The European People's Party (EPP) does not at this stage intend to launch any disciplinary measure against the Fidesz Party of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose country is targeted by the opening of a so-called Article 7 procedure on respect of the rule of law.
But the question of the fundamental values on which the Christian Democrat party is based will nevertheless be posed at the annual EPP congress in Helsinki on 7-8 November.
"We cannot tell others to respect the rule of law if we do not respect it ourselves. That is why we will reaffirm our commitment to the rule of law, our values and principles at our congress in Finland", the EPP leader, French national Joseph Daul, said in Salzburg on Wednesday 19 September, at the end of the EPP summit to prepare the discussions of the 28 EU member states (see other articles).
Daul, who has already tried to refocus Orbán (see EUROPE 12000), said that any expulsion of a party member should take place in line with the EPP regulations and rules of procedure. "The press cannot force me to expel Viktor Orbán", he said. Daul stated that the position of the EPP Group at the European Parliament in Strasbourg had been "very clear".
At the adoption of the Sargentini report advocating the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, 114 MEPs from the EPP Group had voted in favour, 57 against and 28 had abstained (see EUROPE 12094).
Many Christian Democrat MEPs, notably their leader, German national Manfred Weber, had in the end deserted Orbán due to his obstinate refusal to make any gesture on the Hungarian legislation on the operation of foreign universities and the activities of NGOs – which are the subject of European infringement procedures.
When questioned about the European Parliament's opening of the Article 7 procedure, France's President Emmanuel Macron said, in Strasbourg on Thursday 20 September, that "the EU Council should be notified" and that "all the consequences should be drawn from it, firstly in ministerial formats and then at the level of the heads of government".
The Bulgarian, Polish and Slovak leaders have already officially expressed their solidarity towards their Hungarian counterpart. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)