The President of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Germany's Manfred Weber, on Tuesday 5 March set three clear conditions for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to meet by the end of March for his Fidesz party to remain in the EPP party, while his political family has initiated a procedure to exclude or suspend the Hungarian party (see EUROPE 12205). In an interview with the German daily Bild, Weber called on Orbán to “immediately and permanently stop his anti-Brussels campaigns”. He also asked him to “apologise to the other EPP member parties” and to guarantee the existence on Hungarian soil of the Central European University, which had to move part of its courses to Vienna. The President of the European People's Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, confirmed in an interview on Tuesday 5 March with the German newspaper Die Welt that the procedure to exclude Viktor Orbán's from his political family has been launched.
According to the Frenchman, Viktor Orbán “crossed the red line”. The EPP is a large family that “may have differences”, but “there is a limit”, said the EPP president. The day before, he had confirmed to AFP that he had received letters from 12 EPP member parties from 9 countries.
“Twelve EPP member parties from nine countries have requested the exclusion or suspension of Fidesz. This is the question that will be discussed at the political assembly on 20 March. The decision rests with all EPP members and I cannot anticipate the outcome of the discussion”, he explained to AFP. “At the meeting on March 20, we will discuss the situation in Fidesz. We must also give the Fidesz the opportunity to express itself”, the Frenchman adding that “only the Political Assembly can exclude or suspend a member party. We cannot anticipate the decision of the Political Assembly”.
The twelve national parties that requested to sanction Fidesz are the cdH and CD&V (Belgium), Kokoomus (Finland), Nea Dimokratia (Greece), TS-LKD (Lithuania), CSV (Luxembourg), Høyre (Norway), CDA (Netherlands), CDS-PP and PSD (Portugal), Kristdemokraterna and Moderaterna (Sweden). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)