The popular faction in the European Parliament has opened its arms to the political movement of Péter Magyar, the rival of the Hungarian prime minister.
The match of the closest to adversario politico de Viktor Orbán, Péter Magyarhas joined the European parliamentary group that previously had the hungarian prime minister like one of their own.
The group of European People’s Party (EPP) -which housed the party Fidesz de Orbán until 2021- opened its doors to the party Respect and Freedom (TISZA) by Magyar in a vote held on Tuesday in Brusselswhich means that the seven TISZA MEPs elected in the June European elections They will sit with the largest faction in Parliament.
A former member of Orbán’s government
Magyar, a former member of Orbán’s government, shocked the Hungarian nation earlier this year by denounce what he described as a “mafia State”revealing his personal experience with corruption and the Government’s propaganda machine.
Hungarian headed TISZA’s campaign ahead of the June electionsachieving an unprecedented percentage of 30% of the Hungarian votes and dealing a severe blow to Orbán’s Fidesz which, despite continuing to be the party with the most votes, obtained less than half of the votes (44.8%) for the first time in a few european elections since Orbán returned to power in 2010.
Magyar had previously said that would not take his seat as an MEPbut backtracked on Monday by putting the decision to a public vote on his Facebook profile.
Exchange Budapest for Brussels
According to Magyar, a majority of 100,000 voters said they should change Budapest for Brusselsbut he refused to confirm on Tuesday afternoon whether the decision had been made, opting instead to announce it to his followers in a YouTube livestream at 7:45 p.m. CET.
Regardless of his decision, Magyar promised continue to challenge Orbán andn power: “I will work for change in Hungary,” he said. “The change has begun, and this is the beginning of the end of the Fidesz party“Magyar told the press.
“I am proud that they have taken us to the EPP, to the largest group in the European Parliament, where we can truly represent the interests of Hungarian citizens. He (Orbán) is not so lucky,” Magyar said, adding that his TISZA MEPs would aspire to positions of power in parliamentary committees to shape EU legislation in areas such as industry and environment.
Currently, Orbán’s Fidesz has no political roof in the country. European Parliamentso the influence of its legislators is more limited.
But, above all, Magyar pledged to fight to restore the rule of law in his country, where the democratic retreat since Orbán came to power is well documented.
“Brussels didn’t really understand the situation in Hungary. Brussels and the European Parliament helped Prime Minister Orbán to play this dirty game in Hungary and to use the Article 7 procedure and the rule of law procedure for their own political purposes,” he said in an evening stab at Brussels.
For years, the EU executive has rehad funds to the Budapest government in retaliation for persistent violations of the rule of law, which has allowed Orbán to fuel a fierce internal campaign against the EU.
“The second poorest state in Europe”
Magyar also claimed that this has held Hungary back economically. “Now we are the second poorest member state in Europe and the most officially corrupt,” he said. “So people are fed up with corruption, lies and propaganda.”
In statements prior to the meeting, the President of the EPP, Manfred Webersaid: “It is great that a party that asks the necessary questions in Hungary joins the EPP.”
“It is a clear message from the Hungarian population that they want another political perspective“added Weber, referring to the solids TISZA results in the June European elections.
Magyar clarifies his position on Ukraine
Although he is now Hungary’s most credible political contender, Magyar is deeply conservative and has emerged as an alternative opposition figure to the centrist and left-wing parties that have attempted to challenge the Orbán Government.
This means that cShare some of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s positions on ukrainian war.
“Putin is an aggressor. Ukraine is a victim. And the Ukrainian people have the right to defend their own territory,” he explained. “But we share the government’s position. We will not send troops or weapons to Ukraine from Hungary”.
ADVERTISINGThe EPP has repeatedly said that any partner, not to mention group members, must be unwaveringly in favor of Ukraine.
Another obstacle to solve is the membership in the EPP group of a legislator belonging to the Hungarian Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP), a junior coalition partner of Fidesz and which must take a seat in the European Parliament. Magyar had previously said that would only join the EPP if the KDNP party left or was expelled.
El presidente del KDNP, Zsolt Semjén, ha prometido que your party will leave the group of the EPP if Magyar’s TISZA is voted in, as part of a maneuver choreographed by the president of the EPP, Manfred Weber, who visited Budapest last Friday to meet with both Magyar and Semjén.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the EPP group welcomed a total of fourteen new memberss, among them seven legislators from the TISZA of Magyar, as well as others representing the Citizen Peasant Movement Dutch (BBB) and the New Social Contract (NSC), the Danish Liberal Alliance, the German Family Party and the Czech Mayors and Independents party.
It is consolidated as well as the largest grouping in the European Parliament. Although these parties join the parliamentary group, they do not necessarily become members of the pan-European political party of the EPP.
ADVERTISINGTISZA’s entry into the European Parliament comes just three years after the EPP expel legislators from the far-right Fidesz party from his groupby Viktor Orbán, in the middle of the controversy over democratic regression in Hungary, a country described in a European Parliament resolution as “electoral autocracy”.
