Hungary's Fidesz party has come very close to being expelled from the European Parliament's center-right group after Budapest's anti-migration campaign targeting the European Commission's migration policies
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2019) Hungary's Fidesz party has come very close to being expelled from the European Parliament's center-right group after Budapest's anti-migration campaign targeting the European Commission's migration policies.The campaign poster, launched in February, featured the face of the commission's President Jean-Claude Juncker. The European Commission slammed the ideas in the campaign as false. Meanwhile, Juncker, who himself belongs to the European People's Party (EPP), suggested that the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, did not belong in the center-right group. Since his statement, the calls for Fidesz to leave have intensified.
The Hungarian prime minister called EPP members urging for his party's exit "useful idiots," whose attempts to exclude Fidesz would benefit only the EPP opponents on the left.
Manfred Weber, the group's top candidate to become the next head of the commission after the May election, said that Orban's party would have to leave unless it changed its behavior and apologized. In a letter to the party's chairman, Joseph Daul, Weber reportedly stressed that Orban attacked EPP leaders and member parties.
Manfred suggested that the turnabout, should it happen, would have to take place before March 20, when the party is expected to discuss whether to expel Fidesz.
However, to some EPP members, the behavior of Fidesz and Orban is inexcusable.
Benoit Lutgen, who intends to be a lead candidate for Belgium's Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) in May elections, told Sputnik his party would leave the EPP if Fidesz remained a member.
"I already wrote as chairman of my party three years ago to the President of the EPP, saying that we wanted Orban to be excluded. He is more than embarrassing for the EPP. Orban does not respect human rights simply," Lutgen said.
Orban's party said in a press release that it did not want to leave the EPP, but rather strengthen the anti-immigration forces inside it.
When asked to comment on the issue, a member of the European Parliament from Fidesz, Gyorgy Schopflin told Sputnik that "there is no point speculating on this before March 20."
Meanwhile, the Hungarian government's spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said earlier in the day that Budapest would not change its anti-migration position.
"We listen to other opinions, includ[ing] Weber's. But more important than party discipline are the defense of European Christian values and stopping migration. On this, we cannot yield," Kovacs said on Twitter.
Hungary, as well as several other European countries, has objected to EU policy under which each member state is expected to take in a number of refugees.
Joerg Meuthen, a member of the Alternative for Germany, believes that Hungary does not have to follow Brussels' policy on migration.
"Brussels should reconsider its distribution policy in the interests of all member states. Europeans don't want distribution of migrants; they want the flow to be stopped," Meuthen told Sputnik.
Mara Bizzotto, a member of the European Parliament's Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF/ENL) Group and of Italy's Lega, said that her group would gladly join forces with Fidesz.
"If the EPP wants to expel Prime Minister Orban from its ranks, we are ready to welcome him with open arms in the great sovereign and identity alliance we are working on for Europe ... We, at La Lega, renew the invitation we already made last September," Bizzotto told Sputnik.
The Italian politician added that the polls indicated the group would do well at the upcoming election.
Gilles Lebreton, a member of the ENF and of the French National Rally party, similarly said the political club would welcome Orban's Fidesz.
"On the ideological level, Orban also seems to realize that he is closer to us than to the EPP, especially on the migration issue. Of course, we will gladly welcome him to the ENL group if he wishes to join us," Lebreton told Sputnik.
Fabio Massimo Castaldo, a member of the European Parlaiment who belongs to another major Italian party, Five Star Movement, backed Orban and argued that the case against his party was a blow to Weber's candidature.
"The request by 12 European parties belonging to the EPP to expel Fidesz from the party and the group represents a real motion of no confidence for his leadership. Europe is in crisis. It needs to be stronger and closer to the citizens. The EU cannot remain hostage to the feuds inside the European People's Party. We support Victor Orban's positions," Castaldo told Sputnik.
Mario Borghezio, a member of the European Parliament and of Lega, pointed out to Sputnik that Weber is "well aware that, outside the EPP, Orban will be an even more important and significant actor in European politics."
The EPP currently holds 217 seats in the European Parliament, 12 of which belong to Fidesz. The second largest group, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), has 186 seats. The ENF has 37 seats.
The European Parliament election is scheduled for May 23-26.
