Orbán vows to strive for EPP success – interview / Bild
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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in an interview to Germany’s Bild on Friday, said he would strive for the success of the European People’s Party. “I want the EPP to win the European Parliament election, but afterwards there will be a debate on the direction it takes,” he told the paper.
Orbán said he still considered the EPP his “political home”.
He added that whether Fidesz stayed in the EPP or joined a new alliance depended on the EPP. “[There’s] a painful debate ahead of us,” he said.
The prime minister cautioned the EPP against joining forces with the left wing, which he said planned “European socialism”, the price of which would be paid by Germans and central Europeans.
He said that in Italy, Matteo Salvini, the interior minister who leads the League party, “is doing a good job”. After the election, all options for an alliance with him should be on the table, he added.
He blamed the Scandinavian and Benelux members of the EPP for strife in the grouping and the initiative to exclude Fidesz from the EPP, saying its leaders were too weak to rebuff it.
Orbán said Manfred Weber, the EPP’s lead candidate for the post of European Commission president, had rejected the votes of Hungarians and therefore did not deserve to receive them. Weber, he added, was a weak leader who “is not ready to fight for his own values”. The Fidesz leader preferred not to reveal for the time being who he would support instead.
Commenting on the appearance of Weber on billboards promoting secure external borders, Orbán said Europe would be wise to support Hungarian border policy. He noted that Hungary had not received any European Union funding for its fence on the southern border. Hungary, he added, will not allow Frontex to police the Hungarian border, adding that Frontex was needed where the authorities were unable to protect their borders.
Commenting on the political turmoil in Austria, Orbán said: “We’d rather not interfere in Austrian domestic politics.”
As regards the case of Heinz-Christian Strache, who last weekend resigned his post of Austria’s vice-chancellor, Orbán said the most important thing for a politician was having the trust of the people. But Strache, he said, had made “unacceptable” remarks, with which he lost that trust.