MEPs increasingly back kicking Viktor Orbán out of EPP

The Hungarian leader’s anti-EU stance has prompted center-right parliamentarians to speak out.

Center-right MEPs are so exasperated with Viktor Orbán defying EU rules that more and more are calling for his party to be kicked out of their political group.

Until now, the European People’s Party, which includes the Hungarian prime minister and his Fidesz party, has largely kept its head down whenever Orbán has breached European norms.

But many in the EPP view Orbán’s crackdown on the Central European University (CEU) as the last straw after a series of measures that went against the letter and the spirit of EU rules — from erecting fences against migrants through mounting an anti-Brussels communication campaign to passing a law targeting NGOs that receive foreign funding.

“We had sympathy for Fidesz, a sister party which did things a bit differently than we did,” said Frank Engel, a Luxembourgish MEP from the EPP.  “Now we think that the best thing they could do is just leave the EPP.”

Engel went as far as calling for the European Council to invoke Article 7 of the bloc’s governing treaty — the so-called “nuclear option” that allows for a country’s membership rights to be suspended is there is a “serious and persistent breach” of EU values.

“I remain convinced we should trigger Article 7,” he said. “I don’t see how we can still cultivate the fictitious idea that we are a harmonious couple.”

Engel said the idea was gaining traction in the European Parliament. “I’m supported by many of my colleagues,” he said.

Whether Orbàn ultimately faces any sanction will depend on the stance of the EPP’s leaders. They have so far appeared cool on the idea of excluding Fidesz, which contributes 11 MEPs to the EPP group in the parliament.

But rank and file members are speaking out. Othmar Karas, an EPP member of the parliament from Austria, condemned Orbán’s “Brussels-bashing” and criticized the Hungarian premier for congratulating Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on winning a disputed referendum that granted him sweeping extra powers.

“With that, he decided himself who is closer to him: Erdoğan or the EU. The EPP must trigger the procedure to suspend Fidesz’ membership in the EPP,” Karas said.

Other MEPs from the center-right group stopped short of openly calling for Fidesz to be suspended but made clear their patience was wearing very thin.

“Unfortunately Viktor Orban has made it hard for Fidesz to remain in the EPP. He was once a freedom fighter, but his continuous attacks on the values of a free society are unacceptable within our political family,” said Christofer Fjellner, a Swedish MEP.

A parliament official who attended an EPP meeting on Wednesday said Elmar Brok of Germany, one of the most senior members of the parliament, told colleagues that Orbán’s behavior was becoming “more and more a matter of conscience for us.”

Another prominent EPP member, Swedish lawmaker Gunnar Hökmark, said Orbán was “already out” of the group in political terms. He said he expected upcoming discussions among EPP leaders to be centered on Orbán’s exclusion. Orbán is due to participate in the political group’s traditional pre-EU summit gathering on Friday.

Orbán stands his ground

Orbán defended himself in the European Parliament on Wednesday, calling the university debate “absurd” and comparing the accusations to “being convicted of murder while the victim is alive and kicking.” Hungary merely wants to ensure there is “a level playing field” between foreign and local universities, he said.

But he faced unusually tough criticism from MEPs during the plenary session. Esther de Lange, a Dutch member of the EPP, asked him: “Is your place with the autocrats like Putin and Erdogan?”

Orbán has long benefitted from leniency within the EPP leadership. He enjoys friendly relations with Joseph Daul, the president of the EPP and the only person with the power to expel Fidesz. Orbán has also benefitted from good relations with the Christian Social Union, an EPP member which is the Bavarian sister party of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

Many MEPs believe Manfred Weber, the president of the EPP group in the European Parliament and a deputy chairman of the CSU, has not criticized Orbán as harshly as others to avoid inflaming his own base. In 2015, the European Parliament rejected a proposal tabled by the liberal ALDE group to use Article 7 against Hungary, partly because the EPP was not in favor.

But some parliamentary sources say the party leadership is losing patience with Fidesz too. “Even Joseph Daul and Weber say they are fed up with Orbán,” said a parliament official.

In a letter to their EPP colleagues this week, the parliament’s 11 Fidesz members pleaded for understanding. They argued that Hungary and Orban had been “under constant attacks for our bold and sometimes unorthodox solutions.” The EU should acknowledge that Hungarians use a “straight political language in Hungary,” the letter said.

“But please do not compare us to the anti-European parties whose goal is to destroy our common Union, everything which was built in the last 70 years,” it added.

At a press conference following Wednesday’s parliamentary debate, Orbán said he had no intention of quitting the EPP group. The EPP, he told reporters, is a “big family worthy of different shades, opinions, and trends.”

Luxembourgish MEP Engel said he had received a personal letter from Orbán, telling him “in a rather soft tone” that Hungary was grateful to Luxembourg for pushing to get Hungary into the EU, and that “they didn’t want to get out of the club.”

In his response, Engel sought to convey to the Hungarian leader that he could not act as if he was both for and against the European Union. He told him: “Mr. Orbán, you can’t have it all.”

Jacopo Barigazzi and Ginger Hervey contributed reporting to this article.

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