Orbán: EPP would be making ‘historic mistake’ by backing Timmermans for EC chief

Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Szecsõdi Balázs

The European People’s Party would be making a “historic mistake” in helping to elect Frans Timmermans as European Commission president, news portal Origo cited Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as saying in a letter addressed to EPP leader Joseph Daul.

According to the portal, Orbán wrote that he was aware his Fidesz party currently had no say in the EPP’s policies, after the suspension of its membership in the centre-right grouping earlier this year.

However, citing “the seriousness of the current situation”, Orbán told Daul that German and French leaders had made a deal regarding the top EU leadership positions, which would see Timmermans becoming EC president.

The prime minister said that if the EPP backed this agreement, it would be “making a serious, in fact, historic mistake”, arguing that the party would be giving up its European Parliament election victory.

Such a move, Orbán wrote, would be “humiliating” and would “completely undermine the EPP’s prestige and dignity in the world of international politics”. The deal would also hurt the party’s dignity in the eyes of its voters, Orbán added.

“This leads to our own destruction,” the prime minister wrote, asking Daul to do everything in his power to avert “such a defeat”.

Orbán added that he will also discuss the matter with the other EPP prime ministers.

Moreover, the Hungarian government would regard the appointment of Frans Timmermans as European Commission president “unacceptable”, a government official said on Sunday, adding the reason why was that the candidate was backed by the Social Democrats and billionaire George Soros.

Responding to reports that Timmermans was on course to become the next EC chief, Zoltan Kovacs, the state secretary for international communications and relations, said in a statement: “During the commission [headed by Jean-Claude Juncker], it became clear that Frans Timmermans was George Soros’s man. If they installed him as commission president, then clearly George Soros’s puppet would be heading the commission.”