The old EPP game is starting again

HUNGARY - In Brief 04 Jan 2020 by Istvan Racz

The European edition of Politico (politico.hu) wrote yesterday that according to an unnamed high-ranking representative of Fidesz, PM Orbán is seriously considering to pull Fidesz out of the European People's Party. A few days ago, a leading background figure in the Fidesz political family said on television that Fidesz is unlikely to remain an EPP member. All this contradicts Fidesz' official line, confirmed by cabinet minister Gulyás earlier this week, according to which the party's firm intention is to stay within the EPP, primarily on the basis of the party's fundamental values.We have a deja vu hearing this news again, as it resembles very much the line of events in March 2019, when Fidesz was on the brink of being expelled from the EPP, and eventually its membership was suspended. At that time, PM Orbán pretended, for face-saving purposes both domestically and internationally, that it was Fidesz' own decision to suspend its membership status. We firmly believe that Fidesz is deeply interested in staying with the EPP, which remains the EU's most powerful party family, providing a great deal of protection to its members, even if there are internal conflicts and disputes between that member and others within the group. However, the EPP's political assembly is set to meet on 3-4 February, and there is a great deal of risk that Fidesz could be excluded from the group on that occasion. In the latter case, Mr. Orbán would need an opportunity to present the divorce with the EPP as his own decision, and hence it is likely that Fidesz is intentionally 'leaking' the information that such a decision is actually in the making.The other part of the story is that the report on ...

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