While the president of the center-right European People’s Party group holds talks with a new Hungarian opposition party to admit its seven newly elected MEPs, the leader of the Respect and Freedom party (TIsza) has questioned the permanence of a ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán,
The parliamentary group of European People’s Party will decide next week whether to admit the insurgent Hungarian opposition party Tisza, while its leader, Péter Magyar, has questioned the permanence of a member of the ruling party in the ranks of the EPP.
Hungarian announced on Wednesday, June 12, on social media that the president of the EPP group, Manfred Weber, would be in Budapest on Friday to discuss the incorporation of his MEPs into the group, while lashing criticism against György Hölvényiwho was left out when the prime minister Viktor Orbán He removed his Fidesz party from the center-right group two years ago.
“The vast majority of the Popular Party supports the entry of representatives of the Tisza Party,” Magyar stated on Facebook. “The only exception may be the Fidesz-KDNP representative who currently occupies a seat in the [PPE]”.
Feuds and accusations against Fidesz
Hölvényi has just been re-elected as the fifth candidate on the list of the Fidesz-Christian Democratic party, although he sits only in the colors of the Hungarian Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP). Magyar accused him of being a “good Fidesz propagandist” that he must have “forgotten” to mention that his political allies had painted the EPP as a pro-war party during the election campaign.
Orbán withdrew Fidesz from the EPP group in 2021 complaining about a “hostile” attempt to “silence and disable” its legislators, on the same day that the group changed its regulations to allow permanent exclusion from the party after two years of suspension of meetings and voting.
El partido Tiszaquickly mobilized before the elections by Magyar, a disgruntled former government member, won on Sunday seven of the 21 Hungarian seats in it EU Parliamentreducing Fidesz’s presence from 13 to 11. Two leftists and one ultranationalist now complete the Hungarian formation.
Magyar wasted no time in applying to join the European Parliament’s largest group, and Weber quickly noted that its “doors are open” to its newly elected MEPs. The EPP group plans to vote on the admission of Tisza’s Party on June 18.
“The KDNP has been a member of the EPP for more than 30 years,” Hölvényi told Euronews yesterday when asked how he would react if the group admitted a party whose stated goal is to end the Orbán era in Hungary. “The fact that seven MEPs are coming from Tisza’s Party does not cause any change in our composition.”
Everything pending a next vote
Hölvényi stressed that the next vote concerned Tisza’s admission to the Brussels parliamentary group, not to the EPP pan-European political family itself. “Joining the party is a different and significantly longer process,” she said in an email exchange.
At the same time, an EPP spokesperson dismissed the idea that Hölvényi might appear to be something of a cuckoo egg in the group’s parliamentary nest, especially if he admits a group of seven MEPs nominally committed to the downfall of his political family in Hungary.
“Holvenyi is a member of the KDNP and not of Fidesz, has always remained in the EPP, and the KDNP has always stood on joint lists with Fidesz“said the spokesman for the EPP group, Pedro López de Pablo.
The KDNP does not have a veto over Tisza’s admission, which will be decided by a simple majority, but “They certainly have influence.”López added, pointing out that the group would limit itself to following its internal regulations.
The EPP only admits external members if they subscribe to its political program
Said regulation establishes that non-EPP members They can only be admitted to the parliamentary group “if they subscribe to the political program” from the EPP group.
This means pursuing “the federal unification and integration process in Europe” and subscribe to basic values such as “freedom and democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and subsidiarity.”
As the EPP’s election victory became clear on Sunday night, its emboldened candidate for a second term as president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen added “pro-Ukraine” to the list of values that other centrist groups must subscribe to if they want to form an alliance with their party.
At an election rally on May 5 in the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen, Magyar accused Fidesz of lying when presenting itself as the only party on the side of peace.
Tisza, like Fidesz, would not allow artillery to be transported to Ukraine, Magyar said, then added: “Let’s say it again, so that even they can hear it: The warmonger and aggressor is Putin; he started this war“Ukraine’s fight for defending your territory is legitimate“.
