Donald Tusk's Polish Civic Platform joined 13 member parties in a letter calling again for the expulsion of the Hungarian Fidesz party from the European People's Party family, Polish MEP Radoslaw Sikorski announced on Twitter on Tuesday (7 April).
On the same day, a letter from the heads of 13 EPP Group delegations to the European Parliament also wrote to the German Chair of the group, Manfred Weber, asking for the Hungarian MEPs from Fidesz to be suspended or excluded. These, unlike the Fidesz party as such, are not suspended from the parliamentary group.
The heads of delegation who signed this letter are, among others, the Luxembourg, Dutch, Belgian and Maltese, but the French, Spanish and Italian heavyweights did not join the process. The Republicans group are scheduled to discuss it on April 8.
As a reminder, this new crisis erupted on 30 March when the Hungarian leader was given full powers under emergency measures to deal with the coronavirus.
Concern also about Poland
Moreover, there is also concern about Poland regarding the rule of law. The S&D delegation in the Parliament was thus moved by the fact that the presidential election on 10 May will be held by postal votes, as decided by Parliament on 6 April.
"Following in the footsteps of the Hungarian government, the ruling party in Poland is trying to use the coronavirus pandemic to further undermine democratic standards and procedures", reacted German MEP Birgit Sippel.
"We are waiting to see what the Polish Senate will do now. We also remind Commissioner Reynders of his full commitment to assess whether all measures taken by Member States in the context of the coronavirus pandemic comply with the rule of law, fundamental rights and democracy", commented the Chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar.
Link to the letter from the Heads of Delegation: https://bit.ly/2UT9d0Z (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)