There will be no decision or vote next week on the case of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the membership of his Fidesz party in the European People's Party (EPP), EPP President Donald Tusk told Christian Democrat MEPs on Wednesday 29 January. And the Hungarian party will continue to be suspended “until further notice”, reported several sources in the EPP group in the European Parliament.
The president of the EPP had indicated a few weeks ago that the party would raise this issue at its political assembly on 3 and 4 February, but the Pole has already formulated his decision on 29 January. The Fidesz party will therefore be maintained in its current situation, which prevents the leader from Budapest, among others, from taking part in the EPP's strategic decisions and attending EPP summits. The Hungarian EPP MEPs remain full members of the group in Parliament.
According to the same sources, Donald Tusk gave a very brief summary of the conclusions of the report of the Three Wise Men (Herman Von Rompuy, Wolfgang Schlüssel and Hans Gert Pöttering) commissioned last March (see EUROPE 12218/8), saying only that the Fidesz had not made sufficient progress to lift the suspension.
However, there are also doubts within the political group as to whether this famous report by the Three Wise Men actually exists, while some believe that it does not exist in written form and has only been transmitted orally to the party president. This decision may in any case have no effect on the Hungarian Prime Minister, who can always decide to leave on his own, according to one of these sources.
In any case, no further meetings on the EPP ‘Orbán’ case were made on Wednesday morning. This decision should satisfy those parts of the EPP Group in Parliament that were against expulsion, namely the Spanish, Italians and French. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)