PN refusing to comment over EPP threat to sack Orbán

Nationalist Party secretary-general Clyde Puli has refused to commit the PN to a position on the proposed expulsion of ruling Hungarian party Fidesz from the European People’s Party (EPP), the PN’s political family.

The controversy concerns Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his right-wing party’s possible suspension over a series of anti-Brussels media campaigns accusing Brussels of pushing migration policies that “fundamentally threaten Hungary’s security”.

On Monday, the EPP said that 12 parties from nine European Union countries had forwarded motions on the Fidesz party calling for its suspension.

Two Swedish conservative parties (the Moderate Party and the Christian Democratic Party) initiated the process of attempting to have Fidesz removed from the EPP last week. The Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V), the Walloon Conservative Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) and the Luxembourg Christian Socialist Party (CSV) have all sent a letter to EPP President Joseph Daul. And the Finnish Kokoomus (Christian Democratic Party), the Portuguese Democratic and Social Centre-People’s Party (CDS-PP) have also proposed the exclusion of the Hungarian party.

But Clyde Puli refused to give his or the PN’s views on the issue, opting to wait for the Fidesz party’s chance to reply.

“The EPP has given Orbán and his party a chance to explain himself on a number of matters, we are waiting for the answers, and clarifications to the issues raised,” he said.

PN secretary-general Clyde Puli

Puli refused to divulge further on the details and said that the party would be formulating a better opinion following an analysis of the responses given by the Fidesz party.

“We have opinions on some of the wrongdoings by Orbán’s party, and we will be forwarding our concerns during the EPP meeting,” he said.

The parliamentary group will be discussing whether the party will be suspended or excluded on the 20 March.

The issue arose after the Hungarian government launched a campaign claiming that fellow EPP member and European Commission president Jean Claude Junker, and American-Hungarian billionaire investor George Soros, were purposely introducing policies to flood Hungary with migrants.

According to media reports, some of the parties which forwarded the motions have threatened to leave if the Fidesz party remains.

On the other hand, some have opted to support the Fidesz party, and have publicly stated support towards keeping them in the parliamentary group. “It would be a big loss for the EPP. During the election campaign, many things are said, with different nuances and accents… Without Fidesz votes, the EPP might not have a majority (after the EU elections),” Kelemen Hunor, chief of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania party said.

Jean Claude Junker did not hold back in expressing his opinions against Orbán’s party. “The conservatives in Hungary in no way whatsoever represent Christian democratic values. I’m of the opinion that there’s no place for them in the European People’s Party,” he said.

In a separate interview, Juncker said that he would be voting against Orbán’s party. “I already said months ago that the EPP’s biggest problem in the European elections has a name, and that is Orbán. I will support this exclusion,” he said.

The European Commission released a statement at the end of February, officially replying to the Hungarian government’s campaign. “The claims made by the Hungarian government are at worst downright factually incorrect or at best highly misleading.”