Der Spiegel: Fidesz to remain in EPP ‘in near future’

For the time being, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party will not be expelled from the European People’s Party (EPP) because the majority required for a move like that is missing, the German weekly Der Spiegel said on its news site spiegel.de on Friday and in its print version on Saturday.

The party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán still does not have to count on being excluded from the (EPP), it said.

In telephone calls to the chairmen of various member parties, EPP leader Donald Tusk made it clear that there is currently no majority to end Fidesz’s membership, a situation he attributed mainly to the attitude of the large member parties, including the German ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its coalition partner, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

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In the calls, both CDU general secretary Paul Ziemiak and CSU leader Markus Soeder had warned against the “hasty removal of Fidesz from the EPP.”

Tusk earlier met the body of “three wise people” assigned with probing Fidesz’s actions and said he would present his opinion on the probe at the EPP board meeting on February 3-4.

Fidesz’s membership was suspended last March, under charges that the Hungarian party had infringed on the centre-right party family’s values and vocally criticised some EPP decisions.

Orbán said after that move that Fidesz has unilaterally suspended exercising its rights as an EPP member.

He said Fidesz had appointed “its own committee of three wise people” to hold talks with the EPP’s committee and draft their own report on how the EPP and Fidesz’s relationship should be shaped, whether Fidesz has a place in the EPP and if so, what kind of an EPP that should be.

Source: MTI