PM Orbán has just passed an important hurdle in EU politics

HUNGARY - In Brief 23 Sep 2018 by Istvan Racz

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Somewhat counter-intuitively, the catastrophic vote against Hungary in the European Parliament on September 13, which we wrote about in our September report, has also brought about something positive for PM Orbán's government, implying relief in an important question. One scenario after the vote was that, as not only the EP overall, but also the majority of European People's Party (EPP) representatives within the Parliament voted against Hungary on that occasion, that outcome could lead to the early exclusion of Fidesz from the EPP, possibly initiated as early as on September 20, when the EPP was to hold its summit in Salzburg, parallel to the European Council's informal gathering at the same location.However, in reality no such exclusion took place or was approved at the meeting. Although EU Commission president Juncker, who is also an EPP politician, made a proposal to this end, his proposal was voted down by the rest of the EPP leaders who were present. Following the meeting, Joseph Daul, the EPP's president said that his party family did not intend to get rid of Fidesz until the now initiated Article 7 procedure against Hungary ends, which can easily mean years. It looks like EPP leaders may have decided to save this problem until after the EP election of June 2019. This is excellent news for Mr. Orbán of course, as Fidesz' exclusion from the EPP could have marginalised his party and finally removed the protection granted by its membership in the EP's largest parliamentary faction. Not negligibly, the exclusion would have been quite difficult to explain in domestic politics, especially as Mr. Orbán had made it very clear that he wanted to stay within the EPP and ch...