Katalin Novák, a deputy leader of ruling Fidesz, has slammed the EPP group’s vote to amend its statutes, which led to Fidesz’s 12 MEPs leaving the group on Wednesday.
“Thousands of people are dying in the European Union on a daily basis,” Novák said on Facebook. “And yet the European People’s Party’s parliamentary group is focused on limiting Fidesz MEPs’ room for manoeuvre.” Novák, who is Hungary’s minister without portfolio for family affairs, noted that Fidesz decided to “put an end to the disagreements” and leave the EPP group after the umbrella party approved an amendment to its statutes that would allow MEPs to be removed from the group en-bloc with a simple majority. Novák also shared a letter by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán addressed to Manfred Weber, the EPP’s group leader, on Fidesz’s decision to leave the group. In his capacity as Fidesz leader, Orbán said he was disappointed to witness “the EPP group paralysed by internal administrative matters and busy silencing … democratically elected Europeans, while hundreds of thousands of Europeans are hospitalised…” He called the change in rules “a clearly hostile step towards our voters and Fidesz”. “This is anti-democratic, unfair and unacceptable.” The governing body of Fidesz, he added, “has decided to leave the EPP group in the European Parliament immediately.” Orbán added that Fidesz MEPs would continue “to speak for those voters they represent and defend the interests of the Hungarian people.”
Justice Minister Judit Varga said EPP head Manfred Weber should have kept the party group together rather than weakening it. Varga said Fidesz’s long-time disagreement with the party family started because Weber “does not want to lead … [the EPP according to] Christian-Conservative values”. “He made this clear when he said that national sovereignty no longer exists.” Varga said Fidesz believed in preserving the country’s “thousand-year-old culture” while cooperating with European countries.
hungarymatters.hu
