who is the EPP's lead candidate to replace Juncker as commission president, said the decision was not about migration or Christian democracy, despite Orban accusing EPP critics of targeting Hungary for its hardline on migration.

During the closed-door debate, Orban accused the 13 parties that called for the expulsion of Fidesz of having "baseless arguments".

"I am happy with having them [Fidesz] now in a corner, where the slightest misbehaviour from now on will lead to exclusion," MEP Frank Engel and leader of the Luxembourgish Christian Social People's party said. He had also called for kicking Fidesz out.

He added: "I really wonder how they [Fidesz] could accept this, they subject themselves to intense surveillance."

One argument within the EPP is that Orban, for whom EPP membership gives mainstream access and credibility, did not have a strategy ready yet to create a new party alliance, as party parities shift after the European elections in May.

Future alliances?

However, the EPP's willingness to take expulsion off the table, for now, was partly motivated by fear that Orban could easily set up a new political party with Poland's ruling Law and Order party led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Italy's League of interior minister Matteo Salvini, on an anti-migration platform.

The compromise decision allows EPP to keep the party's 'enfant terrible' in check, while unity boosts EPP's image ahead of the May election.

EPP and Fidesz jointly decided on the suspension, according to the party's text adopted on Wednesday, giving enough space for Orban tell his voters that the EPP did not force its will on him.

"We voluntarily agreed to suspend our participation," Orban told reporters in Brussels after the meeting.

As the campaign in the EU elections picks up, Weber also wanted to signal that Orban does not call the shots in the EPP, and that the Hungarian prime minister's plan to push the EPP further to the right is not working.

EU's centre-right make Weber their man to replace Juncker

The centre-right EPP party's congress wanted to show unity - but divisions remain after the political alliance lined up behind Germany's Manfred Weber as their 'Spitzenkandidat' ahead of next year's European election.

EU says Hungary's anti-Juncker campaign is fake news

The European Commission has branded the latest campaign by the Hungarian government as 'fake news', after Orban's government accused Juncker of pressing ahead with migration proposals that threaten the country's security.

Orban hosts Weber in Budapest for EPP showdown

The future of the Viktor Orban's Fidesz party inside the European Parliament's centre-right EPP political group hangs in the balance. On Tuesday, Orban and EPP chief Manfred Weber meet in Budapest in a final effort to iron out differences.

Orban rejects Weber's plea to stop anti-EU posters

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has pledged to put up new anti-migrant posters - despite hopes in his centre-right EU family that he might "apologise and put an end" to the campaign.

Tusk pledges 'fight' for EU values as new EPP president

The outgoing president of the EU council, Donald Tusk, is set to be elected as the president of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP). Tusk will have to deal with the final decision over Hungary's ruling Fidesz.

Orban edges closer to Salvini's anti-migrant alliance

Hungary's Orban has hinted at leaving the EPP for Italy's far-right Salvini, saying it will be difficult to remain in the centre-right political family if it allied with leftist parties after the European Parliament elections.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us