The centre-right group in the European Parliament has voted to suspend Hungary’s Fidesz party, the European People’s Party president announced.
Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is holding a press conference jointly with European People’s Party Vice-Chair Jozsef Szajer and Minister of the PM’s Office Gergely Gulyas in Brussels as Budapest’s membership in the EPP has been in limbo.
Hungary’s Fidesz party has come very close to being expelled from the European Parliament’s centre-right group amid a row over Budapest’s anti-migration campaign targeting the European Commission’s migration policies.
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, 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.
Documents earlier leaked on social media revealed that the EPP drafted a plan of action aimed at forcing Fidesz’s compliance. The proposal included a list of “conditions” the organization expects the Hungarians to fulfill, including halting their “fake news” campaign against Jean-Claude Juncker and permanently abandoning such “attacks” in the future. It said that while Fidesz works to implement the demands, their membership will be suspended, barring them from voting or holding positions in the EPP.
The suspension will take immediate effect and until further notice following today’s vote of EPP members (190 in favour, 3 against).
The suspension entails:
No attendance at any party meeting
No voting rights
No right to propose candidates for posts
source: rt
