16/12/2020 (Agence Europe) – The EPP group in the European Parliament was due to vote on 16 December on the fate of the Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch (Hungary) after he compared the leader of the group, German Manfred Weber, to the Gestapo, the political police of the Third Reich, at the end of November. Several options were on the table, including deprivation of the right to speak in plenary on behalf of the group or the right to be designated shadow rapporteur for the group. The question of expulsion had not yet been decided. The group planned to call on the elected Fidesz members to consider their membership in the group, according to a draft declaration, and on the Party to take a decision on Fidesz as soon as possible. Recently, the Hungarian has attacked Manfred Weber’s positions in favour of the Rule of law mechanism. The Fidesz politician apologised on 15 December. He did not mean to “offend anyone” and “made a mistake”, he said. (SP)